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Graduated driver licensing: Review of evaluation results since 2002
Abstract
Unlabelled:
Unintentional injury from motor-vehicle crashes is the number one cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Increasingly, jurisdictions have adopted three-stage graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems for young novice drivers. Since a previous review of U.S. GDL evaluation results, many more U.S. states and Canadian provinces have implemented GDL and/or had enough time pass that additional evaluation results are now available. Twenty-one studies of GDL within 14 individual jurisdictions, and six studies of GDL in the U.S. nationwide, were collected, reviewed, and summarized. Positive results (usually crash reductions) of varying degrees were reported from nearly all the studies. Given differences in approaches, study goals, methods, and analyses, the results are surprisingly consistent. Overall, GDL programs have reduced the youngest drivers' crash risk by roughly 20 to 40%. Research on teen driving and comprehensive GDL enhancements could further reduce teen drivers' motor-vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
Impact on industry:
Policy-makers, as well as the motor vehicle, insurance, and other industries have been involved in teen driving safety and could enhance and coordinate their roles.
... these young adults show a weak preference for cars but are open to any travel modes that are 10 suitable 5 . The slow rate of economic recovery since the Global Financial Crisis has also 11 contributed to the decreasing automobile orientation (licensure, ownership, and use) among 12 young adults 6 . 13 In contrast to these social/economic phenomena, a different set of explanations focus on changes 14 ...
... 16 or more years younger becoming significant (and negative). 10 Table 6 presents the first of the results based on the acquisition-process data; four BNL models 11 are shown that represents respondents' driving progress from no licence to practical driving tests. 12 ...
... driving (is full-time employed) tests. The impact of gender on the two tests is opposite: being 10 male is associated, net of confounding effects, with higher numbers of failures of the theory test, 11 but vice versa for the driving test. Being born in the UK is associated with lower numbers of 12 ...
The UK is one of many high-income countries to experience a decline in driving licence acquisition among young adults in the 2000s. This paper draws on newly available nationally representative microdata that captures the progress of individual drivers through the UK driving test acquisition process, to establish socio-demographic correlates. Using data from the 2016/17 England’s National Travel Survey data, we first present a series of binary logit models to identify factors associated with progression through the various phases of the UK’s driving licence acquisition process. We then identify factors that are associated with (1) the frequency of taking the driving licence tests, (2) the number of times having failed the theory and driving tests.
Our main finding is that socio-demographic factors appear to be relatively poor predictors of progress through the licence acquisition process, with employment status the strongest single correlate of the variables we tested. Age is negatively associated with progress through the early phases when respondents are applying for provisional licence and taking theory test, but this relationship turns positive in later stages of the acquisition process. To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first opportunity to evaluate this novel data resource covering the UK’s driving licence acquisition process. It is hoped that this study provides insights for policymakers to understand young adults’ delay in acquiring licences, particularly the extent to which there may be structural inequalities.
... These authorities operate at both the national and provincial/state levels (California Department of Motor Vehicles. (2022), 2022; Shope, 2007;Traffic Police Department of Azerbaijan Republic, 2022;Verma, Velumurugan, Chakrabarty, & Srinivas, 2011). Obtaining a driving license has become a crucial aspect of road safety in Middle Eastern countries due to the increasing number of vehicle owners. ...
... The driving licensing procedure in the Middle East faces various challenges, including leadership and stewardship, language barriers, corruption and bribery, and limited financial and training resources (Er, 2008). Studies indicate that the implementation of evidence based driving licensing polices is associated with a considerable decrease of 20-40 % in the likelihood of experiencing a crash and being involved in a fatal crash, particularly among newly licensed drivers (Fell, Jones, Romano, & Voas, 2011;Hirschberg & Lye, 2020;Lewis-Evans, 2010;Shope, 2007). ...
... Researchers have reported ranges of effectiveness and even a single figure. A review of 27 evaluations suggested that the implementation of GDL had resulted in reductions in collisions of between 20% and 40% (Shope, 2007). A systematic review meanwhile concluded that the implementation of GDL resulted in an average reduction in collisions of 31% (Novoa, Perez & Borrell, 2009). ...
... The most likely range is highlighted in orange (10-40%) around the best estimate centre point shaded green (20%). Three reviews (Russell et al., 2011;Shope, 2007;Novoa et al., 2009) suggest that the overall collision reductions for young drivers due to the introduction of GDL are 15% (median adjusted licensed driver rate for all teenage drivers), 20-40% (mainly based on 16 year olds) and 31% (average reduction in injury collisions) respectively. None of these measures directly determine effectiveness for 17-19 year olds who were licensed at 17 years old. ...
Young and novice drivers are overrepresented in road collisions in Great Britain (GB) and worldwide (DfT, 2012; Goldstein, 1972; OECD, 2006).
The key contributory factors to this problem are known and are cross-cultural; they are youth and inexperience.
This report reviews and synthesises evidence in three areas concerned with improving road safety through reducing young and novice driver collision risk in Great Britain. This report reviews the evidence for effectiveness of the following interventions:
1. Pre-driver education and training for those under 17 years old
2. Graduated driver licensing (GDL)
3. The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act (1995) (New Drivers Act)
... Existing studies indicate that driving restrictions (i.e., nighttime driving restrictions and passenger restrictions) during the intermediate licensing phase help reduce the risk of MVCs and MVC-related injuries among teen drivers when they first start driving unsupervised (McCartt et al., 2010;Morrisey et al., 2006;Shope, 2007;Williams et al., 2016). In a systematic review, Lin and Fearn (2003) documented that the number and rate of teen MVCs decreased following implementation of nighttime driving restrictions leading to a 21% reduction in the risk of evening crashes (9 p.m.-11:59 p.m.) and a 53% reduction in night crashes (midnight-4:59 a.m.) among 16-year-old drivers . ...
... In a systematic review, Lin and Fearn (2003) documented that the number and rate of teen MVCs decreased following implementation of nighttime driving restrictions leading to a 21% reduction in the risk of evening crashes (9 p.m.-11:59 p.m.) and a 53% reduction in night crashes (midnight-4:59 a.m.) among 16-year-old drivers . Other studies have found that passenger restrictions that allow no more than two passengers in the car reduce fatal crashes among 15-to 17-year-old drivers (Shope, 2007), with a restriction of no passengers having the greatest reduction in fatal MVCs (Fell, Todd, et al., 2011), Citations and traffic violation penalties also decreased after placing driving restrictions on teen drivers 15 to 17 years old, suggesting that the restrictions resulted in improvement in safe driving habits and behaviors in this age group of teen drivers (DePesa et al., 2017). ...
Introduction: This study analyzed the content of intermediate licensing restrictions of all 50 US states and examined the variation in strictness and language of four restriction categories: minimum age, nighttime driving restrictions, passenger restrictions, and traffic violation penalties. Methods: We analyzed state intermediate licensing restrictions using data from four online sources (AAA Guide to Teen Driver Safety, National Conference of State Legislatures, Teen Driving Laws, and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). Two trained coders independently coded the content of the restrictions, identified four restricted categories and subthemes for each category, and scored each subtheme from 0 to 2, with a higher score indicating a stricter restriction. Direct quotes from state laws were identified to support each subtheme. Results: All 50 states included a minimum age for obtaining an intermediate license. Of 50 states, 49 (98.0%) contained nighttime driving restrictions, 46 (92.0%) contained passenger restrictions, and 43 (86.0%) included traffic violation penalties. Variations existed in the minimum age for an intermediate license and length required in the learner permit phase, the starting time and length of the nighttime driving restrictions, the number and age of passengers in passenger restrictions, the minimum time the driver needs to be violation-free before obtaining a full license, and the type and severity of traffic violation penalties. Conclusions: Although all states have intermediate licensing restrictions, variations exist in the strictness and language of these restrictions. Future research should assess how these variations impact driving safety among teens when they first start driving unsupervised.
... One of the most effective countermeasures developed to reduce crash rates for this high risk group is Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) (Bates, et. al 2014b;Shope, 2007). Shope (2007) reviewed 27 studies of GDL and identified that there were crash reductions of 20 -40 per cent depending on the exact elements within GDL and the evaluation methodology. ...
... al 2014b;Shope, 2007). Shope (2007) reviewed 27 studies of GDL and identified that there were crash reductions of 20 -40 per cent depending on the exact elements within GDL and the evaluation methodology. An evaluation of the Queensland GDL system, introduced in mid-2007, identified a 31% reduction in fatal crashes involving novice drivers (Scully et al., 2014). ...
This study explored whether a third party policing approach is appropriate for increasing young driver compliance with graduated driver licensing restrictions. Focus groups (n = 3) and semi-structured interviews (n = 24) were conducted with young drivers from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Participants (n = 39 in total) were aged 17 to 19 years and held a Provisional 1 or 2 licence. Many young drivers appreciated the involvement of their parents in their novice driving period and reported that parents provided practical support and planning strategies. There is potential for the use of a third party policing intervention to improve compliance amongst young drivers.
... Driver-related factors, namely driver actions or behaviour, contribute to most road traffic collisions and are the dominant cause of the majority of crashes (Evans, 1996). While there are multiple routes to improving road safety, such as by improving the road environment (Weijermars and Wegman, 2011), many driver-related factors are preventable (e.g., temporary distraction, exceeding the speed limit; Petridou and Moustaki, 2000;Rolison et al., 2018), implying that on the basis of reliable data about the factors that contribute to crashes road safety policies and initiatives could further be informed to improve public safety (Elder et al., 2004;Shope, 2007). Police reports provide an important source of data on the factors that contribute to road traffic collisions (e.g.,UK ...
... uncertain, or panic' factor in police officers' perceptions, as indicated by the height of the link between these factors in the dendrogram (Fig. 2). Graduated licensing systems have been introduced in multiple countries, such as the United States, where young novice drivers are restricted to low-risk driving conditions (e.g., by restricting nighttime driving) to foster skill development (Bates et al., 2014;Shope, 2007). These systems could be assessed in terms of subsequent reduction in the occurrence of the 'learner or inexperienced driver' and 'nervous, uncertain, or panic' factors in road traffic collision reports. ...
Worldwide, road crashes are a major course of death and serious injury. Police reports provide a rich source of data on the proximal causes (e.g., impairment by alcohol, failure to look properly) of road traffic collisions. Yet, road safety research has raised concerns about the quality and reliability of police reported data. In the UK crash report form, contributory factors are categorised (e.g., vehicle defects, driver error or reaction) to aid police officers in identifying appropriate factors. However, discord between the classification of contributory factors in crash reports and police officers' own categorical perceptions may lead to misunderstanding, and in turn, misreporting of contributory factors. The current investigation recruited 162 police officers to report their perceptions of the relations among contributory factors in the UK crash report form. Hierarchical clustering analysis was used to identify an optimal category structure based on police officers' perceptions. The clustering analysis identified a classification system with seven or eleven categories of contributory factors, maximising the internal coherence of categories and minimising discord with police officers' perceptions. The findings also yield new insights into police officers' perceptions of crash causation and demonstrate how statistical techniques can be used to inform the design of road traffic collision report forms.
... Royaume-Uni, Canada, Australie, Etats-Unis). Cette approche comprend trois phases (Shope, 2007). La première phase correspond à la formation encadrée et accompagnée dispensée dans la plupart des pays Européens. ...
... Elle permet d'assurer la surveillance continue de l'environnement routier, notamment périphérique, ainsi que les tâches élémentaires de guidage du véhicule (Leibowitz & Owens, 1977). La perception passive est soutenue par la vision périphérique (Leibowitz & Owens, 1977) et par les schémas d'exploration visuelle des scènes routières, fortement automatisés (Crundall & Underwood, 1998;Crundall, Underwood, & Chapman, 1999, 2002. ...
This PhD thesis aims at two main goals. First, it seeks to identify how newly licensed drivers learn high order driving skills (i.e. perception, comprehension, anticipation), during the first few months of autonomous driving. Second, it seeks as identify how virtual reality and simulation tools can be used to assess and promote learning of these skills.
These goals have been motivated by observation of young drivers being 3 to 4 times more likely to die in a car accident compared to older drivers (McCartt, Shabanova, & Leaf, 2003). However, this higher risk decreases rapidly during the first 6 to 8 months, or first thousands of miles of autonomous driving (Gregersen et al., 2000; McCartt et al., 2003). Therefore, these first times would involve novice drivers learning safety crucial higher order driving skills (Hatakka et al., 2002). Indeed, literature shows that these skills are by far the most involved in novice drivers' higher risk (Braitman et al.,2008). They include perceptive and cognitive skills that are necessary for assessment of (perception, comprehension, projection) and decision making in, normal and/or risky driving situations (Deery, 1999).
