Stepped driver's license curbs teen crash deaths

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Graduated driver licensing programs, which allow beginning drivers to build experience incrementally before they are exposed to more hazardous driving situations, significantly reduce 16-year-old drivers' involvement in fatal automobile accidents, research shows.

According to the report in the medical journal Pediatrics, the more restrictions placed on young drivers, the greater the benefits.

It's known that graduated driver licensing programs curb crash rates of young drivers, explain Dr. Li-Hui Chen and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, but it has been unclear which components of these programs are most effective.

The most popular components include:

* Minimum age of 15-1/2 for obtaining a learner permit.

* Minimum of 3 months waiting period after obtaining a learner permit before applying for an intermediate license.

* Minimum of 30 hours of supervised driving.

* Minimum age of 16 years for obtaining intermediate stage license.

* Minimum age of 17 years for full licensing.

* Restriction on driving at night.

* Restriction on carrying any passengers.

To see which of these restrictions work best, Chen and colleagues took a look back at all 16-year-old drivers involved in fatal car crashes in the US over a recent 10-year period. They examined various graduated driver licensing programs and fatal crash statistics in 36 states with graduated licensing programs and seven without these programs.

Compared with states without graduated driver programs, the data show a 16 percent to 21 percent reduction in the rate at which 16-year-old drivers' are involved in fatal car crashes in states with graduated driver programs that include a three month minimum mandatory waiting period, nighttime driving restriction, and either a minimum of 30 hours of supervised driving or passenger restrictions.

Reductions of 18 percent to 21 percent in 16-year-old drivers' involvement in fatal car crashes occurred in states with programs that included five of the seven components.

This study supports the belief that graduated driver licensing programs can reduce crash rates among young drivers and pinpoints which components work best, the team concludes.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2006.