If lawmakers take the opportunity and the responsibility in the new legislative session, they can save the lives of young drivers. All they have to do is pass a law that restricts the privileges of new drivers under age 18 during nighttime hours.

Connecticut has already imposed mild restrictions on young drivers. It's called graduated licensing, and the rules impose some limits on how fast a youngster can acquire a driver's license, and who can ride with the new driver in the first few months.

But Connecticut's laws are way behind other states that are trying harder to reduce the number of children killed in cars.

In New Jersey, for instance, drivers younger than 18 cannot drive between midnight and 5 a.m. That is not an aberration. Thirty-six other states restrict the night driving of their 16- and 17-year-old drivers.

Allan Williams, chief scientist for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety , said it best:

"Connecticut is out of the mainstream," Williams said. "It's not doing what other states are to protect their young people."

No state has what the Insurance Institute considers "optimal" graduated licensing provisions. But as a story in The News-Times showed last month, Connecticut is one of the last states to get on board with some of the system's basic provisions.

Last year the state legislature passed passenger restrictions that limited the number of riders a beginning driver can transport. They went into effect Jan. 1. Passenger restrictions are widely considered one of the best ways to prevent accidents among new drivers because fewer passengers, in theory, mean fewer distractions.

This year, one of the strongest proponents of graduated licensing, state Rep. David Scribner , R-Brookfield, said he may try to reintroduce nighttime restrictions.

The new legislative session doesn't start until Jan. 5, some legislators are already saying more restrictions on young drivers don't have much of a chance.

They point out that statistics aren't yet available on how well Connecticut passenger restriction law is working, so they don't want to vote on an enhanced graduated licensing system just yet.

That kind of attitude cannot prevail. Statistics on the current law won't prove that nighttime is the most difficult and dangerous time to be on the road. That is a fact.

It is time for Connecticut legislators to take a stand on saving lives with reasonable restrictions on new drivers.