Three studies have been conducted. A first paradigm uses semi-directed interviews with novice drivers (study 1) to show that perceptive and cognitive skills are acquired through a "learning by doing" process during the first moments of autonomous driving. Characteristics of involved situations include dynamic, complex and somewhat unexpected events. A second paradigm uses a full-scale simulator and oculometry (study 2), as well as complex and unexpected situations, to assess drivers perceptive and cognitive skills. Results show that characteristics of situations (visible or hidden danger) involve different skills (perception VS. anticipation). Results also identify combined indicators (eg. measurement of time between danger perception and braking) permitting precise measurements of anticipation and decision-making driving skills. A last paradigm uses a medium-fidelity simulator to compare retroaction-based protocols for learning of perceptive and cognitive driving skills. Results show that simple, immediate retroactions, using textual explanations of learning situations, are effective for skills improvement.
Based on these results, recommendations are produced to improve driving simulator's efficiency for training. On a theoretical standpoint, this work first increases knowledge about learning mechanisms of higher order driving skills. Second, this work also suggests several updates of perceptive and cognitive skills models.
... Recognizing this burden, policy interventions, such as graduated driver licensing (GDL), that specifically address teen drivers have been implemented. GDL has been one of the most effective teen crash policy interventions (Shope and Molnar, 2003;Chen et al., 2006;Shope, 2007;McCartt et al., 2010;Masten et al., 2011;Conner and Smith, 2017), and has also lowered non-crash related outcomes, such as citations (DePesa et al., 2017). Those successes have led to GDL's widespread dissemination and implementation throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. ...
... Substantial variation has been observed in the effectiveness of GDL policies. A review of GDL policy evaluations covering 21 studies of GDL effectiveness (Shope, 2007) found that published reductions in teen driver crashes ranged from ≥5.6% (Dee et al., 2005) to 38-40% (Baker et al., 2007), with the overall conclusion that GDL effectiveness at reducing crash rates was in the 20-40% range. Similarly, a more recent survey of GDL programs across 34 studies, spanning three countries-US, Canada, and New Zealand (Russell et al., 2011)found that, although GDL showed positive effects in all cases, the level of effectiveness varied substantially, with crash rate reductions among 16 year olds ranging from 8% to 27%. ...
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury, and teen drivers contribute disproportionately to that burden. Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs are effective at reducing teen crash risk, but teen crash rates remain high. Between-state variation in the teen crash rate reduction following GDL implementation has been documented, but this is the first study to examine small-area variation in such a reduction. Fusing together crash data from the Michigan State Police, census data, and organizational data (alcohol outlet, movie theatre, and school locations), we analyzed spatial correlates of teen injury crash, and place-based features that modified the injury crash rate difference following GDL implementation. Specifically, using census-based units, we estimated changes in injury crash rates among teens using negative binomial regression controlling for spatial autocorrelation, and tested whether any measured spatial characteristics modified the crash rate change in the pre versus post GDL periods. There was a substantial reduction in teen crashes after GDL implementation (RR = 0.66, 95%CI: [0.65, 0.67]), and this effect was robust across gender and time-of-day (light/dark). We found evidence that this reduction varied across space; areas with more alcohol outlets corresponded to a larger daytime crash rate reduction post-GDL, while areas near schools corresponded to a smaller daytime crash rate reduction. Concentrations of movie theatres corresponded to larger post-GDL crash rate reductions after dark. Maximizing the substantial successes of GDL programs requires understanding why crash rate reductions were larger in some areas following GDL implementation, and harnessing that understanding to improve its effectiveness across a state, focusing on identifying priorities for improving driver training (e.g., by parents and driver educators), law enforcement, and future policy changes to current GDL laws.
... Although the exact details vary by country and state, people usually undergo a three-stage learning process; a learning phase where they undergo a minimum number of supervised practical driving lessons on the road, an intermediate phase where they can drive unaccompanied but only in low-risk situations (e.g. not at night or with teenage passengers) and a full unrestricted driving licence (Shope, 2007;Williams, 2017). In Australia and New Zealand, people can apply for a learners licence at 16 years of age. ...
Automated Vehicles (AVs) are expected to bring many benefits to society (e.g. improved safety, increased capacity, reduced fuel use and emissions). However, there are also many challenges with AVs. These include issues associated with drivers’ trust, mental models of the automation’s capabilities and limitations and manual driving skill degradation. Therefore, solutions are needed to enhance the benefits and eliminate the challenges with AVs. One solution is driver training. Current training for drivers of AVs is limited to an owner’s manual and most drivers do not read their owner’s manual. Therefore, this thesis sought to understand the training needs for drivers of a Level 4 AV and to design, develop and evaluate a comprehensive training programme to address these needs. A grounded theory approach was used to identify nine key themes in AV driver training. These themes were applied to currently deployed training programmes, five AV collisions and IAM RoadSmart’s Advanced Driver Course to demonstrate the validity and relevance of these themes to AVs and driver training. A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) was conducted to establish the tasks and competencies that drivers need to safely operate the Level 4 AV. This TNA identified 7 main tasks, 25 sub-tasks, 2428 operations and 105 training needs and was used to develop an online video-based training resource and a training package for the safe activation of the Level 4 AV. Evaluation studies demonstrated short-term benefits of these training programmes over no training (more correct decisions, better activation behaviours) and owner’s manuals (more appropriate mental models, reduced mental demand), however the long-term retention benefits and applications to Level 5 AVs and other transport domains must be explored. This thesis should encourage further research into the development of better training for drivers of AVs, so that clear benefits of AVs can be realised without the challenges.
... It is generally believed that GDL as a system has reduced MVAs for young drivers (McKnight & Peck, 2002;Foss, 2007;Shope, 2007); however, there is little evidence on the independent effects of different components of GDL. Typically researchers rank GDL systems by some measure of 'strictness' and use state variation in regulatory settings to identify policy effects (e.g. ...
We propose a new model-selection algorithm for Regression Discontinuity Design, Regression Kink Design, and related IV estimators. Candidate models are assessed within a 'placebo zone' of the running variable, where the true effects are known to be zero. The approach yields an optimal combination of bandwidth, polynomial, and any other choice parameters. It can also inform choices between classes of models (e.g. RDD versus cohort-IV) and any other choices, such as covariates, kernel, or other weights. We outline sufficient conditions under which the approach is asymptotically optimal. The approach also performs favorably under more general conditions in a series of Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate the approach in an evaluation of changes to Minimum Supervised Driving Hours in the Australian state of New South Wales. We also re-evaluate evidence on the effects of Head Start and Minimum Legal Drinking Age. Our Stata commands implement the procedure and compare its performance to other approaches.
... Brookland and Begg 2011;Glendon 2013;Williams, Leaf, Simons-Morton, and Hartos 2006). GDL systems are implemented in several countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA and are associated with reduced crash rates for young drivers (Brookland et al. 2014;Hirschberg and Lye 2020;Newstead and Scully 2013;Shope 2007). ...
Parents are central to many learn to drive programmes internationally. This study surveys young drivers from Victoria and Queensland in Australia to examine if parental style impacts (a) intentions to offend on the road and (b) perceptions of police. Maccoby and Martin’s four parenting styles: (1) Authoritative, (2) Authoritarian, (3) Permissive, and (4) Neglectful inform the survey design. Results suggest that fixed offences like wearing a seatbelt or DUI are not impacted by different parental styles, while transient offences like speeding or dangerous driving are impacted. Specifically, young drivers with Authoritative or Authoritarian parents, who have higher levels of control, were less likely to speed or drive dangerously. Perceptions of police were also affected by parental style. Young drivers with Authoritative or Authoritarian parents had more positive perceptions of police than Neglectful or Permissive parents. The results suggest that parental support and education programmes could be developed to encourage parents to monitor their young person’s early driving career more closely.
... limitation on the speed allowed, ban on night-time driving, ban on the carrying of passengers). As regards the more restrictive limitations, the necessity of increasing the influence of educational activities on the formation of appropriate behaviours and conducts of young drivers in road traffic has been pointed out [3,7,10]. Publication [1] shows important deficiencies in the education of candidates for drivers, as more than 40 % of the candidates indicate that the problems of aggressive drivers' behaviour, impact of stress and haste on the efficiency of the actions taken, and factors affecting the perception processes in road traffic are not discussed during driver training courses. There is a lack of publications that would report and assess in detail the state of preparation of candidates for drivers for practical participation in the road traffic in Poland. ...
Młodzi kierowcy, bezpośrednio po zdanym egzaminie na prawo jazdy, wyposażeni w wiedzę i umiejętności niezbędne do prawidłowego udziału w ruchu drogowym, są sprawcami największej liczby wypadków drogowych. Badając przyczyny tego stanu analizowano wyniki uzyskane podczas jazdy egzaminacyjnej przez kandydatów do prawa jazdy kategorii B. Z przebiegu jazdy egzaminacyjnej wyodrębniono rodzaje zadań z najwyższą liczbą ocen pozytywnych oraz zadania najczęściej decydujące o negatywnym wyniku egzaminu. Rodzaje zadań, które są najczęstszą przyczyną negatywnej oceny z egzaminu, to: skręt w lewo na skrzyżowaniu, przejazd przez rondo oraz ogólnie ujęte nie przestrzeganie dyspozycji znaków drogowych i nie respektowanie zasad pierwszeństwa jazdy innych uczestników ruchu. Aż 11% zdających dwukrotnie wadliwie wykonało manewr skrętu w lewo na skrzyżowaniu dróg. Średnio każdy zdający popełnił błędy w 7 zadaniach jazdy egzaminacyjnej, a 21% zdających już podczas wykonywania pierwszych pięciu zadań popełniło błędy skutkujące negatywną oceną za egzamin. Przygotowana diagnoza pokazała liczne braki w przygotowaniu kandydatów do bezpiecznego udziału w ruchu drogowym. Pokazano nie tylko zadania egzaminacyjne, generujące największą liczbę błędów u zdających, ale wskazano także ich powiązanie z przyczynami wypadków drogowych młodych kierowców.
... In essence, GDL programs focus on inexperienced drivers and are tasked with ensuring that they are exposed only to driving conditions appropriate to their skills while they are in the process of developing additional skills and experience (Foss, 2007). GDL systems have proven highly effective in reducing the risk of crashes among young drivers Shope, 2007). In October 2012, a GDL system was introduced in Serbia, comprising educational training and the GDL component proper. ...
Introduction:
Young novice drivers have higher rates of engagement in road crashes worldwide, often owing to unfavorable attitudes toward road safety or lack of knowledge, experience, and risk consciousness. However, the implementation of graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems has proven effective in reducing the high incidence of young drivers involved in crashes.
Method:
The purpose of this study was to compare the change in driving outcomes (e.g., attitudes toward traffic safety, behavior patterns while driving, risk assessment in traffic, assessment of personal driving skills, and involvement in traffic crashes) of young drivers prior to and following the implementation of a GDL law. Respondents (n = 642) completed a battery of questions, including a driver attitudes questionnaire (Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale), a self-assessed driving ability questionnaire, and a risk perception questionnaire. Of the total sample size, 324 drivers passed the old system of training driver's license candidates, and 318 drivers passed the new GDL system.
Results:
The results showed that drivers licensed with GDL reported safer attitudes toward traffic rule violations and speed, and higher levels of safety orientation with regard to their driving abilities. They also reported much higher levels of risk perception and lower exposure to risky situations (risky driving exposure). There were no differences between GDL drivers and non-GDL drivers in terms of self-reported crashes or transient or fixed violations. In addition, GDL was not related to the number of traffic crashes, the number of fatalities, or serious and slight injuries in crashes involving young drivers in crashes obtained from official records.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that GDL contributed to the improvement of drivers' attitudes and understanding of risk but did not contribute to significant changes in the behavior of young drivers and traffic crashes. In addition, the GDL program in Serbia only ranks fair on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) scale. Strengthening the GDL program in Serbia with additional components in line with GDL programs rated as good by the IIHS scale could improve the safety of young and novice drivers in traffic.
... Most US states have adopted GDL systems to reduce the high crash rates of young, inexperienced drivers. Extensive research has documented the benefits of GDL for 16-and 17-year-old novice drivers (Foss et al. 2001;Shope 2007;Shope et al. 2001;Williams 2017;Williams & Shults 2010;Williams et al. 2012). Nonetheless, some have speculated that GDL might contribute to the prevalence of unlicensed driving. ...
Background
Little is known about the prevalence of driving among teenagers who have not yet obtained a license. The primary objective of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of unlicensed driving among young drivers using the quasi-induced exposure (QIE) approach and to determine whether unlicensed driving was more common among minority and lower-income teenagers. Additionally, we examined whether unlicensed driving among adolescents increased following the implementation of a graduated driver licensing (GDL) system and whether GDL differentially affected minority and low-income adolescents.
