Graduated driver licensing (GDL) is a critical policy tool for potentially improving teenage driving while reducing teen accident exposure. While previous studies demonstrated that GDL reduces teenage involvement in fatal crashes, much remains unanswered. We explore the mechanisms through which GDL influences accident rates as well as its long term effectiveness on teen driving. In particular, ...

BACKGROUND Older drivers experience elevated risk of motor vehicle crash involvement, injury, and death. Several states attempt to address these risks through driver license renewal policies; however, little is known about their effects. METHODS Data from 46 U.S. states from years 1986-2011 were examined. Associations between driver licensing policies and population-based fatal crash involvem...

PROBLEM In many jurisdictions, driver education (DE) graduates, compared to non-graduates, are granted a time-discount that allows them to drive unsupervised several months earlier, despite little evidence of a safety benefit and consistent evidence of increased crash risk. Confounding factors may be threatening the validity of DE evaluations. A theoretical framework called the "licensing proce...

BACKGROUND Seventeen states enacted graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs that were implemented from 1996 through 1999 and for which evaluations are of interest. METHODS 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 pro...

Graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws now exist in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the United States. These GDL systems are designed to reduce the exposure of young novice drivers to risky situations (such as late-night driving and driving with other teen passengers when alcohol is likely to be involved). Our aims were to determine if (a) GDL laws reduce fatal crash involvements o...