Tag Archive: gdl

Four Ways Teens Benefit from Following Graduated Driver Licensing Laws

May 8, 2009

It isn’t uncommon for teens to rebel against Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws. They may reason that since they passed the driving test, they shouldn’t have to deal with restrictions. Or they may be unfamiliar with the GDL laws in their state and violate them unintentionally. But there are many benefits to obeying GDL laws for teens, such as:

1. They’re a chance to prove your maturity and trustworthiness. One of the basic requirements for functioning in our society is the ability to follow the rules. Teens who are unwilling to do so demonstrate a lack of maturity and make other people, specifically adults, think they can’t be trusted. Conversely, showing that you’re willing to abide by certain restrictions lets adults, specifically your parents, know that you are grown-up and dependable enough to handle additional privileges.

2. They can help you get out of risky situations with your pride intact. You may have the best intentions of following GDL laws, but sometimes friends make that a challenge. It might be hard to resist when a friend wants you to break curfew or pile one too many passengers into your vehicle; GDL laws give you an outside authority you can blame for your refusal to do these things. You can explain that you don’t want to get caught breaking the law because you might lose your license and/or your parents might ground you from driving if you get a traffic ticket.

3. They’re the law. You won’t be lying if you tell a friend you are afraid of losing your license for breaking GDL laws; violating the terms of the law could result in the loss of your driving privileges. If you get a ticket for breaking a GDL law, you will have to pay a fine and your insurance rates, which are already high, could increase. After accruing a certain number of points on your license, you could lose it for a specified period of time and have to pay more fines to get it back. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the GDL laws in your state.

4. They really do keep you safe. GDL laws exist because statistically, teens get into many more crashes than adult drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sixteen-year old drivers have crash rates that are about three times greater than 17-year-old drivers, five times greater than 18-year-old drivers, and approximately twice the rate of 85-year-old drivers. We know that GDL laws work, because there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes involving teens nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. Specific restrictions have also been found to be effective; for example, an NHTSA study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours. GDL laws work because they help teens increase their driving skills while minimizing the risks of being on the road with limited experience.

You can probably see how these four factors tie together. If you break GDL laws, you show the adults in your life that you can’t be trusted, you are more likely to be peer-pressured into taking risks you know you shouldn’t take, you take a chance on losing your license, and you raise the possibility that you or someone riding with you will be injured or killed in a crash. When you choose to follow GDL laws, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Support for Graduated Driver Licensing Laws

April 30, 2009

According to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), adolescent drivers, especially 16- to 17-year olds, are disproportionately involved in deadly motor vehicle crashes. Sixteen-year old drivers have crash rates that are about three times greater than 17-year-old drivers, five times greater than 18-year-old drivers, and approximately twice the rate of 85-year-old drivers. According to the NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), specific contributors to these higher crash rates include:

Lack of driving experience and skills: Compared with crashes of older drivers, those of 16-year-olds more often involve driver error.
A propensity towards risk taking behavior and poor decision-making.
Driving at night: Per mile driven, the nighttime fatal crash rate for 16-year-old drivers is twice as high as during daytime hours.
Distraction from teenage passengers: Fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers are more likely to take place when other teens are in the vehicle, and the risk increases with every additional passenger.
Speeding: Sixteen-year old drivers have a higher rate of crashes in which excessive speed is a contributing factor.

Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs help young drivers get driving experience progressively while minimizing risk, beginning with a restricted permit and eventually leading to full licensure.

Most programs include three stages:

Learner Stage: Supervised driving, ending with a road test.
Intermediate Stage: Limiting unsupervised driving in high-risk circumstances.
Full Privilege Stage: A regular driver’s license.

Provisions of graduated licensing laws may include:

Required hours of adult supervision during the learner stage.
Restrictions on late-night driving.
Restrictions on driving with teen passengers.
Seat belt requirements for drivers and passengers.
Restrictions on cellular phone use.
Prohibiting the driver from moving up to the next level due to traffic violations.

GDL laws in most of the states that have them do not comply with all of the recommendations of the NHTSA; still, there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. In 2006, 7,463 drivers who were 15 to 20 years old were involved in fatal crashes – an eight percent decrease from 8,074 involved in 1996. Individually, states with GDL laws also show improvement:

California: A five percent decrease in crashes for 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
Florida: A nine percent decrease in crashes for 16- and 17-year old drivers.
Michigan: A 26% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers.
North Carolina: A 25% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers.
Oregon: A 29% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers and a 16% decrease in crashes for 17-year-old drivers.

NHTSA research has also found that the most comprehensive GDL programs are associated with the greatest decrease in crash rates for teen drivers.