Methods
Using North Carolina crash and driver license data, we identified 90,267 two-vehicle crashes from 1991 through 2016 where only one driver was considered contributory and the non-contributory driver was a White or Black 16 or 17 years old. In the QIE approach, these non-contributory young drivers are assumed to be representative of all adolescents driving in the state during this time period. The prevalence of unlicensed driving among adolescents by age and year was estimated by identifying the proportion of non-contributory drivers who had never been licensed by the time of their involvement in these two-vehicle crashes. We further conducted logistic regression analyses to examine the likelihood of a non-contributory young driver being unlicensed as a function of race, neighborhood income level, and licensing era (prior to or after GDL was implemented).
Results
During the 26 years for which data were available, the mean annual prevalence of unlicensed driving was 1.2% for 16-year-olds and 1.7% among 17-year-olds. Young Black drivers and individuals living in lower-income neighborhoods were somewhat more likely to drive before obtaining a license, but the rates of unlicensed driving among these groups were also quite low. Unlicensed driving increased slightly for 17-year-olds following the implementation of GDL, but returned to previous levels after a few years.
Conclusion
Unlicensed driving among adolescents in North Carolina is substantially less common than suggested by previous self-report studies and analyses of fatal crash data.
... For instance, the rate for 18 and 19 year old drivers drops from the pre-GDL level of 30.9 (in 2002) to 20.5 (in 2008) casualty collisions per 1000 licensed drivers (Alberta Transportation, 2009;Alberta Transportation, 2003). Evaluations of GDL programs in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia show strong evidence for reduction in crash rates in all jurisdictions and for all crash types (Hartling, Wiebe, Russell, Petruk, Spinola, and Klassen, 2004;Mayhew, Simpson, & Singhal, 2005;Shope, 2007). In addition, based on data from 46 U.S. States and 11 Canadian jurisdictions, Vanlaar et al. (2009) find strong evidence in support of GDL reducing fatalities (e.g., reduction of 19.1% in the relative fatality risk of 16-year-old drivers). ...
This study explores the changes in alcohol-impaired driving among a representative sample of Edmontonians from 1991 to 2009. Based on self-report data from the annual Alberta Surveys of 1991, 1992, 1997, and 2009, this study also traces the shift in the impact of standard demographic factors on alcohol-impaired driving in Edmonton, Alberta. Findings show that self-reported alcohol-impaired driving has decreased substantially over the years (10.6% in 1991, 8.4% in 1992, 7.2% in 1997, and 3.7% in 2009). However, there have been little changes in designated driving. In addition, there have been a shift in age-related impaired driving, i.e., people aged 55-65+ report impaired driving more in 2009 (4.8%) compared to 1991 (2.0%) and 1992 (2.2%); while individuals aged 18-34 and 35-54 report impaired driving less in 2009 (4.8% and 2.6%, respectively) compared to 1991 (12.7% and 13.0%, respectively). Logistic regression analyses indicate that gender is a significant predictor of alcohol-impaired driving in 1991 (OR = 3.29, 95% CI = 1.52–7.16), but not in 2009. However, the interaction between age and gender is not significant. The policy implications of the findings are discussed. Cette étude porte sur les changements dans la conduite affaiblie par l’alcool chez un échantillon représentatif de résidents d’Edmonton entre 1991 et 2009. Fondée sur des déclarations fournies par les automobilistes à l’occasion d’enquêtes annuelles menées en Alberta en 1991, 1992, 1997 et 2009, l’étude décrit aussi des fluctuations dans la portée de facteurs démographiques standard sur la conduite avec facultés affaiblies par l’alcool à Edmonton (Alberta). Les conclusions démontrent une diminution considérable des déclarations de conduite avec facultés affaiblies par l’alcool sur plusieurs années (10,6% en 1991, 8,4% en 1992, 7,2% en 1997, et 3,7% en 2009). Néanmoins, peu de changements ont été observés dans le recours aux conducteurs désignés. En outre, la fréquence de la conduite avec facultés affaiblies a connu des variations dans les différents groupes d’âge. Par exemple, les personnes âgées de 55 ans et plus ont plus souvent déclaré avoir conduit avec des facultés affaiblies en 2009 (4,8%) qu’en 1991 (2,0%) et en 1992 (2,2%), tandis que les personnes âgées de 18 à 34 ans et de 35 à 54 ans ont déclaré moins souvent avoir conduit avec les facultés affaiblies en 2009 (4,8% et 2,6%, respectivement) qu’en 1991 (12,7% et 13,0%, respectivement). Des analyses de régression logistique indiquent que le sexe a été une importante variable explicative de la conduits avec facultés affaiblies en 1991 (OR = 3,29, 95% CI = 1,52–7.16), ce qui n’a pas été le cas en 2009. Malgré cela, l’interaction entre l’âge et le sexe n’est pas significative. L’étude comprend une analyse des répercussions de ses conclusions sur certaines politiques.
... To reduce the overall risk of motor vehicle crashes among teens, Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs were put in place to allow novice teen drivers to safely gain driving experience before obtaining full independent driving privileges. Previous studies have indicated that comprehensive GDL programs are significantly associated with reducing fatal crash involvement by 20% to 40% among teen drivers (Shope 2007). Beginning in 1996, the adoption of GDL policies in all states began with the incorporation of additional novice driver requirements and restrictions during the learning period (Williams et al. 2016). ...
Objective:
Novice drivers who delay in driving licensure may miss safety benefits of Graduate Driver Licensing (GDL) programs, potentially putting themselves at higher crash-risk. Time to licensure relates their access to independent transportation to potential future economic- and educational-related opportunities. The objective of this study was to explore time to licensure associations with teens' race/ethnicity and GDL restrictions.
Methods:
Secondary analysis using all seven annual assessments of the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative longitudinal study starting with 10th grade (N = 2785; 2009-2010 school year). Data were collected in U.S. public/private schools, colleges, workplaces, and other settings. The outcome variable was interval-censored time to licensure (event = obtained driving licensure). Independent variables included race/ethnicity and state-specific GDL restrictions. Covariates included family affluence, parent education, nativity, sex, and urbanicity. Proportional hazards (PH) models were conducted for interval-censored survival analysis based on stepwise backward elimination for fitting multivariate models with consideration of complex survey features. In the PH models, a hazard ratio (HR) estimates a greater (>1) or lesser (<1) likelihood of licensure at all timepoints.
Results:
Median time to licensure after reaching legal driving age for Latinos, African Americans, and Non-Latino Whites was 3.47, 2.90, and 0.41 years, respectively. Multivariate PH models showed that Latinos were 46% less likely (HR = 0.54, 95%CI: 0.35-0.72) and African Americans were 56% less likely (HR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.32-0.56) to have obtained licensure at any time compared to Non-Latino Whites. Only learner minimum age GDL restriction was associated with time to licensure. Living in a state with a required learner driving minimum age of ≥16 years (HR = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.16-0.98) also corresponded with 43% lower likelihood of licensure at legal eligibility compared to living in other states with a required learner driving minimum age of <16 years.
Conclusion:
Latinos and African American teens obtained their license approximately three years after eligibility on average, and much later than Non-Latino Whites. Time to licensure likelihood was associated with race/ethnicity and required minimum age of learner permit, indicating important implications for teens of different racial/ethnic groups in relation to licensure, access to independent transportation, and exposure to GDL programs.
... Several approaches to reduce the number of fatal car accidents involving teenagers have been tested on and some are more successful than others. One effective policy that has been widely implemented is Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL; Shope, 2007). The three stages of GDL adopted by the state of Michigan in 1997 are as follows. ...
Fatal car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers in the USA. The Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programme is one effective policy for reducing the number of teen fatal car crashes. Our study focuses on the number of fatal car crashes in Michigan during 1990–2004 excluding 1997, when the GDL started. We use Poisson regression with spatially dependent random effects to model the county level teen car crash counts. We develop a measurement error model to account for the fact that the total teenage population in the county level is used as a proxy for the teenage driver population. To the best of our knowledge, there is no existing literature that considers adjustment for measurement error in an offset variable. Furthermore, limited work has addressed the measurement errors in the context of spatial data. In our modelling, a Berkson measurement error model with spatial random effects is applied to adjust for the error-prone offset variable in a Bayesian paradigm. The Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling is implemented in rstan. To assess the consequence of adjusting for measurement error, we compared two models with and without adjustment for measurement error. We found the effect of a time indicator becomes less significant with the measurement-error adjustment. It leads to our conclusion that the reduced number of teen drivers can help explain, to some extent, the effectiveness of GDL.
... Beller et al., 2013;Politis et al., 2015;Walch et al., 2015;Borojeni et al., 2016;Forster et al., 2016;Petermeijer et al., 2017;Clark et al., 2020). However, despite the normality for first-time drivers to undergo training for learning how to drive manual vehicles on the road (Shope, 2007;Toytown Germany, 2009;GOV.UK, 2017;I AM EXPAT, 2020), only a limited number of studies have looked specifically at driver training for AVs. Indeed, in a literature review looking specifically at this issue, Merriman et al. (2021) identified only 16 studies which investigated driver training for AVs (e.g. ...
There have been a number of high-profile collisions involving Automated Vehicles on the road. Although car manufacturers are making considerable investments into the development of Automated Vehicles, these collisions may deter the public from purchasing and using them. Therefore, solutions need to be developed to prevent these collisions from occurring in the future. One such solution is driver training. A previous literature review identified nine themes which are essential in Automated Vehicle driver training. In this article, a deductive thematic analysis was conducted on five high-profile Automated Vehicle collisions in order to demonstrate the relevance of these themes and to gain insights into how the driver’s behaviour contributed to each collision, thus understand the potential role of training in reducing collisions of this nature. By creating interconnection models for each collision, a consistent pattern emerged. A link was made with the drivers’ attitudes, the accuracy of their mental models and their level of trust in the automation. The automation caused the drivers to become underloaded, which impaired their ability to effectively monitor the automation and the road environment. This could have impaired their situation awareness and their ability to identify and avoid hazards in the path of their vehicle. This analysis suggests that future Automated Vehicle driver training programmes should be multifaceted and cover all nine themes. This analysis has validated these nine driver training themes, so these themes and interconnections can help in the development of a comprehensive training programme for drivers of Automated Vehicles in the future.
... Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs were put in place to introduce new young drivers gradually and safely into the driving population, gaining needed driving experience before obtaining full independent driving privileges (Foss et al., 2001;Governors Highway Safety Association, n.d.). It has been well documented that comprehensive GDL programs are associated with reduced fatal crash involvements by 20-40% among teen drivers in the U.S. (Chen et al., 2006;Shope, 2007;Williams, 2007;Zhu et al., 2009;Zhu et al., 2013) as well as in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, and Canada (Begg and Stephenson, 2003;Christie et al., 2017;Scott-Parker, 2016). In the U.S., every state has a GDL program with three stages, a learner's permit, intermediate license, and unrestricted license (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016; Masten et al., 2013). ...
Introduction
Some of the most vulnerable groups of teens choose to delay driving licensure (DDL). We assessed longitudinal associations between state-level Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) restrictions and DDL among U.S. high school students.
Methods
Data from seven waves of the NEXT Generation Health Study (starting 10th-grade (2009–2010)), were analyzed in 2020 using Poisson regression. The outcome was DDL (delay vs. no-delay). Independent variables were driving restrictions (at learner and intermediate phases of licensure), sex, race/ethnicity, family affluence, parent education, family structure, and urbanicity.
Results
Of 2525 eligible for licensure, 887 (38.9%), 1078 (30.4%), 560 (30.7%) reported DDL 1–2 years, >2 years, no DDL, respectively. Interactions between GDL restrictions during the learner permit period and covariates were found. In states requiring ≥30 h of supervised practice driving, Latinos (Adjusted relative risk ratio [aRRR] = 1.55, p < .001) and Blacks (aRRR = 1.38, p < .01) were more likely to DDL than Whites. In states where permit holding periods were <6 months, participants with low (aRRR = 1.61, p < .001) and moderate (aRRR = 1.45, p < .001) vs. high affluence were more likely to DDL. Participants in single-parent households vs. both-biological parent households were also more likely to DDL (aRRR = 1.37, p < .05). In states where permit holding periods were ≥6 months, participants with low (aRRR = 1.33, p < .05) vs. high affluence were more likely to DDL. In states that allowed ≥3 passengers or no passenger restriction, participants living in non-urban vs. urban (aRRR = 1.52, p < .05) areas were more likely to DDL, and in states that allowed only 1 or no passenger, participants living in non-urban vs. urban areas (aRRR = 0.67, p < .001) were less likely to DDL.
Conclusions
Our findings heighten concerns about increased crash risk among older teens who age out of state GDL policies thereby circumventing driver safety related restrictions. Significant disparities in DDL exist among more vulnerable teens in states with stricter GDL driving restrictions.
