WRENTHAM -- When 17-year-old Meaghan Ross has to attend an SAT prep course, she hops in the car and drives herself to Stonehill College in Easton.

That is one reason why her father, state Rep. Richard Ross, opposes a move to raise the legal driving age to 17 1/2 .

Ross, R-Wrentham, said his daughter has been driving since she was 16 1/2 and is a mature, responsible motorist.

There is no need to punish good drivers like Meaghan for the actions of others, he said.

The higher driving age has been proposed in the Legislature because of a rash of fatal accidents involving teen drivers the past few weeks. State Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, said he feels the same as Ross about the proposal.

Brown said his 17-year-old daughter, Ayla, is also a careful, responsible driver.

She needs to drive to attend school events, go baby sitting and other for reasons, he said.

Raising the driving age could prevent responsible teens from getting to work and punish them for the actions of others, he said.

`` It's like throwing the baby out with the bath water,'' Brown said.

Sen. James Timilty and Rep. Philip Travis do not have any teenage children, but they also opposes the move.

`` I think it's over-legislating,'' Timilty said. `` We're going too far.''

He admitted there have been some `` horrific crashes'' lately, but said the thousands of responsible teen drivers should not be penalized.

Raising the age would put a burden on the many families who rely on a teen driver, he said.

Travis also said the proposal is an overreaction. `` Up here, were call it the event of the week,'' he said, referring to the Statehouse. `` We have an event, and a week later we pass a bill.''

Travis said supporters of the bill have not considered the cost of additional school buses that would be needed to transport teens to school who would otherwise drive.

The legislators said they instead favor passing tougher requirements for getting a drivers license, rather than what they consider an arbitrary raising of the driving age.

They said the 16 hours of drivers education required by the state is not enough.

Some states, like Maine, require 40 hours.

Ross said the state should consider extending the time period a teen must have a learners permit before getting a license.

Brown said parents also have to take responsibility, spending the time to ride with their student drivers.

He said he took his daughter to local parking lots for hours of training, including practicing handling a spin in snow.

Henry Labonte, who runs a driver education school, said another bill pending on Beacon Hill takes a better approach.

He said the alternative bill by Rep. Brad Hill increases the penalties for driving violations by teens and mandates more driver education.

Raising the driving age could have an adverse impact on road safety, Labonte said.

He said a teen 17 1/2 could wait six months and then be eligible for a drivers license without any driver's education.

The Transportation Committee is considering the bill to raise the driving age in the wake of recent fatal accidents.

Timilty is on the committee. He said the Senate and House chairmen like the bill, but he doubts the rank and file will follow.

If passed, the bill would give Massachusetts the highest driving age in the nation.

Statistics show that young drivers are at greater risk for accidents than experienced drivers.

The idea behind the proposal is that a higher age would keep younger, less experience drivers off the road.