In 2006, more than 1,700 people died in accidents on Georgia highways. The 2008 state Legislature has responded to that terrible carnage by passing House Bill 1027, which allows drunken drivers to take their court-ordered driving classes online, and by ignoring a bill that would increase seat belt use among teens.

The seat belt bill, sponsored by state Rep. Melvin Everson (R-Snellville), would save lives by stiffening penalties for teenagers who drive without seat belts. HB 924 languishes in legislative limbo, having failed to meet the deadline for passage in at least one chamber, but Everson hopes to resuscitate the bill by attaching it to another bill that did meet the deadline.

"There are certain elements in the House that fear we are becoming a nanny state with this legislation," said Everson. "But I don't see that, since the law already says you ought to have on a seat belt when you are driving. This law targets drivers 15 to 18 because we are losing so many of them to automobile accidents because they aren't wearing seat belts. Statistics show that over 50 percent of them could be saved if they had seat belts on."

In 2006, teen drivers were involved in accidents that killed 244 people in Georgia and caused 27,608 injuries. Ninety-three of the dead were the teen drivers themselves; 47 were not wearing seat belts. (Among the counties with the highest teen crash rates are Macon, Chatham, Richmond, Dawson and Clarke, which ought to dispel the prevalent misperception in the Legislature that teen crashes are largely a metro Atlanta problem.)

Everson's bill threatens teen drivers with suspension of their licenses if they are caught more than once not wearing a seat belt. It has the support of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

"Right now, the violation is $25 and no points associated with it," says Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. "With this bill, we could say to teens, if you want to retain your license, wear your seat belt."

Everson's bill honors the memory of 18-year-old Billy Foulke, who was killed in a car accident in south Gwinnett in 2006. Billy and the young man who was driving died at the scene, while a second passenger survived. The survivor was the only person wearing his seat belt.

Billy had attended the New London Driving School in Loganville, and its president is among the driving instructors helping Everson promote his bill. Alan Deighton is mystified that the teen seat belt bill struggles, yet the Legislature readily embraces a bill that allows online courses for DUI.

"I call that law 'Give me another beer while my girlfriend does my DUI class thing online,' " says Deighton. "It just frightens me when the Senate and House can pass bills that lessen punishment for drunks and yet the bill to save teenage drivers seems to be treading water."