... Although the exact details vary by country and state, first-time drivers usually undergo a three-stage learning process; a learning phase where drivers have to undergo a minimum number of supervised practical driving lessons on the road, an intermediate phase where they can drive unaccompanied but only in low-risk situations (e.g. not at night or with teenage passengers) and a full unrestricted driving licence (Shope, 2007;Williams, 2017). Additionally, in the United States, first-time drivers learn how to drive in an automatic car without gears (Longford, 2005). ...
Considerable research and resources are going into the development and testing of Automated Vehicles. They are expected to bring society a huge number of benefits (such as: improved safety, increased capacity, reduced fuel use and emissions). Notwithstanding these potential benefits, there have also been a number of high-profile collisions involving Automated Vehicles on the road. In the majority of these cases, the driver’s inattention to the vehicle and road environment was blamed as a significant causal factor. This suggests that solutions need to be developed in order to enhance the benefits and address the challenges associated with Automated Vehicles. One such solution is driver training. As drivers still require manual driving skills when operating Automated Vehicles on the road, this paper applied the grounded theory approach to identify eight “key” themes and interconnections that exist in current manual vehicle driver training. These themes were then applied to the limited literature available on Automated Vehicle driver training, and a ninth theme of trust emerged. This helped to identify a set of training requirements for drivers of Automated Vehicles, which suggests that a multifaceted approach (covering all nine themes and manual and Automated Vehicle driving skills) to driver training is required. This framework can be used to develop and test a training programme for drivers of Automated Vehicles.
... Similarities include learner drivers requiring an in-vehicle fully licenced adult of a minimum age, and in some instances with a minimum number of years holding a driving licence to ensure that the supervising passenger is not a novice driver (Senserrick et al. 2010). Notable differences include that GDL schemes typically (see Table SM2) have a larger number of intermediate stages and more restrictions on holders' driving, compared to the UK's licence acquisition regime (Senserrick and Williams 2015;Shope 2007). Also, many GDL schemes restrict the number of peer (i.e. ...
Objective
The UK is one of many high-income countries to experience a decline in driving license acquisition among young adults in the 2000s. This paper draws on newly available nationally representative microdata that captures the progress of individual drivers through the UK driving license acquisition process, to establish socio-demographic correlates.
Methods
Using the 2016 and 2017 editions of England’s National Travel Survey data, a series of binary logit models were employed to identify factors associated with progression through the various phases of the UK’s driving license acquisition process. Factors that are associated with (1) the frequency of taking the driving license tests, (2) the number of times having failed the theory and driving tests are then identified.
Results
The socio-demographic explanators considered were each found to be associated with driving license holding in intuitive ways that are consistent with prior literature. However, relatively few factors are significantly associated with progress through the steps of the license acquisition process, and the goodness-of-fit for progress through these intermediate phases are generally lower (indicating that other unobservable idiosyncratic personal or contextual characteristics are dominant in these processes). A consistent theme is the strong relationship with labor market participation. Links between income and the intermediate phases, however, were generally weaker. Age is negatively associated with progress through the early phases when respondents are applying for provisional license and taking theory test, but this relationship turns positive in later stages of the acquisition process.
Conclusion
To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first opportunity to evaluate this novel data resource covering the UK’s driving license acquisition process. This is an important research direction to help policymakers understand young adults’ delay in acquiring licenses, particularly the extent to which there may be structural inequalities. The main finding is that socio-demographic factors appear to be relatively poor predictors, with employment status the strongest single correlate of the variables that were tested. This paper is concluded with suggestions for designers of household travel surveys in regions where youth license-acquisition is of increasing focus, as well as a brief discussion of future research needs.
... Teenage driver crashes in the U.S. have declined markedly in the past two decades. (Highway, 2009;Highway, 2016) This is largely the result of the widespread adoption of graduated driver licensing (Shope, 2007;Williams and Shults, 2010;Williams et al., 2012;Williams, 2017) as well as the Great Recession, whose effects on the youngest drivers appear to have started in 2007 and continued until at least 2013. Despite these dramatic declines, motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. (Drivers, 2020) and the search continues for ways to reduce crash risks of young novice drivers. ...
Introduction
Advanced driver training programs (ADTPs) are a popular approach to improve young driver safety in the U.S. These programs provide behind-the-wheel experiences in controlled settings that are thought by parents, teens, and others to be highly valuable. However, none of these programs have been carefully evaluated. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate one such program.
Methods
We randomly assigned 599 young drivers who had received a traffic citation to an ADTP, or a control condition involving traditional classroom traffic safety education.
Results
Time-to-event (survival) analyses of participants’ subsequent crash experience over the course of 550 days revealed no meaningful difference in the number of days to the first crash for those who participated in the experimental or control programs, or those who left the study.
Conclusions
The advanced driver training program evaluated in this study produced more crash reduction benefits for participants than traditional classroom-based programs. A strength of the study was the relatively large sample size and the random assignment of participants to conditions, which ruled out self-selection bias. However, this group, recruited as a result of traffic violation, may have already developed a higher risk driving demeanor than was the case in the broader population of young drivers. Additional research with other ADTPs and with a population of drivers who are earlier in their driving careers, using a similarly strong experimental design, is urgently needed to inform traffic safety practitioners and parents about the potential value of such hands-on programs.
... Motor-vehicle crashes have long been a leading cause of death for teenagers and young adults in the United States (CDC, 2017). Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems, designed to help new drivers learn to drive under relatively low-risk conditions and then grant them additional privileges and responsibilities as they gain experience, have been credited for reducing rates of motor-vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths of teenage drivers in the United States over the past 20 years (Masten & Foss, 2010;Shope, 2007;Williams, 2017;Williams & Shults, 2010;. ...
Introduction:
Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems have been shown to reduce rates of crashes, injuries, and deaths of young novice drivers. However, approximately one in three new drivers in the United States obtain their first driver's license at age 18 or older, and thus are exempt from most or all provisions of GDL in most states.
Method:
In July 2015, the state of Indiana updated its GDL program, extending its restrictions on driving at night and on carrying passengers during the first 6 months of independent driving, previously only applicable to new drivers younger than 18, to all newly-licensed drivers younger than 21 years of age. The current study examined monthly rates of crashes per licensed driver under the affected conditions (driving at night and driving with passengers) among Indiana drivers first licensed at ages 18, 19, and 20 under the updated GDL system compared with drivers licensed at the same ages under the previous GDL system. We used Poisson regression to estimate the association between the GDL system and crash rates, while attempting to control for other factors that might have also influenced crash rates. We used linear regression to estimate the association between the GDL system and the proportion of all crashes that occurred under conditions restricted by the GDL program.
Results:
Results showed, contrary to expectations, that rates of crashes during restricted nighttime hours and with passengers were higher among drivers licensed under the updated GDL system. This mirrored a statewide increase in crash rates among drivers of all ages over the study period and likely reflected increased overall driving exposure. The proportions of all crashes that were at night or with passengers did not change. Practical Applications: More research is needed to understand how older novice drivers respond when GDL systems originally designed for younger novice drivers are applied to them.
... A number of evaluations suggest GDL programs are an effective countermeasure for young driver crashes and fatalities (e.g. Langley, Wagenaar, & Begg, 1996;Shope, 2007;Williams, 2017) including Australian GDL programs (e.g. Imberger, Healy, Catchpole, Mitsopoulos-Rubens, & McIntyre, 2017;Senserrick, Boufous, Olivier, & Hatfield, 2016). ...
Deterrence theory is the predominant theory used to underpin road policing initiatives. However, survey research indicates that this approach may not be as effective for young drivers. This study uses focus groups, conducted in both metropolitan and regional locations in two Australian states (Queensland and Victoria), to explore three components of classical deterrence theory: certainty, severity & swiftness. The results suggest that geographical context affected perceptions of certainty with individuals from regional locations less likely to indicate that they would be caught by police for committing a traffic offence. Additionally, the use of cameras to detect road offences increased perceptions of certainty for young drivers. The results of this study suggest that police agencies should focus on undertaking actions to increase the perceptions of certainty swiftness and severity of punishment, particularly in regional areas, for young drivers who engage in illegal behaviour on the road. Where appropriate, these actions should take into account the geographical context. There may also be value in considering augmenting deterrence theory with other theoretical perspectives for this group.
... A meta-analysis comprising 27 studies about GDL effectiveness was performed and found a reduction by 20 to 40 percent in national teen drivers' high crash risk. (3) A recent and thorough meta-analysis of all GDL-related scientific literature found similar results indicating an average crash reduction of 31 percent. (4) Although some driver education programs (e.g., GDL programs) have been shown to be beneficial, some researchers have found that driver education programs consistently fail to meet safety objectives despite the fact that driving on the nation's roadways requires more knowledge and skill than ever. ...
Recent research investigated light-vehicle/heavy-vehicle near-crashes and crashes (critical incidents) and found that 78 percent were initiated by the light-vehicle driver.(2) The most common incident type involved the light vehicle changing lanes without sufficient gap to the heavy vehicle. This larger proportion of light-vehicle, at-fault incidents may result from inadequate training about heavy-vehicle dynamics during light-vehicle driver education programs. The purpose of this project was to survey curricula of light-vehicle driver education programs and assess any information that is relevant to heavy-vehicle characteristics and procedures for light-vehicle drivers safely driving around heavy vehicles (sharing the road).
... As revealed in this study, connected environment will benefit the young drivers more as compared to the middle and the old aged drivers and, hence, strategies and policies shall be framed to maximise the positive effect of connected environment on the young drivers and to make this new technology more beneficial to the middle and the old drivers. As a first step, an introduction to connected vehicle technology can be integrated with the framework of graduated driver licensing program (Shope, 2007;Williams et al., 2012) to provide the necessary exposure of this technology to novice drivers. ...
The motive of sharing the information in a connected environment is to assist a driver in operational, tactical, and strategic decision making and improving driving task performance. The influence of such information assistance on driver decision making and task performance during safety-critical events is not well understood. Thus, this study focusses on understanding the impact of connected environment on the acceleration noise and the response time as indicators of task performance and the decision making involved in safety-critical events. To overcome the paucity of connected environment data, an advanced driving simulator experiment is designed and conducted. Three categories of uninterrupted information are available to drivers in connected environment scenario, namely continuous information, on-time event-triggered information, and advanced event-triggered information. The safety-critical event designed in the simulator experiment is the leader’s hard braking behaviour in car-following regime. In connected environment scenario, drivers receive an advanced message for this safety-critical event. To model drivers’ decision in safety-critical situations, random parameters modelling approaches are adopted to account for the unobserved heterogeneities in drivers’ decision. Consequently, a grouped random parameters hazard-based duration model and a grouped random parameters linear regression model—both with heterogeneity in parameter means—are estimated for the response time and the acceleration noise, respectively. Results show that the acceleration noise reduces in connected environment while the response time can either increase or decrease in connected environment compared to those in the traditional environment. To better understand this mixed effect on response time, a decision tree analysis is conducted. For human factors, the results demonstrate that young drivers take more advantage of connected environment relative to the middle-aged or old drivers. Overall, drivers exhibit stable driving behaviour because they have more time to react and thus, are at low risk in safety-critical situations in connected environment.
... Aside from alcohol, our findings 315 indicate that being careless, reckless, or in a hurry also co-occurs 316 with speeding in the cause of young drivers' crashes. Graduated 317 driver licensing (GDL) systems differ in the restrictions (e.g., carry-318 ing passengers, night-time driving) applied to young novice drivers 319(Chen, Baker, & Li, 2006;Shope, 2007). An implication of our find-320 ings is that GDL systems may be enhanced if aimed at the combi-321 nations of factors that underlie young drivers' crashes. ...
Introduction:
Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in adolescence and young adults. A multitude of factors, including skill level, inexperience, and risk taking behaviors are associated with young drivers' crashes. This research investigated whether combinations of factors underlie crashes involving young drivers.
Method:
A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on population-wide one- and two-car crashes in Great Britain during years 2005-2012 per driver age (17-20, 21-29, 30-39, 40-49) and sex. Reporting officers provided their assessment of the factors contributing to crashes. Principal components analysis was conducted to identify combinations of factors underlying young drivers' crashes. Factor combinations, including challenging driving conditions, risk taking behaviors, and inexperience were implicated in young drivers' crashes.
Results:
Combinations of factors reveal new insights into underlying causes of crashes involving young drivers. One combination revealed that slippery roads due to poor weather pose greater risk to young drivers who are inexperienced and likely to exceed the appropriate speed. The findings motivate new policy recommendations, such as educating young drivers about the importance of adjusting their speed to the road conditions.
... To date, the most successful countermeasure that has been evaluated as reducing the crash rates of young drivers is GDL which involves new drivers progressing through learner and provisional or intermediate stages before obtaining a full licence (Scott-Parker and Rune 2016; Bates et al. 2018). Evaluations suggest that they reduce crash risk by between 20 and 40% (Shope 2007). Those systems that include strong nighttime and passenger restrictions as well as licence at an older age tend to have lower fatal crash rates (McCartt et al. 2010). ...
