Teen Graduated Licensing

Sweet sixteen is the most hazardous year in a driver's highway lifetime and giving a lift to teen friends ups the danger exponentially. In the United States, 16 year olds have almost 10 times the crash risk of drivers ages 30-59 and almost three times the risk of older teenagers, according to a 1996 California study of the perils of learning to drive. Teens make up only 6.8 percent of the driving population, but they are involved in 14 percent of all fatal crashes on the highway, according to government crash statistics.

Setting Limits
Crashes involving young drivers usually are single-vehicle, run-off-the-road crashes that involve driver error and/or speeding. Government crash statistics for 1999 show that 57 percent of crashes involving 16 to 17 year old drivers occurred with three or more peer passengers compared with 30 percent of crashes when the same-aged driver was alone. Teenagers are disproportionately involved in crashes as passengers as well as drivers.


To combat these deadly statistics, graduated licensing began in 1996 and spread to 47 states and the District of Columbia. It's basically an apprentice system for young new drivers. It involves three stages: a supervised learner's period often requiring a quota of supervised driving hours, an intermediate phase that permits unsupervised driving but only in less risky situations, and in some states limits on nighttime driving and the number of peer passengers. The final phase is a full-privilege licensing when conditions of the first two stages have been met.


Unfortunately, there is no national uniformity in graduated licensing programs and many states do not include all three phases or all restrictions in their programs. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that teen drivers in the learning permit phase, driving under the supervision of adults, have very few crashes. Driving turns deadly when they enter the intermediate phase and are allowed to drive without adult supervision. A study of the crash rates of young drivers looked at crash statistics in relation to the number of months and miles driven since licensing. It found that the risk of a crash spikes during the first month and declines over the next 12 months.


Noting that the fatality statistics for young drivers has not changed much in the last five years and that single vehicle crashes involving teenagers accounted for 67 percent of 15 to 19 year-old passenger fatalities in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending some changes. One recommendation is a restriction on novice drivers carrying more than one passenger under that age of 20. A provisional, or intermediate license could be used, with the presence of a supervising adult (at least 21 years old) allowing additional passengers. This phase would last at least six months.