Ontario withdraws passenger restriction on teenage drivers
Last Updated: Monday, December 8, 2008 | 2:54 PM ET
The Canadian Press
Ontario's Liberal government is backing down from its proposed passenger restrictions on teenage drivers.
The province introduced legislation designed to reduce the number of accidents by young drivers, which included a limit of only one teen passenger for drivers 19 and under with a G2 graduated licence.
It also includes automatic licence suspensions for speeding offences for young drivers and a zero blood-alcohol limit, but it's the passenger restrictions that prompted 150,000 people to join an online protest.
Transportation Minister Jim Bradley told the legislature on Monday that he is withdrawing the controversial passenger limits from the bill.
Bradley said members of the legislature got a lot of feedback about that one aspect of the bill, especially from rural and northern areas of Ontario where public transit is scarce and long drives are the norm.
He said the government heard the public's concerns and moved quickly to remove the part of the legislation that most upset young people.
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