Third-party policing involves police partnering with other individuals or organisations in order to prevent or control crime and disorder. Given the high level of young driver crash rates and offences, an intervention based on third-party policing may reduce both. This study explored the feasibility of using this approach with parents, who would be the third party, and young drivers in the Australian Capital Territory. Semistructured interviews with 16 parents and 11 of their children were conducted. The results suggest that given parents are supportive of the formal policing of young drivers and their willingness to impose additional restrictions on their children, that the introduction of an intervention based on a third-party policing framework is feasible. However, the lack of knowledge of GDL restrictions that apply to their child may make it difficult for parents to act as an enforcement authority in partnership with police. There is also the need to introduce a legal lever to support parents in their interactions with children and enable police to coerce parents into taking action.
... Conducted studies prove that GDL has appositive effect on mitigation of accident risk among young and novice drivers [54,55]. Results of previous studies indicate that GDL program can reduce traffic accidents by 20% to 40%.effectivness of GDL program is depend on some factors such as a minimum of 6 months learning period, set a minimum age for full licensing , restriction for driving during night, compulsory driving lessons and restriction on the number of teenage passengers [56][57][58]. ...
Road traffic accidents represented as the third cause of “death and disease” also the major cause of death among young people aged 15-29 years. In recent decade consequential investigation has been conducted on road crash contributing factors. All these researches showed that the recurrence and severity of accidents depend on many causes, such as vehicle performance, roadway environment, and characteristics of road users. Despite many studies in this field, the function of human factors on road accidents, is still unclear, due to the complex human characteristics. The lack of comprehensive model or procedure for scrutiny and evaluating the human characteristics which contributed to road incidents, motivate us to review on previous studies in order to indicate the relationships between human factors and road safety. This paper focus on the natural driving behavior of drivers including hazard perception and risk-taking of drivers which is affected by age, perceptual/cognitive abilities and driving experience. The study clearly shows that the mentioned factors have a huge impact on road incidents. Therefore, this paper indicate and recommend a number of solutions in order to mitigate the severity and frequency of accidents caused by human errors. Also previous road safety studies will provide series of crucial information for improvement of driver licensing and their training procedure.
... For example, one educator said that "whilst [parents have] good intentions, they're not 475 very good role models in regard to supervising" their children's driving while a young 476 driver described a simulator training option where "your parents could be sitting in the 477 back and they could be learning as well…instead of putting a parent in that [real world 478 driver education] course because they wouldn't really want to be told what to do" 479 (YD5). There may be some incongruence in the perceptions of the study participants, 480 however, as research indicates that GDL schemes, which largely place emphasis on 481 parents or lay supervisors as the main driving teacher and monitor, have successfully 482 reduced young driver crash involvements in many jurisdictions (Shope, 2007;Vanlaar 483 et al., 2009). Nevertheless, the importance of skilling parents as driver trainers has been 484 recognized (Curry, Peek-Asa, Hamann, & Mirman, 2015) and there is no current 485 requirement in Australia for supervisors to undergo any additional training themselves 486 before teaching their child to drive (Senserrick & Williams, 2015). ...
Driving simulators may be used to augment young driver education programs. However, little research has examined what young drivers and driver educators think about these devices. If driver educators and young drivers do not believe that simulator training will be effective, it is unlikely that they will be used to their full potential. Eight focus groups utilizing a qualitative draw-and-talk technique examined young drivers’ (n = 22) and driver educators’ (n = 10) perceptions of simulators. Participants made a drawing of an ‘ideal’ driving simulator. Thematic analysis was conducted on audio transcripts of the group discussions about their drawings. Results suggested that many young drivers and driver educators may be ambivalent about using simulators as a driver education tool, although they see value in the standardization of training they could provide. There may be a need for education about the evidence-based strengths and weaknesses of simulators to change these perceptions.
... GDL systems reduce crash risk for those who are required to progress through the system (Shope 2007;Steadman et al. 2014;Zhu et al. 2015) although the results are less clear for those new drivers who are older and thus not subject to the requirements (Conner and Smith 2017). Additionally, research suggests that implementing a GDL system in jurisdictions where one does not currently exist would reduce young driver crashes (Jones et al. 2013). ...
Young drivers have the highest crash rates when compared with other groups of drivers. One countermeasure that has successfully reduced these crash rates is graduated driver licensing. However, young drivers’ compliance with graduated driver licensing requirements decreases as they gain driving experience. This paper systematically reviews the literature in order to identify how enforcement practices can be used to influence the compliance of young drivers within graduated driver licensing systems. The review identified 21 relevant studies with all bar one of these being conducted in the USA or Australia. Additionally, young drivers and parents perceive that police enforcement of young drivers within graduated driver licensing systems is inconsistent. As young drivers are more concerned about their parents finding out that they broke the road rules, there appears to be scope for greater parental involvement in this area. The use of P plates or decals for drivers on an intermediate licence may also help to facilitate police enforcement.
... One policy that may have influenced the decrease in motor vehicle-related injury hospitalization rates over time is GDL which requires novice drivers to advance through a number of learning phases where they are supervised in lower-risk conditions until they gain more knowledge and experience on the roads [11]. In the United States, GDL programs that combined a mandatory waiting period of more than 3-months between stages; a nighttime driving restriction; and, greater than 30-h of supervised driving and/or passenger restrictions, were associated with a 16-21% reduction in fatal crashes among teen drivers [12]. ...
Background
In Canada, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among children and youth ≤19. Across the country, there is variability in road traffic injury prevention policies and legislation. Our objective was to compare pediatric road traffic related injury hospitalization and death rates across Canadian provinces.
Methods
Population-based hospitalization and death rates per 100,000 were analyzed using data from the Discharge Abstract Database and provincial coroner’s reports. Road traffic related injuries sustained by children and youth ≤19 years were analyzed by province and cause between 2006 and 2012.
Results
The overall transport-related injury morbidity rate for children in Canada was 70.91 per 100,000 population between 2006 and 2012. The Canadian population-based injury hospitalization rates from all transport-related causes significantly decreased from 85.51 to 58.77 per 100,000 (− 4.42; p < 0.01; − 5.42; − 3.41) during the study period. Saskatchewan had the highest overall transport related morbidity rate (135.69 per 100,000), and Ontario had the lowest (47.12 per 100,000). Similar trends were observed for mortality rates in Canada.
Conclusions
Transport-related injuries among children and youth have significantly decreased in Canada from 2006 to 2012; however the rates vary by province and cause.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-6269-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
... De nombreuses synthèses systématiques démontrent que les PAGC préviennent les accidents chez les nouveaux conducteurs [30,31]. Sur la base des résultats de 27 évaluations publiées depuis 2002, une synthèse conclut que les PAGC diminuent le risque d'accident de 20 à 40 % [32]. ...
Les décès routiers ont considérablement chuté au Québec entre 1973 et 2013, passant de 2209 à 392. L’objectif de cet article est double : 1) décrire les mesures mises en place pour s’attaquer aux problèmes de d’insécurité routière, et 2) présenter la structure et éléments liés à la gouvernance de la politique de sécurité routière. L’article prend également le soin de proposer des mesures qui pourraient améliorer la situation actuelle. La majorité des mesures introduites ciblent le conducteur (p. ex : lois, programmes policiers, sensibilisation). Par exemple, des programmes d’application sélective de la loi ont été menés pour dissuader la conduite avec les facultés affaiblies et augmenter le port de la ceinture de sécurité. Un programme d’accès graduel à la conduite a aussi été développé afin de prévenir les accidents impliquant de jeunes conducteurs. Un programme de contrôle automatisé de la vitesse a été implanté progressivement à partir de 2009. Enfin des campagnes de sensibilisation ont été menées sur plusieurs problèmes d’insécurité routière. Enfin, la mise en place de mesures efficaces de prévention des accidents ne serait possible sans la présence d’un partenariat intersectoriel bien établi. Plusieurs politiques, lois, activités et forums favorisent les collaborations et échanges entre différents acteurs touchés par les problématiques d’insécurité routière. L’article conclut en rappelant l’importance de développer davantage de mesures modifiant l’environnement routier et les véhicules pour faire des gains supplémentaires en matière de prévention des accidents.
Background
Road Traffic injuries (RTI) are among the top ten leading causes of death in the world resulting in 1.35 million deaths every year, about 93% of which occur in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Despite several global resolutions to reduce traffic injuries, they have continued to grow in many countries. Many high‐income countries have successfully reduced RTI by using a public health approach and implementing evidence‐based interventions. As many LMICs develop their highway infrastructure, adopting a similar scientific approach towards road safety is crucial. The evidence also needs to be evaluated to assess external validity because measures that have worked in high‐income countries may not translate equally well to other contexts. An evidence gap map for RTI is the first step towards understanding what evidence is available, from where, and the key gaps in knowledge.
Objectives
The objective of this evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing evidence from all effectiveness studies and systematic reviews related to road safety interventions. In addition, the EGM identifies gaps in evidence where new primary studies and systematic reviews could add value. This will help direct future research and discussions based on systematic evidence towards the approaches and interventions which are most effective in the road safety sector. This could enable the generation of evidence for informing policy at global, regional or national levels.
Search Methods
The EGM includes systematic reviews and impact evaluations assessing the effect of interventions for RTI reported in academic databases, organization websites, and grey literature sources. The studies were searched up to December 2019.
Selection Criteria
The interventions were divided into five broad categories: (a) human factors (e.g., enforcement or road user education), (b) road design, infrastructure and traffic control, (c) legal and institutional framework, (d) post‐crash pre‐hospital care, and (e) vehicle factors (except car design for occupant protection) and protective devices. Included studies reported two primary outcomes: fatal crashes and non‐fatal injury crashes; and four intermediate outcomes: change in use of seat belts, change in use of helmets, change in speed, and change in alcohol/drug use. Studies were excluded if they did not report injury or fatality as one of the outcomes.
Data Collection and Analysis
The EGM is presented in the form of a matrix with two primary dimensions: interventions (rows) and outcomes (columns). Additional dimensions are country income groups, region, quality level for systematic reviews, type of study design used (e.g., case‐control), type of road user studied (e.g., pedestrian, cyclists), age groups, and road type. The EGM is available online where the matrix of interventions and outcomes can be filtered by one or more dimensions. The webpage includes a bibliography of the selected studies and titles and abstracts available for preview. Quality appraisal for systematic reviews was conducted using a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews, AMSTAR 2.
Main Results
The EGM identified 1859 studies of which 322 were systematic reviews, 7 were protocol studies and 1530 were impact evaluations. Some studies included more than one intervention, outcome, study method, or study region. The studies were distributed among intervention categories as: human factors (n = 771), road design, infrastructure and traffic control (n = 661), legal and institutional framework (n = 424), post‐crash pre‐hospital care (n = 118) and vehicle factors and protective devices (n = 111). Fatal crashes as outcomes were reported in 1414 records and non‐fatal injury crashes in 1252 records. Among the four intermediate outcomes, speed was most commonly reported (n = 298) followed by alcohol (n = 206), use of seatbelts (n = 167), and use of helmets (n = 66). Ninety‐six percent of the studies were reported from high‐income countries (HIC), 4.5% from upper‐middle‐income countries, and only 1.4% from lower‐middle and low‐income countries. There were 25 systematic reviews of high quality, 4 of moderate quality, and 293 of low quality.
Authors' Conclusions
The EGM shows that the distribution of available road safety evidence is skewed across the world. A vast majority of the literature is from HICs. In contrast, only a small fraction of the literature reports on the many LMICs that are fast expanding their road infrastructure, experiencing rapid changes in traffic patterns, and witnessing growth in road injuries. This bias in literature explains why many interventions that are of high importance in the context of LMICs remain poorly studied. Besides, many interventions that have been tested only in HICs may not work equally effectively in LMICs. Another important finding was that a large majority of systematic reviews are of low quality. The scarcity of evidence on many important interventions and lack of good quality evidence‐synthesis have significant implications for future road safety research and practice in LMICs. The EGM presented here will help identify priority areas for researchers, while directing practitioners and policy makers towards proven interventions.
Due to factors such as greater levels of sensation seeking and negative peer influences, travelling at speeds greater than the posted limit is common among young drivers. This has been shown to increase risk of death and serious injury in road crashes, and therefore, there is a need to identify theoretical perspectives that can be used to effectively inform intervention development. This study aimed to further develop an understanding of the influence of procedurally just interactions between young drivers and police on intentions to engage in speeding behaviours. A 30-minute online survey was completed by 2,124 young Queensland and Victorian (Australia) drivers. A regression analysis identified that young drivers who perceived higher levels of procedural justice in their interactions with police officers reported lower intentions to engage in speeding. This was after factors known to be associated with increased speeding intentions, such as sensation seeking, had been accounted for. These findings suggest that procedural justice is a candidate for consideration in the development of non-deterrence based speeding interventions for young drivers.
