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Safety Tips
Graduated Driver License (GDL)
Teens complain, but earning a license in stages saves lives
By Bradley Harris, Contributor
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I remember my first thoughts when I realized I wouldn't get my license as soon as I turned 16: This stinks! Because of the strict Graduated Driver License (GDL) program in my state, I would have to spend months driving with my parents before I could finally drive alone. There was one incident, though, that helped me realize why licensing laws had become so stringent.
One day, my father was giving me yet another driving lesson and asked me to make a left turn at a major intersection. The light was an open green with no arrow. Just as I began to turn the steering wheel, my father screamed, "What are you doing? STOP!" I slammed on the brakes, only to see a car whizzing past in the opposite direction.
Although I had already completed my driver's education classes, it had never crossed my mind to check for oncoming traffic before making the turn. Obviously this was a completely elementary, commonsense mistake, but with all the new procedures and sensory input occupying my mind, I simply forgot. At that instant, I realized that input and guidance from a more experienced driver were crucial to surviving my first year of driving.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among adolescents; more than 30,000 15-20-year-olds were killed between 2000 and 2004, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This young group also causes more fatal car accidents than any other age group. These startling statistics have led state policy makers to develop graduated licensing systems that step new drivers up slowly to full-fledged driving privileges.
Maryland was the first U.S. state to implement a graduated driver license program, introducing it in 1979. Since then, 44 states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of a GDL program, as have provinces in Canada and several other countries. The only states that do not mandate a graduated licensing system are Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and North Dakota, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
The need for a graduated licensing system has everything to do with a teen's inexperience behind the wheel. According to "Saving Teenage Lives: A Case for Graduated Licensing," published by the NHTSA, teenagers' relative immaturity has a profound impact on their driving habits. The 1999 study shows that teens act impulsively when driving, leading them to speed, drink and drive, not wear seatbelts and participate in many other dangerous driving practices.
Researchers found that teenagers tend to use a part of the brain that responds to stimuli quickly, reactively and without too much interpretation, whereas adults tend to use a part of the brain that responds with thought and rationality. A stepped, or graduated, system for receiving a full license allows a young driver's judgment to mature, lowering his or her tendency toward risk-taking behaviors while providing more experience in facing complex driving situations.
Virginia Harris of Torrance, California, who has gone through the process of licensing with her son, said, "I think this licensing system is great because it limits driving at an early age while [the driver] gets experience. Some people are not at the proper maturity level yet, and it limits distractions to teens, such as driving with other teens."
In a separate study, "Graduated Driver Licensing Programs and Fatal Crashes of 16-Year-Old Drivers: A National Evaluation," the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health identified the most common and effective characteristics that appear in GDL programs across the nation:
- A minimum age of 15.5 for obtaining a learner permit
- A waiting period after obtaining a learner permit of at least three months before applying for an intermediate license
- A minimum of 30 hours of supervised driving
- Minimum age of at least 16 years for obtaining an intermediate license
- Minimum age of at least 17 years for full licensing
- A nighttime driving restriction
- A restriction on carrying passengers
The success of these programs has been well established. According to the Bloomberg study, which used data collected between 1994 and 2004 by NHTSA and the U.S. Census Bureau, states that implemented GDL programs, including five of the seven characteristics listed above, reduced fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by 18 percent. States that included six or more of the characteristics reduced fatal crashes in that age group by an even more impressive 21 percent.
As the figures would suggest, the more comprehensive the programs are, the lower the rate of fatal crashes among young drivers, especially 16-year-old drivers. The study indicates that GDLs have no lasting effect on drivers' behavior or driving environment beyond the ages of 16-20, and reduce fatalities only in the youngest age group.
When it comes to the limitations imposed by these programs, teenagers in Colorado are feeling the pain the most. According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Colorado has the strictest GDL program in the U.S. It meets or exceeds all of the above listed criteria, but also adds an extra measure of safety by forbidding newly permitted drivers to use a cell phone while driving during the first stage of the GDL.
The IIHS offered suggestions to increase a GDL's effectiveness further, such as requiring an exit exam before granting full licensing privileges, extending the restrictions of the intermediate stage to age 18 and delaying graduation to a higher level for drivers with poor driving records.
For better or worse, the increasing number of GDL programs nationwide has apparently caused a drop in the number of young drivers. In "Licenses Take a Back Seat," the Los Angeles Times reported that the percentage of 16- and 17-year-olds obtaining licenses had dropped from 52 percent in 1992 to 43 in 2002. It attributed the decrease to the longer waiting periods and increased difficulty that GDLs impose, plus the extra cost of private driver's education as high schools increasingly drop such programs.
There are still plenty of young drivers on the road, though, and as such, the states' implementation of GDLs couldn't happen at a better time. As the figures show, GDLs are highly effective in what they're designed to do, and allow teens the opportunity to gain experience and receive useful input on driving without being placed in full high-risk situations. The more states that adopt — and tighten — such programs, the more educated and experienced the nation's young drivers will be.
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