Licensing systems for young drivers
New drivers have elevated crash rates. This is particularly true for drivers younger
than 18. Young novice drivers are at significant risk on the road because they lack
both the judgment that comes with maturity and the skill that comes with experience.
Graduated licensing is a system designed to delay full licensure while allowing
beginners to obtain their initial experience under lower risk conditions. There
are three stages: a minimum supervised learner's period, an intermediate license
(once the driving test is passed) that limits unsupervised driving in high-risk
situations, and a full-privilege driver's license available after completion of
the first two stages. Beginners must remain in each of the first two stages for
set minimum time periods. Forty-nine US states and the District of Columbia currently
have all three stages, but the systems vary in strength.
In an optimal system, the minimum age for a learner's permit is
16; the learner stage lasts at least 6 months, during which parents must certify
at least 30-50 hours of supervised driving; and the intermediate stage lasts until
at least age 18 and includes both a night driving restriction starting at 9 or 10
p.m. and a strict teenage passenger restriction allowing no teenage passengers,
or no more than one teenage passenger.
These tables list licensing requirements for the 50 US states and the District of
Columbia. During the 1990s, many states moved toward graduated licensing. Some have
enacted virtually all the elements of graduated licensing, while others have enacted
only parts. Another area in which the laws differ is enforcement. Some states prohibit
police from stopping young drivers solely for night driving violations or passenger
restrictions (secondary enforcement). The Institute has evaluated the licensing
systems using criteria designed to estimate the strength and likely effectiveness
of the systems in reducing injuries. In particular, strong or optimal restrictions
on the initial license phase and how long the restrictions last beyond the 16th
birthday are credited. No state has an optimal graduated licensing system.
The Institute assigned licensing systems points for the key components of graduated
licensing. Good systems scored 6 or more points. Fair systems scored 4 or 5 points.
Marginal systems scored 2 or 3 points. Poor systems scored less than 2 points. Regardless
of point totals, no state was rated above "marginal" if intermediate license
holders could be younger than 16 or it allows unrestricted driving before age 16,
6 months. The following schedule was used to assign points.
|
Learner's entry age:
|
1 point for learner's entry age of 16
|
|
Learner's holding period:
|
2 points for ≥6 months; 1 point for 3-5 months; none for <3 months
|
|
Practice driving certification:
|
1 point for ≥30 hours; none for <30 hours
|
|
Night driving restriction:
|
2 points for 9 or 10 pm; 1 point for after 10 pm
|
|
Passenger restriction:
|
2 points for ≤1 underage passenger; 1 for 2 passengers; none for 3; where
supervising driver may be <21, point values were determined including the supervising
driver as a passenger
|
|
Driver education:
|
Where completion of driver education changed a requirement, point values were determined
for the driver education track
|
|
Duration of restrictions:
|
1 point if difference between minimum unrestricted license age and minimum intermediate
license age is 12 or more months; night driving and passenger restrictions were
valued independently
|
|