Learner drivers must gain supervised driving practice in a wide variety of driving situations to prepare them for independent driving. This study investigated the way that sociodemographic factors, parental self-efficacy and driving self-efficacy of parents are associated with the quality of supervised driving practice they provide to their learner driver children. An online survey was completed by 293 fully licensed parents (female = 86%) of learner (52%) and provisional (intermediate; 48%) drivers from Queensland, Australia. A variable indicating quality of supervised practice was defined based on the understanding that higher frequency and greater variety of driving situations and environments represents higher quality supervised practice. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyse parent responses. As predicted, driving self-efficacy was significantly and positively associated with quality of supervised practice. However, no significant association was found between parental self-efficacy and quality of supervised practice. Parent gender and perceived level of involvement were also important predictors of supervised practice quality. The association between previous experience with providing supervised practice and supervised practice quality was unclear. A key implication of this research is that devising methods to improve the driving self-efficacy of parents may contribute to provision of more frequent and varied supervised practice.
In Germany, “Accompanied Driving From Age 17” (AD17) is a voluntary alternative method of formal driver training that demonstrably reduces the crash risk for young novice drivers. This study aims to clarify whether social resources such as peers and novice driver-specific social capital play a role in participation in the AD17 program in Germany. In a nationwide random sample, 17-year-old accompanied novice drivers (n = 2,478) and 18-year-old novices (n = 925) who had conventionally acquired a driver’s license were surveyed about their novice driver-specific social resources, using specially developed measurement tools such as a resource generator. The results revealed that the proportion of a young driver’s friends currently taking or having taken part in AD17 is a major predictor for participation in AD17. To a lesser extent, family-based social capital positively correlates to voluntary participation in AD17. Future optimization efforts should therefore take into account providing support for family-based social resources, including the possibility of compensation. Additionally, considering the composition of the young driver’s peer group is strongly recommended.
Introduction:
Scholarly research on road accidents over the past 50 years has generated substantial literature. We propose a robust search strategy to retrieve and analyze this literature.
Method:
Analyses was focused on estimating the size of this literature and examining its intellectual anatomy and temporal trends using bibliometric indicators of its articles.
Results:
The size of the literature is estimated to have exceeded N = 25,000 items as of 2020. At the highest level of aggregation, patterns of term co-occurrence in road accident articles point to the presence of six major divisions: (i) law, legislation & road trauma statistics; (ii) vehicular safety technology; (iii) statistical modelling; (iv) driving simulator experiments of driving behavior; (v) driver style and personality (social psychology); and (vi) vehicle crashworthiness and occupant protection division. Analyses identify the emergence of various research clusters and their progress over time along with their respective influential entities. For example, driver injury severity " and crash frequency show distinct characteristics of trending topics, with research activities in those areas notably intensified since 2015 Also, two developing clusters labelled autonomous vehicle and automated vehicle show distinct signs of becoming emerging streams of road accident literature.
Conclusions:
By objectively documenting temporal patterns in the development of the field, these analyses could offer new levels of insight into the intellectual composition of this field, its future directions, and knowledge gaps. Practical Applications: The proposed search strategy can be modified to generate specific subsets of this literature and assist future conventional reviews. The findings of temporal analyses could also be instrumental in informing and enriching literature review sections of original research articles. Analyses of authorships can facilitate collaborations, particularly across various divisions of accident research field.
In the United States, about 28 lives are lost daily in motor vehicle accidents that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. While most states have enacted various traffic laws to address this phenomenon, little consensus exists on the causal impact of these laws in reducing alcohol-induced fatalities. This paper exploits quasi-random variation in state-level laws to estimate the causal effect of alcohol-related traffic laws on the frequency of fatal accidents. This is identified from the discontinuities in traffic laws among contiguous counties that are separated by a shared state border. We present robust evidence that the conventional approaches that are typically utilized in the literature may erroneously estimate the effectiveness of several alcohol-related laws.
Background
Worldwide momentum toward legalization of recreational cannabis use has raised a common concern that such policies might increase cannabis-impaired driving and consequent traffic-related harms, especially among youth. The current study evaluated this issue in Canada.
Methods
Utilizing provincial emergency department (ED) records (April 1, 2015-December 31, 2019) from Alberta and Ontario, Canada, we employed Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models to assess associations between Canada’s cannabis legalization (via the Cannabis Act implemented on October 17, 2018) and weekly provincial counts of ICD-10-CA-defined traffic-injury ED presentations. For each province (Alberta/Ontario), SARIMA models were developed on two driver groups: all drivers, and youth drivers (aged 14-17 years in Alberta; 16-18 years, Ontario).
Results
There was no evidence of significant changes associated with cannabis legalization on post-legalization weekly counts of drivers’ traffic-injury ED visits in: (1) Alberta, all drivers (n = 52,752 traffic-injury presentations), an increase of 9.17 visits (95% CI -18.85; 37.20; p = 0.52); (2) Alberta, youth drivers (n = 3,265 presentations), a decrease of 0.66 visits (95% CI -2.26; 0.94; p = 0.42); (3) Ontario, all drivers (n = 186,921 presentations), an increase of 28.93 visits (95% CI -26.32; 84.19; p = 0.30); and (4) Ontario, youth drivers (n = 4,565), an increase of 0.09 visits (95% CI -6.25; 6.42; p = 0.98).
Conclusions
Implementation of the Cannabis Act was not associated with evidence of significant post-legalization changes in traffic-injury ED visits in Ontario or Alberta among all drivers or youth drivers, in particular.
Diplomová práca sa zaoberá mladými šoférmi a dopravným vzdelávaním. Jej cieľom bolo zmapovať skúsenosti, postoje a znalosti mladých šoférov po získaní vodičského preukazu a takisto zistiť ich názor na absolvované dopravné vzdelávanie v Českej republike. V práci popisujeme šoférov v kontexte dopravy, špecifiká mladých šoférov a vzdelávanie mladých šoférov. S ohľadom na ciele výskumu sme dáta zbierali prostredníctvom online dotazníka. Výskumný súbor tvorí 595 respondentov vo veku 18 – 24 rokov. Zmapovali sme ich skúsenosti so šoférovaním, nehodami a obdržanými trestami. Zistili sme, aké témy spojené s rizikovým správaním sú v autoškolách vyučované nedostatočne alebo neefektívne. Takisto sme zmapovali skúsenosti s dopravným vzdelávaním mimo autoškoly. Otestovali sme vedomosti o pravidlách cestnej premávky v oblastiach týkajúcich sa rizikového správania. Zmapovali sme frekvenciu výskytu rizikového správania. Zistili sme, že medzi postojom k rizikovému dopravnému správaniu a jeho výskytom je stredne silný vzťah. Takisto sme našli stredne silný vzťah medzi hodnotením vlastných šoférskych schopností a výskytom rizikového správania. Medzi vedomosťami a výskytom rizikového správania sme zistili slabý vzťah.
Despite the adoption of the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) in 1998, the disproportionately high rate of young driver (15-24 years) crashes is still prevalent on Louisiana roadways. This paper utilizes the five years (2014-2018) crash data in Louisiana aiming to compare the crash profiles of three age groups (15-16 years, 17-19 years, and 20-24 years) to determine the contributing factors, crash characteristics, and severity outcomes. An extensive review of previous literature along with engineering judgments facilitated the understanding of the crash variables that were eventually used in the multinomial logit model with additional consideration of the current framework of the statewide GDL program. Results revealed that factors such as driving violation, distraction, passenger presence, time of crash, and driver protection system have been highlighted as the top ten predominant factors in multiple young driver groups. This study shows there is a ground for data-driven improvement for young drivers in Louisiana by presenting a broader view of a variety of issues based on the findings. Nighttime driving outside passenger restricted hours in GDL program, violations especially 'failure to yield', driving behaviors such as cellphone distraction especially in drivers aged 17-19 years and non-use of driver protection system across all young driver age groups are among the addressable key issues that may be influential in reducing young driver crashes. The study concludes that implementation of the GDL program would be more effective through continuous improvement and reevaluation of its components and strategic application of complementary young driver safety programs.
Motorized vehicles, whether they are cars, motorbikes, or lorries, are complex machines, which are not very easy to operate and are potentially very dangerous to the drivers themselves and also to others in their vicinity. Therefore, governments and local authorities grant driver's licenses, regulate driver education, and enforce the traffic rules. A driver should not only be able to drive a car and maintain it but also drive the vehicle in a safe manner. Safe driving is an activity that requires particular insight and self-regulation on the part of the driver—driving is a “self-paced task.” It is up to the driver (his or her decisions and behavior) to choose a safe driving style. There are great differences in the content of mandatory driver education worldwide: some systems can be more complex, for example, involving graduated licensing or requiring specialized lessons, while others require only the final test. A driver's license for cars does not have an expiration date, so the majority of drivers undergo nonrecurring (one-off) education. It is only in some cases, and mostly on a voluntary basis, that drivers undergo further training, especially in first aid, eco-driving, or defensive driving.
Parent-based teen driving interventions have been shown to increase safe teen driving but few have been translated beyond the research setting. As employers focus more on total worker health, the workplace offers a unique opportunity to implement a safe teen driving program into a workplace wellness program. The aim of this study was to adapt the evidence-based, parent-focused teen safe driving program Steering Teens Safe (STS) into workplace wellness programs, and to evaluate the implementation process and effect on parent-teen communication. The Replicating Effective Programs framework was used to modify STS to fit the workplace setting. The implementation process of the STS workplace wellness program was measured using direct observation and recordings of parent communication trainings while the effectiveness was measured by parent questionnaires. Forty-five parent employees across three businesses participated in the study. STS trainers were skilled in training parents in effective communication, including using open-ended questions and reflections. Parents reported increased success in conversations with their teens regarding safe driving through increased affection, receptivity, trust and equality in conversations. Workplaces may play a key role in assisting parents with teaching their children about safe driving.
In the early 20th century, the numbers of motor vehicles in use grew rapidly in the USA, Canada, and many European countries. By the 1930s, the number of automobile crashes and the resulting deaths and injuries was a significant problem and various safety organizations tried to address it with education and publicity programs aimed at changing driver behaviour. It is not clear when the high crash risks of young drivers were first identified, but in the early 1930s driver education courses began to be offered in US high schools (feasible because US licensing ages were 16 or younger) and soon such courses were being touted (with no evidence) as ‘the most obvious way’ to reduce traffic crashes. Over the years many claims were made for the effectiveness of high school driver education, however, it was not until the late 1960s that competent research studies (including randomized control trials) were undertaken. The consistent findings from these studies have been that high school driver education does not reduce crashes. Furthermore, the trained students get their licenses sooner, and because teenagers have very high crash risks, the net result of high school driver education is increased numbers of crashes.
Das vorliegende bfu-Sicherheitsdossier befasst sich
mit der Verkehrssicherheit von Jugendlichen. Thematisiert werden das Unfallgeschehen von 15- bis
17-Jährigen in der Schweiz, die Risikofaktoren und
ihre Relevanz sowie Präventionsmassnahmen zur
Erhöhung der Sicherheit von Jugendlichen im Strassenverkehr.
Purpose:
Deaths and serious injuries from road accidents remain a serious issue in developing countries, including for young people, for whom they are the largest cause of death. This article provides an assessment of interventions to reduce these deaths and injuries for adolescents in 75 developing countries.
Methods:
We draw on new data on deaths and injuries by age, gender, and accident type for the 75 countries and on the road safety experience of developed and, more recently, developing countries. Critical tasks are to identify key interventions in road safety and estimate their impact and cost. We incorporate these impact and cost estimates in a modeling framework to calculate the reduction in deaths and serious injuries achieved out to 2030, relative to the base case. Finally, established methods are used to value the economic and social benefits arising from these reductions, and hence to calculate benefit-cost ratios.
Results:
For the unchanged policy case, we estimate that there will be about 3 million deaths and 7.4 million serious injuries from road accidents for persons aged 10-24 years in the 75 countries to 2030. The preferred interventions avert one million of these deaths and 3 million serious injuries, at a cost of $6.5 billion per annum over 2016-2030, or $1.2 per capita across the total population of these countries. After valuing the benefits of the deaths and serious injuries averted, we find a benefit-cost ratio of 7.6 for 2016-2030, but of 9.9 if the interventions continue to 2050.
Conclusions:
Proven methods, suitably adjusted to local conditions, are available to reduce the tragic toll of road accidents in developing countries. These initiatives are likely to have strong economic and social returns, and should be given high priority.
