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Learners
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1. Six (6)-Month Holding Period
Advocates' optimal learner's stage graduated driver licensing
(GDL) program includes a 6-month holding period during
which an adult licensed driver must supervise a new driver
at all times. If the new driver remains citation free
for 6 months, s/he may progress to the intermediate stage.
In this report, Advocates has not credited states if their
6-month holding period law allows a reduced holding period
for those who take a driver's education course.
2.
30-50 Hours of Supervised Driving
The second requirement of Advocates' optimal learner's
stage GDL program requires a new driver to complete 30-50
hours of behind-the-wheel training with an adult licensed
driver. Advocates has not given credit to States if their
law requiring 30-50 hours of supervised driving includes
a reduction in the required hours of supervised driving
for those who take a driver's education course.
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Intermediate
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3. Nighttime Restriction
Advocates' optimal intermediate stage GDL program restricts
teen driving at night. Under this program, unsupervised
driving is prohibited from at least 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
Advocates has not given credit to states that have allowed
exemptions to this law including restrictions limited to
shorter periods of time.
4.
Passenger Restriction
A passenger restriction law under the intermediate stage
of Advocates' optimal GDL program limits the number of
teenage passengers that may accompany a teen driver without
adult supervision to one non-familial teenage passenger.
5.
Cell Phone Restriction
A cell phone restriction law within Advocates' optimal
GDL program prohibits the use of any cellular device by
the teenager while driving, for the entire duration of
the GDL program (both learner's and intermediate stages).
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Unrestricted
Driving
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minimum
age of 18 for unrestricted driving privileges |
Only
one state, Delaware, has all 5 provisions of Advocates' optimal
GDL program.
9 states have only one of the optimal provisions.
9 states have 2 of 5 optimal provisions.
20 states and DC have 3 of 5 optimal provisions.
11 states have 4 of 5 optimal provisions
Holding Period -
1 state has no holding period; 44 states and DC have optimal
provisions.
Supervised Driving -
10 states have no provision; 34 and DC have optimal provisions.
Nighttime Restriction -
5 states have no restrictions; 8 have optimal provisions.
Passenger Restriction -
11 states have no provision; 35 and DC have optimal provisions.
Cell
Phone Restriction -
15
states have optimal provisions
TEEN
CRASH FACTS
In
2006, 7,975 people were killed in crashes involving young drivers
ages 16-20 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
or NHTSA, 2007)
3,406 young drivers ages 16-20 were killed in 2006. (NHTSA,
2007)
Based
on estimated miles traveled annually, teen drivers age 16-19
have a fatality rate four times the rate of drivers age 25-69.
Sixteen-year-old drivers have a crash rate three times more
than 17-year-olds, 5 times greater than 18-year-olds, and two
times that of 85-year-olds. (NHTSA, 2001)
Sixteen-year-olds have almost ten times the crash risk of drivers
age 30-59 and almost 3 times the risk of older teenagers. (Williams,
A.F., 1996)
Drivers are less likely to use restraints when they have been
drinking. In 2004, 62 percent of the young drivers (ages 16-20)
who were killed in crashes were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2005)
Twenty-eight
percent (28%) of young drivers killed in fatal crashes in 2003
were intoxicated. (NHTSA, 2003)
In 2002, sixty-one percent (61%) of teenage passenger deaths
occurred in crashes in which another teenager was driving. Among
people of all ages, 20% of passenger deaths in 2001 occurred
when a teenager was driving. (Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety, IIHS, 2003)
Nearly
two-thirds of teen passenger vehicle occupants killed were unrestrained.
(NHTSA, 2003)
Forty-one
percent (41%) of teenage motor vehicle deaths in 2003 occurred
between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (IIHS, 2004)
In
2001, the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes
involving drivers between 15 and 20 years old was $42.3 billion.
(NHTSA, 2002)
GRADUATED DRIVER LICENSING LAW FACTS
In 1997, the first full year of its GDL system, Florida experienced
a 9% reduction in fatal and injury crashes for 15-17 year-olds,
compared with 1995. (IIHS, 1999)
Researchers examined GDL systems implemented in 1997 in Michigan
and North Carolina, which were considered among the country's
most comprehensive programs. Comparing 1999 with 1996 data,
crashes involving 16-year-old drivers decreased by 25% in Michigan
and 27% in North Carolina. (Journal of the American Medical
Association, 2001)
In California, the alcohol-related crash rate of 16-year-olds
dropped 16 percent in the first year after the GDL law took
effect and 13 percent in the second year when compared with
the crash rate of 16-year-olds before the law was in place.
(Automobile Club of Southern California, 2002)
In California, teenage passenger deaths and injuries resulting
from crashes involving 16-year-old drivers declined by 40 percent
statewide from 1998 through 2000, the first three years of the
program. In addition, the number of at-fault collisions involving
16-year-old drivers decreased by 24 percent. (Automobile Club
of Southern California, 2001)
Oregon's GDL system was particularly effective with male teen
drivers. Those who completed the GDL system experienced 16%
fewer crashes during their first year of driving compared to
those who had not received their license under the GDL system.
(NHTSA, 1998)
Researchers
at Johns Hopkins University and the IIHS have found that passenger
restrictions for young drivers could save hundreds of lives
each year. If 100% of teen drivers drove by themselves, rather
than riding with other young drivers, 275 lives could be saved
each year. (IIHS, 1999)
A
2001 Harris Poll shows nearly unanimous support (95%) for at
least 30 to 50 hours of practice driving with an adult and an
equally large majority (92%) responding in favor of a six month
holding period. In addition, a three-to-one majority (74% to
23%) supports limiting the number of teen passengers in the
car with a teen driver and supervised driving during high-risk
periods, such as nighttime.
February
2008