It is more difficult to evaluate the individual components of GDL laws because of the overlap of restrictions, but the NHTSA has conducted some research in this area. An analysis of the passenger restriction laws in California, Massachusetts, and Virginia indicated that there were 740, 173, and 454 fewer 16-year-old involved in crashes per year, respectively. A different study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours.

Public support for GDL laws is also strong. In 2007, the NHTSA conducted the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS), a national telephone survey about driver safety. Seventy-nine percent of the participants said that teen drivers should proceed from a learner’s permit to a provisional license status rather than directly to an unrestricted adult license. The results of the survey also indicated strong support, ranging from 73% to 99%, for specific restrictions on provisional driver license status, such as:

Requiring young drivers to wear a seat belt at all times.
Prohibiting driving after 9pm, unless supervised by an adult.
Limiting the number of teenage passengers allowed in the vehicle.
Prohibiting the use of a cellular phone while driving.
Requiring the new driver to hold the provisional license for at least one year without any traffic violations before receiving an unrestricted adult license.

GDL provisions are still in their infancy in many states, so evaluating the results of these programs is difficult. However, outcomes so far are promising. The enactment of and enforcement of these laws are important steps in efforts to save the lives of young drivers.

Graduated Driver Licensing Laws: A Comparison

April 8, 2009

A national model for Graduated Driver Licensing Programs has existed since the mid 1990s. The model provides guidelines for states to create their own GDL programs. Currently, no state follows all the guidelines, and GDL programs vary widely from state to state.

The recommended guidelines are:

Stage 1: Learner’s Permit

State sets minimum age for a learner’s permit at no younger than age 16;
Pass vision and knowledge tests, including rules of the road, signs, and signals;
Completion of basic driver training;
Licensed adult (who is at least 21 years old) required in the vehicle at all times;
All occupants must wear seat belts;
Teenage-passenger restrictions;
Zero alcohol while driving;
Permit is visually distinctive from other driver licenses;
Must remain crash and conviction free for at least six months to advance to next level;
Parental certification of 30 to 50 practice hours; and
No use of portable electronic communication and entertainment devices.

Stage 2: Intermediate (Provisional) License

Completion of Stage 1;
State sets minimum age of 16.5;
Pass a behind the wheel road test;
Completion of advanced driver education training (safe driving decision-making, risk education, etc.)-All occupants must wear seat belts;
Licensed adult required in the vehicle from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. (e.g., nighttime driving restriction);
Zero alcohol while driving;
Driver improvement actions are initiated at lower point level than for regular drivers;
Provisional license is visually distinctive from a regular license;
Teenage-passenger restrictions: not more than one teenage passenger for the first 12 months of intermediate license. Afterward, limit the number of teenage passengers to two until age 18;
Must remain crash and conviction free for at least 12 consecutive months to advance to the next stage;
Supervised practice; and
No use of portable electronic communication and entertainment devices.

Stage 3: Full Licensure

Completion of Stage 2;
State sets minimum age of 18 for lifting passenger and nighttime restrictions; and
Zero alcohol while driving.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

To understand the range of differences among states, let’s examine the GDL laws of four states: California, Florida, Mississippi, and North Dakota.

The NHTSA recommends that the state sets the minimum age for a learner’s permit at no younger than age 16. In California, the minimum age for a learner’s permit is 15 years, six months; in Florida and Mississippi, the minimum age is 15. The minimum age in North Dakota is 14.

Before getting a license or restricted license in Florida, new drivers must have a mandatory holding period of the learner’s license of twelve months; the other three states require six months. In Mississippi, license applicants age 17 and older are exempt from the holding period. The NHTSA recommends an intermediate (provisional) stage with a minimum age of 16.5. The applicant must remain crash and conviction free for at least six months to advance from the learner’s permit to the intermediate level. They further recommend that in the intermediate license stage, the applicant must remain crash and conviction free for at least 12 consecutive months to advance to full licensure.

The NHTSA recommends parental certification of 30 to 50 practice hours of driving in the learner’s permit stage. While California and Florida each require 50 hours, 10 of which must be at night, neither Mississippi nor North Dakota require certification of any driving practice hours.

Applicants in Mississippi must be age 15 years, six months before getting a license or restricted license. Florida, North Dakota, and California require a minimum age of 16; however, in California, license applicants who do not take driver education must wait until age 18 for a license. The NHTSA recommendation is for full licensure only after completion of the intermediate licensing stage, with a minimum age of 18 for lifting passenger and nighttime restrictions. However, North Dakota does not have any passenger or nighttime restrictions, and Florida and Mississippi have only nighttime restrictions. California’s passenger restriction is that for the first 12 months, the restricted driver may have no passengers younger than 20, with limited exceptions for immediate family.