Between 1996 and 2015, vehicular fatalities per capita involving 16- to 17-year-old drivers declined by 68.7%. During this same period, states enacted teen driver licensure provisions in an á la carte fashion, now collectively referred to as graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs, that restricted teen driving. While the literature demonstrates that ‘good’ GDL programs reduce vehicular fatalities, how these reductions occur remains open. In this study, separate GDL provisions and no pass, no drive laws are studied to understand reduction mechanisms. The evaluation is based on a state-by-year panel and uses difference-in-difference and triple-difference specifications to identify causal impacts on rates of licensing, vehicular fatalities, and fatalities per licensee.
The empirical results find that the minimum intermediate licensing age of 16.5 or older provision reduces licensing of 16- to 17-year-old teens by 20.1%, and no other licensure provision consistently impacts licensing. In addition, vehicular fatalities decrease from the minimum intermediate licensing age of 16.5 or older provision by 22.7%, the driver’s education reduces supervised hours provision by 5.9%, and no pass, no drive laws by 7.3%, while vehicular fatalities increase from the supervised driving hours required provision by 6.3%. Furthermore, only teen driver cellphone or texting bans have impacts on vehicular fatalities per 16- to 17-year-old licensed female and few long-term impacts are identified on those ages 18–20 who ‘graduated’ from licensing programs. This research suggests that GDL programs affect vehicular fatalities mostly through incapacitation, rather than programmatically.
Many traffic safety researchers believe Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws save lives by imposing restrictions, stronger licensing requirements, and delayed licensure status on drivers under age 18. To determine the effects of California's GDL law on traffic fatalities among older (age 18-19) and younger (age 16-17) teens by age, sex, accident characteristics, and license status, mortality data from California's Center for Health Statistics, driver and accident data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, and population data from the California Department of Finance were analyzed for the 1995-2004 period. Compared to California who began driving before the GDL law took effect and to corresponding trends among Californians ages 20 through 44, 16- and 17-year-olds subject the GDL law experienced net decreases of 13% in motor vehicle fatality rates and 14% in driver involvements in fatal accidents. However, 18- and 19-year-olds subjected to GDL programs experienced net increases of 11% in traffic fatalities and 10% in involvements of drivers in fatal accidents, more than offsetting the declines among younger teenagers. These results support reassessment of the effects of the GDL law, including its specific requirements, on older teenagers.
California's graduated driver licensing (GDL) program was implemented to reduce the high crash risk of teenage drivers. The program enhancements made in 1998 were evaluated in this study using methods that rule out the noticeable downward trend in California teen's fatal/injury crash rates as a possible explanation for any observed crash reductions that could otherwise be mistaken for program effects.
Monthly per capita fatal/injury crash rates for 15-to-17-year-olds and proportional representations of 16-17-year-olds' nighttime and passenger crashes were analyzed using intervention time series analysis.
After removing trend, seasonality, and transition effects in the data, no overall reductions in fatal/injury crashes for 15-17-year-olds or 16-year-olds (separately) were found to be associated with the 1998 program enhancements, suggesting no overall exposure reduction effect of the longer instruction permit period nor increased competency associated with the higher number of required practice hours. However, the 12-month nighttime and 6-month passenger restrictions were found to be associated with annual savings of 55 and 816 fatal/injury crashes, respectively.
Finding no overall impact of the 1998 GDL enhancements was not surprising given findings of an earlier survey suggesting that California teens and parents were largely already practicing program requirements prior to implementation and were not fully complying with the program requirements afterwards. Though the observed crash savings associated with the restrictions were of modest size, this is the first study to evidence a direct positive impact of the passenger restriction component of GDL programs. Larger reductions could be realized if the nighttime restriction started earlier and parents/law enforcement could be motivated to better enforce these restrictions.
The findings provide support for passenger and nighttime restriction components of GDL programs.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of differentially stringent graduated drivers license programs on teen driver fatalities, day-time and night-time teen driver fatalities, fatalities of teen drivers with passengers present, and fatalities among teen passengers.
The study uses 1992-2002 data on motor vehicle fatalities among 15-17-year-old drivers from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System to identify the effects of "good", "fair", and "marginal" GDL programs based upon designations by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Analysis is conducted using conditional negative binomial regressions with fixed effects.
"Good" programs reduce total fatalities among young drivers by 19.4% (c.i. -33.0%, -5.9%). "Fair" programs reduce night-time young driver fatalities by 12.6% (c.i. -23.9%, -1.2%), but have no effect on day-time fatalities. "Marginal" programs had no statistically meaningful effect on driver fatalities. All three types of programs reduced teen passenger fatalities, but the effects of limitations on the number of passengers appear to have had only minimal effects in reducing fatalities among young drivers themselves.
Stronger GDL programs are more effective than weaker programs in reducing teenage motor vehicle fatalities.
The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of Wisconsin's graduated driver licensing law and determine whether a reduction in crash rates was due to reduced exposure, safer driving, or both.
General population crash rates for 16 and 17 year olds were computed for years before and after graduated drivers licensing. The induced exposure method was used to measure exposure and compute the odds ratio of at-fault crash involvement.
For 16 year olds, general crash rates declined 13.8% while injury crash rates declined 15.6%. For 17 year olds, crash rates declined 6.2% for all crashes and 5.8% for injury crashes. There was no statistically significant change in the odds ratio of at-fault crash involvement for 16- or 17-year-old drivers, relative to the reference group. After graduated drivers licensing, 16-year-old drivers were more likely to have at least 1 adult present and less likely to carry 2 or more teen passengers. There was no statistically significant effect on driving habits by time for 16 year olds.
Graduated driver licensing in Wisconsin has resulted in a drop in the general population crash rates for 16 and 17 year olds. This decrease is the result of reduced exposure to the risk of collision rather than safer driving by teens.
Implementation of graduated driver licensing programs is associated with reductions in crash rates of young drivers, but graduated driver licensing programs vary in their components. The impact of programs with different components is unknown.
The purpose of this work was to determine which graduated driver licensing programs are associated with the greatest reductions in fatal motor vehicle crashes involving 16-year-old drivers.
We conducted a retrospective study of all 16-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in the United States from 1994 through 2004 using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the US Census Bureau. We measured incidence rate ratios of fatal motor vehicle crashes involving 16-year-old drivers according to graduated driver licensing programs, adjusted for state and year.
Compared with state quarters with no graduated driver licensing program components, reductions of 16% to 21% in fatal crash involvement rates of 16-year-old drivers occurred with programs that included > or = 3-month mandatory waiting period, nighttime driving restriction, and either > or = 30 hours of supervised driving or passenger restriction. Reductions of 18% to 21% occurred in state quarters with programs that included > or = 5 of the 7 components examined. Drivers aged 20 to 24 or 25 to 29 years did not experience significant reductions.
Comprehensive graduated driver licensing programs are associated with reductions of approximately 20% in 16-year-old drivers' fatal crash involvement rates. The greatest benefit seems to be associated with programs that include age requirements and > or = 3 months of waiting before the intermediate stage, nighttime driving restriction, and either > or = 30 hours of supervised driving or passenger restriction.
To mitigate the high risk of motor vehicle crashes for young beginning drivers, over 40 states and the District of Columbia have implemented graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems that gradually and systematically ease teen drivers into higher risk driving conditions. Evaluations of GDL programs using motor vehicle crash data have demonstrated marked declines in crashes. The objective of this study is to examine the association between the implementation of the North Carolina GDL program and the rate of hospitalization, as well as hospital charges, for 16-and 17-year-old drivers.
Data were obtained from the North Carolina Hospital Discharge Database for the 26 months before and 46 months after the December 1, 1997, implementation of the GDL program. ARIMA interrupted time series analyses were used to model monthly hospitalization rates, controlling for the hospitalization rates of 25-to 54-year-old drivers. ARIMA analyses were also used to determine whether changes occurred in monthly total hospital charges.
Among the 568 16-year-old hospitalized drivers, GDL was associated with a 36.5% decline in the hospitalization rate per population and a 31.2% decline in the total monthly driver hospitalization charges. Although a 12% reduction in the rate of hospitalizations was observed among the 615 17-year-old drivers, the analysis lacked sufficient power to be statistically reliable. No consistent change was observed in the 16-year-old driver total monthly hospital charges.
The North Carolina GDL program was associated with a marked decline in the rate of hospitalizations and hospital charges for 16-year-old drivers. Following the implementation of GDL, over $650,000 in hospital charges have been averted each year for 16-year-old drivers. Analyses suggest these reductions were primarily the result of reduced exposure rather than an improvement in teen driving.
New findings are presented on the effectiveness (in terms of fatal crash reductions) of state-level public policies related to drunk driving. Conventional estimates of policy effects might be biased because of the endogeneity of policies; this concern is addressed by analyzing the time pattern of policy effects with respect to the date of adoption. For the 0.08 BAC law, the results suggest that a bias upward exists, but the policy is still somewhat effective. Graduated licensing programs for young drivers and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organization are also evaluated for the first time in this type of analysis. The estimated time pattern of effects for graduated licensing suggest that its effects are also overstated in conventional analyses, but the policy is still effective for young drivers. The estimates for MADD do not imply an effect, but this result could be due to the crudeness of the variable used. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
On April 1, 1994, Ontario, Canada, instituted a new graduated driver license (GDL) system that effectively set the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold at zero for the first few years of a youth's driving eligibility. I use data from the 1983–2001 Ontario Student Drug Use Surveys (OSDUS) to examine whether the Zero Tolerance (ZT) policy reduced self-reported drinking and alcohol-involved driving among youth. I find that rates of drunk driving reported by 16- to 17-year-olds—who faced new, lower legal limits after adoption of the ZT policy—were about 5 percentage points lower after the law was implemented. Visual inspection of the data, however, shows that the estimated reduction is an artifact of a pre-existing trend: Drunk driving rates in this age group were falling steadily throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Estimates that account for this pre-existing trend or that consider shorter windows around the 1994 implementation date return effects on alcohol-involved driving that are either small and statistically insignificant or large and implausibly signed (positive). These null findings are robust to using the associated change in outcomes for slightly younger (14–15) or slightly older (19–20) youths as controls in a difference-in-differences framework. I similarly find no robust effect on drinking participation. This suggests that Ontario's age-targeted drunk driving law—despite being harsher than similar policies in the United States—was not responsible for reductions in Canadian youth road fatalities over the past two decades. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
On November 5-7, 2002, the Symposium on Graduated Driver Licensing in Chatham, MA, brought together 75 researchers and practitioners from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to document the current science of graduated driver licensing (GDL) and to outline research needs. Participants reviewed 12 background papers and discussed the papers in depth. The symposium's background papers are published in this issue of the Journal of Safety Research. This paper summarizes and provides a quick reference to information from the symposium papers and participant discussions. It cites the 12 symposium papers, which in turn provide more information and cite original sources. Issues and recommendations not followed by a citation were raised in the symposium discussions. This paper is divided into seven sections. The first six sections summarize information from the symposium papers and discussions. The sections are: (1) The need for graduated driver licensing; (2) Effectiveness of GDL as implemented; (3) The learner's permit phase; (4) The provisional license phase; (5) The roles of teens, parents, and public agencies; and (6) Enacting and implementing GDL. In each of these six sections, research needs are classified as either high priority (important for designing and implementing effective GDL programs) or lower priority (useful but not critical for GDL at this time). The final section summarizes the discussion of research issues and priorities from the symposium's closing session. This section has three topics: general research, issues involving parents, and issues involving graduated licensing legislation and implementation. It presents participants' collective views on both broad priorities and specific issues. In providing a concise summary of presentations and discussions from the symposium, this paper necessarily omits some information and points of discussion. The views and judgments expressed are the authors' best attempt to capture the symposium's consensus, but they do not necessarily represent the views of the authors, their organizations, or any other individual symposium participant. In particular, they are not necessarily endorsed by the symposium's sponsors: General Motors, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Safety Council, and Nationwide.
Seventeen states enacted graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs that were implemented from 1996 through 1999 and for which evaluations are of interest.
We received evaluation results reported for six states for which data were available. Summarizing results is difficult in other than the most global terms because of differences in pre-GDL programs, differences in GDL programs, and differences in evaluation methodology.
All states identified some crash reduction among teen drivers following GDL implementation. This positive effect was observed across different geographic regions, and with different GDL programs. Simple counts are down-fewer teens are experiencing crashes and becoming injured. After calculating crash rates to adjust for changes over time in populations or licensed drivers, reductions generally were still found. Population-adjusted risks of injury/fatal crash involvement of 16-year-old drivers in Florida and Michigan were reduced by 11% and 24%, respectively. Population-adjusted risks of any crash involvement of 16-year-old drivers in Michigan and North Carolina were reduced by 25% and 27%, respectively. Reductions in night (restricted hours) crash risk were impressive in Florida, Michigan, and North Carolina. A comparison state design was only possible in the Florida evaluation, and results showed greater crash reductions under GDL. Change-point analyses of Michigan's crash data trends over time provided additional support of GDL's effectiveness in reducing crashes.
