Licensing systems for young drivers
Learner >
Intermediate >
Full-privilege
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-six 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 |
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