One way to improve the traffic crash figures for teenage drivers is to advocate for stronger Graduated Driver Licensing requirements in your state. In the meantime, you can reduce the risks for your own children by ensuring that they obey existing GDL laws and by implementing some of the NHTSA’s guidelines into your own house rules if your state has relatively weak GDL laws.

Five Worst Teen Driving Mistakes: Part One

December 11, 2008

Most parents live in dread of the day their teens get driver’s licenses and get behind the wheel on their own. Their concerns are well-founded, since teen drivers have the highest death rates in car crashes of any age group. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death among Americans aged 15-20. But parents can help their teens be a safer driver even after they are licensed, particularly by paying attention to common risk factors. In this five-part series, we’ll discuss the five worst teen driving mistakes:

They don’t wear safety belts.
They drink and drive.
They panic/overcorrect in emergency situations.
They drive too fast for conditions.
They ride with other teens.

In this, part one of the series, we’ll emphasize the importance of wearing safety belts. First, you’ll need to set the right example for your children by wearing your safety belt. “Do as I stay, not as I do,” doesn’t work with teens, particularly when they’re out of your sight and you can’t personally enforce the rule.

Also, make sure you never pull out of your driveway or a parking space until everyone in the vehicle is wearing a seat belt. Many high school students fail to use their safety belts even when riding with adults who are buckled up. An observational survey conducted at 12 high schools found that 46 percent of high school students were not wearing their safety belts when riding with adult drivers. About half of the unbelted students were riding with adults who were belted. If your teens are used to wearing safety belts as passengers, they’ll be comfortable wearing them as drivers.

Next, educate your teen about the benefits of wearing safety belts. Here’s some supportive information:

Research has found that lap/shoulder safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. For light truck occupants, safety belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 60 percent and moderate-to-critical injury by 65 percent.
Ejection from the vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash. In fatal crashes in 2005, 75% of passenger car occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were killed. Safety belts are effective in preventing total ejections. Only 1% of the occupants reported to have been using restraints were totally ejected, compared with 30% of the unrestrained occupants.
Safety belts should always be worn, even when riding in vehicles equipped with air bags. Air bags are designed to work with safety belts, not alone. Air bags, when not used with safety belts, have a fatality-reducing effectiveness rate of only 12 percent.

Third, educate your teen about the safety belt laws in your state. Be sure to review the graduated licensing laws – safety belt enforcement may differ from that of fully licensed drivers.

Statistical source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Reducing Driving Hours Saves Teen Lives

July 20, 2006

Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation announced that by limiting a teenage driver’s time behind the wheel of a car, and reducing the number of people in his or her vehicle, accident rates among teen drivers can be reduced by 20 percent.

Researchers compared 2002 crash data amongst 16-year-old drivers in both Oregon and Ontario, Canada. Oregon has restrictions on unsupervised driving at night, while Ontario did not have any restrictions at that time.

Accidents among 16-year-old drivers who were at the wheel of a vehicle where injuries and fatalities occurred were 20 percent fewer in Oregon than Ontario, giving strong evidence that Graduated Drivers Licensing programs (GDL) can make a big difference.

Auto accidents are the leading cause of death among young people, killing around 6,000 drivers between the ages of 16 and 20. According to safety authorities, the lack of driving skills and experience make teenage drivers more prone to accidents.

“Teens who obey traffic rules and regulations, follow GDL regulations, and have actively involved parents are much less likely to crash,” commented J. Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which sponsored the study.

Licensing laws that put restrictions on young drivers vary from state to state, and some are less demanding than others, as was the case in Oregon, with stronger GDL laws than Ontario.

Oregon prevents unsupervised driving by new drivers between midnight and 5 a.m. and prohibits passengers under age 20 from being in a car driven by an entry-level driver during the first six months of receiving a driver’s license.

According to Dan Mayhew, vice president of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, the findings, based on law enforcement accident data, imply that “the restrictions placed in Oregon are effective in keeping the crash rates down.”

Another separate phone study conducted with 1,000 teenage drivers in Oregon and British Columbia found that 30 percent of teens that had not been involved in an accident also ever violated the passenger rules during the first six months of their intermediary stage.

Sixteen percent of young people who had accidents also said they had not violated the restrictions during the same period.

The findings show that teens that were involved in accidents were more inclined to break driving laws. In Oregon, 33 percent of teenagers who were involved in accidents admitted to receiving a traffic ticket, compared to 13 percent of teens that received tickets but had not crashed.

Mayhew commented that the GDL laws are “not a panacea” but work as an effective tool in reducing crashes among beginning drivers.

The National Safety Commission and Lowest Price Traffic School offer safe teen driving resources for new drivers and their parents. Find out more about our monthly newsletter for teen drivers and the Driver Education Guide for Parents.