Taken as a whole, and including the preliminary findings from California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, these reports demonstrate the early effectiveness of GDL in reducing the crash risk of teen drivers. The impact of these studies and others to come will guide future research, practice, and policy.
This paper updates the comprehensive summary of graduated driver licensing (GDL) published in the January 2003 special issue of the Journal of Safety Research. It summarizes recent research not included in the special issue as well as research in progress or planned research. The most active research areas are risk factors for beginning teen drivers and evaluations of GDL programs. Results in each area strengthen the case for GDL. Additional research is producing valuable information about specific GDL implementation issues and the roles of parents and driver education in helping teenagers learn to drive safely.
To evaluate the four-year outcome of Michigan's graduated driver licensing (GDL) program, motor-vehicle crash data for 16-year-old drivers in 1996 (pre-GDL), and 1998-2001 (post-GDL) were analyzed.
Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for several crash types were computed, and pre-post-GDL population-based crash rates were compared. Reductions in crash risks among 16-year-olds previously found in 1998 and 1999 were generally maintained in 2000 and 2001.
Reductions in crash risk among 16-year-olds from 1996 to 2001 were 29% for all, 44% for fatal, 38% each for nonfatal-injury and fatal-plus-nonfatal-injury, 32% for day, 31% for evening, 59% for night, 32% for single-vehicle, and 28% for multi-vehicle crashes. Even after adjusting for more general population-wide changes among drivers 25 years and older that might have contributed to changes in 16-year-old crash risk, reductions remained impressive (19% for all crashes in 2001).
As one approach to reducing teenage motor-vehicle morbidity and mortality, GDL remains promising.
On July 1, 1998, in an effort to ameliorate the problem of high teenage driver crash rates, California implemented a graduated driver licensing system (GDLS).
Data on injury crashes of 16- and 17-year-old drivers from a pre-GDLS year were compared with data from two post-GDLS years. Per-capita crash rate ratios were adjusted for changes in crash rates of 25- to 34-year-old drivers, who were unaffected by the GDLS. Prevented numbers and 95% confidence intervals were estimated.
Fatal or severe injury crash rates were significantly lower during each of the two post-GDLS years (adjusted rate ratios (RR)=0.72 and 0.83, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Significant rate reductions were observed for all crash types, particularly for struck object (RR=0.71 and 0.80, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively) and non-collision (RR=0.63 and 0.72, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Minor injury crash rates were also lower during post-GDLS years (RR=0.87 and 0.90, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively). Percent reductions were notably larger during the hours of the late night driving restriction (midnight-5 a.m.) (RR=0.79 and 0.87, for 2000 vs. 1997 and 2001 vs. 1997, respectively).
The implementation of the California GDLS was followed by large reductions in the rate of injury-producing motor-vehicle crashes.
This evaluation supports previous evidence that GDLS is an effective countermeasure to adolescent motor-vehicle crashes and their associated injuries. States with a traditional licensing system may prevent adolescent driver crashes by adopting a GDLS. Future studies should examine factors that influence teenager compliance with GDLS provisions and identify approaches to improving compliance.
We seek to examine the effectiveness of the graduated driver licensing system in Utah by determining whether crash rates of 16-year-old drivers decreased after graduated driver licensing implementation.
We studied 16-year-old-driver crashes using statewide motor vehicle crash data probabilistically linked to emergency department (ED), hospital inpatient, and driver licensure data for 1996 to 2001. Outcomes examined included overall crash rates, nighttime crashes, crash severity indicators (eg, noninjury crash, injury crash, ED crash, inpatient crash, fatal crash), seat belt usage, licensure status, and citations. Rate ratios (RR), chi 2 tests, and interventional time series analyses were used to assess changes before and after graduated driver licensing implementation.
There were 27,304 16-year-old-driver crashes during the study period. The overall crash rate per 1,000 licensed 16-year-old drivers decreased by 5% (RR 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92 to 0.97), and a time-series analysis showed a reduction of 0.8 (SD 0.39) crashes per month per 1,000 licensed drivers after graduated driver licensing implementation (1996 to 1999 versus 1999 to 2001). The nighttime crash rate did not change (RR 0.91; 95% CI 0.78 to 1.04), and there was no association between crash severity and graduated driver licensing implementation ( P =.096). Reported seat belt usage increased by 6.3%, and few graduated driver licensing citations were issued by law enforcement.
The results suggest that graduated driver licensing may have contributed to a reduction in young driver crashes, but the effects were minimal compared with those shown in many other graduated driver licensing evaluations.
Over the last 8 years, nearly every state has introduced graduated driver licensing (GDL) for teens. These new licensing procedures require teen drivers to advance through distinct stages where they are subject to a variety of restrictions (e.g., adult supervision, daytime driving, passenger limits). In this study, we present evidence on whether these restrictions have been effective in reducing traffic fatalities among teens. These evaluations are based on state-by-year panel data from 1992 to 2002. We assess the reliability of our basic inferences in several ways including an examination of contemporaneous data for older cohorts who were not directly affected by these policies. Our results indicate that GDL regulations reduced traffic fatalities among 15-17-year-olds by at least 5.6%. We also find that the life-saving benefits of these regulations were plausibly related to their restrictiveness. And we find no evidence that these benefits were attenuated by an increase in fatality risks during the full-licensure period available to older teens.
This is the second update of research on graduated driver licensing (GDL) and teenage drivers. It briefly summarizes research in progress and research published since the January 2004 update (Hedlund, J. & Compton, R. [2004]. Graduated driver licensing research in 2003 and beyond. Journal of Safety Research 35(1), 5-11). Research has been very active, especially on teenage driver risk factors, GDL program evaluations, the role of parents in managing and training their teenage drivers, and driver education. Results have strengthened the case for GDL, for nighttime and passenger restrictions, and for extended supervised driving practice.
Key features of graduated licensing were introduced in 46 states and the District of Columbia between 1993 and 2003. State evaluations consistently have reported positive overall effects and positive effects of nighttime and passenger restrictions. Sixteen year-olds are the main target of graduated licensing, and the present study investigated changes in their fatal crash involvement and crash characteristics that have taken place nationally during 1993-2003. By looking at 16 year-olds nationally, the study does not constitute a direct test of the effect of graduated licensing laws per se.
Data on fatal crashes were obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Sixteen year-olds were compared with older drivers.
During these years, the extent to which 16-year-old drivers were in fatal crashes decreased substantially compared with older age groups. The drop in the per capita crash rate for 16 year-olds was 26%. The major change was a reduction in crashes involving transporting young passengers, especially in jurisdictions with restrictions that target these crashes. There was no change in the proportion of fatal late-night crashes even in states restricting this activity.
There has been some progress nationally in reducing the crash problem for 16 year-olds, but this still is a big problem. To achieve further progress, the gaps and weaknesses in present graduated licensing laws will need to be addressed.
A graduated licensing (GL) program was introduced in Nova Scotia, Canada, in October 1994. Previous research has shown that it reduced collisions in the short term. The present study examined the relative contribution of each stage of the program (i.e., learner and intermediate levels) and the program's impact after beginning drivers graduated to full licensure. The research focused on teenage beginning drivers (age 16-17), but the effects on older beginners also was examined. Per-driver crash rates of two groups of novices selected from driver records in Nova Scotia were compared. One group (pre-GL) received their learner's permits during the 2 years before the program was implemented, and the second group (GL) received their learner's permits during the 2 years after implementation. The findings clearly establish that most of the collision reduction in Nova Scotia's program occurred during the first year of the program, particularly during the first 6 months when the majority of novices were driving under supervision. The collision rate for 16 to 17-year-old GL novices was 50% lower than the rate for pre-GL novices during the 6 months after they received their learner's permits, and about 10% lower during their first 2 years of licensure when unsupervised driving from midnight to 5 A.M. was prohibited. Much of this improvement for 16 to 17-year-olds occurred during restricted night hours. Collision rates also were lower during nonrestricted hours in the initial 6 months of licensure. The 3-month "time discount" for driver education provided no safety benefit, and GL novices with driver education had collision rates that were not lower than pre-GL novices. There was no long-term effect found for the program after 16 to 17-year-olds graduated to full licensure. For older beginning drivers, crash rates during the first year after obtaining a learner's permit showed a 31% reduction. This effect diminished rapidly. There was only a 2% reduction during the first year of licensure, and crash rates increased during the following 2 years. Overall the data indicate substantial benefits of graduated licensing for 16 to 17-year-old beginners, but no benefits beyond the learner stage for older beginners.
In 1997, the Georgia General Assembly enacted the Teenage and Adult Drivers Responsibility Act (TADRA), a comprehensive legislative package that attempted to reduce fatal crashes of teenaged drivers by introducing graduated driver's licensing, "zero tolerance" of underage impaired drivers, and automatic license revocation for speeding greater than 25 miles per hour over the posted limit and other dangerous driving behaviors. To determine whether TADRA reduced teen driving fatalities, we examine fatal crash rates involving various age groups before versus after the law was enacted.
Data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System were used to calculate annualized fatal crash rates of various age groups of drivers during an 11-year interval 5 1/2 years before TADRA was enacted and 5 1/2 years afterwards. To identify potential historical effects, Georgia's experience was compared to that of Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee, states that did not adopt equally comprehensive legislation during the study period.
During the preenactment period, 317 Georgia drivers aged 16 were involved in a fatal crash (57/100,000 person-years) compared to 230 in the postenactment period (36/100,000 person-years; risk ratio [RR] 0.63; 95% confidence interval 0.53 to 0.75). Speed-related fatal crashes were cut by 42%, and alcohol-related fatal crashes decreased nearly 60%, without displacing fatal crashes to older age groups. These reductions greatly exceeded those noted in 2 of 3 comparison states and the nation overall.
TADRA markedly reduced fatal crash rates among 16-year-old Georgia drivers. Fatal crashes were not displaced to older age groups.
This is the third update of research on graduated driver licensing (GDL) and related teenage driver issues. It briefly summarizes research published since or not included in the 2005 update (Hedlund, J., & Compton, R. (2005). Graduated driver licensing research in 2004 and 2005. Journal of Safety Research, 36(2), 109-119.), describes research in progress of which the authors are aware, and announces plans for a symposium on teenage driving and GDL to be held in February 2007. (c) 2006 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The extent to which various interventions to deal with the young driver crash problem have worked are discussed, and promising interventions that should be tried are identified. Traditional forms of driver licensing and driver education have not worked. Graduated licensing reduces the problem and existing laws need to be strengthened. Programs involving parents and police have shown some potential to increase compliance with graduated licensing restrictions. Insurer discount programs also have potential. In other public health areas, comprehensive programs have worked better than those based on single components. There are continuing efforts to develop new driver education and training programs and methods of delivery that can combine with graduated licensing and contribute to reductions in the young driver problem. The most promising intervention strategy is likely to be a coordinated community based program in states with strong graduated licensing laws as a foundation, involving modern education and training techniques, insurance discount programs, and well publicized enforcement and education programs featuring parents and police in combination, with as much input and participation as possible from the target group of young drivers.
It has been established that graduated licensing systems lead to crash reductions among beginning drivers. What is the contribution of the various components of graduated licensing to these reductions, and how can their effectiveness be increased?
Literature review and synthesis.
Extended learner periods, nighttime restrictions, and passenger restrictions have contributed to crash reductions. Presently there is insufficient evidence concerning the contribution of seat belt or cell phone provisions, or contingent advancement penalties.
There is more to learn about graduated licensing and its component features. However, there are ways to increase the contribution of all the components through stronger laws and greater compliance. With the right kind of community commitment and focus, substantial further reductions in young driver crashes are achievable.
The results can guide states in establishing graduated licensing systems that maximize crash reductions.
The effectiveness of Iowa's graduated driver's licensing (GDL) program was evaluated for a 4-year period before and after implementation in 1999. Since some changes had occurred in the crash reporting format, changes in crash rates for younger drivers were compared to those for 35-44-year-old drivers (middle-age group of drivers) who were used as a control group. After implementation of GDL, the 14-, 16- and 17-year-old age groups experienced a greater decrease in crash rate than the middle-age control group while 15-year-old experienced a smaller decrease. This suggests that the crash rate for 15-year-old drivers may actually have increased when downward trends were adjusted for. Iowa's GDL program allows holders of the instruction permit to travel unaccompanied to and from school and school-endorsed activities after obtaining a minor school license. Fifteen-year-old with minor school licenses account for up to 26.7% of 15-year-old license holders yet represent up to 74.8% of 15-year-old drivers involved in crashes (depending on the year) from 1998 to 2004. As a result, 15-year-old drivers with minor school licenses are involved in 7.2-8.9 times more crashes, are 7.7 times more likely to have one or more sanctions, and are 4.8 times more likely to receive one or more moving convictions than their peers with a regular instruction permit. This help may explain why 15-year-old drivers did not seem to benefit from implementation of the GDL program in Iowa.
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