Research In Action
Research In Action
Motor vehicle crashes remain a leading cause of injury and death for teens and young adults in the US. Despite nationwide adoption of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws, which help young drivers gradually gain experience in lower-risk situations, crashes remain high, with driver error a leading factor.
Prior research suggests that states with mandated driver training requirements during the license permit phase can reduce crash rates in young drivers. Seeing the potential to reduce crash risk for young drivers, some states have supplemented GDL with training requirements for professional behind-the-wheel training (BTW), and/or adult-supervised practice (ASP). Here are a few examples:
- Ohio has a comprehensive licensing policy for those younger than age 18, requiring both BTW and ASP as part of GDL. Research we conducted in partnership with Ohio found that new drivers licensed before age 18 showed improved driving skills and were less likely to crash than drivers licensed at age 18 who were exempt from these requirements.
- California, Nebraska and Oregon have also found crash reductions associated with comprehensive licensing policy.
- A 2007 report from Texas revealed that compared to professionally trained or school-based training, parent-trained drivers received more traffic offense citations and had more frequent and more serious crashes.
States without comprehensive driver training requirements, or states that rely on ASP alone to prepare teens to drive safely, may be missing an opportunity to reduce young driver crash risk by helping to develop much-needed critical driving skills before licensure. But, first, we needed to find out which states require professional driver training for young drivers as part of their licensing laws.
What We Did and Found
We conducted a contemporary review of license policies across all 50 states from May-August 2022 to determine BTW and ASP requirements prior to intermediate licensure for those under 18 and whether these mandates are truly required (or can be replaced).
State training and supervision requirements were derived from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and state-based statutes and state government websites or by email or phone contact with state licensing agencies when online information was incomplete or unclear.
We created state-by-state flow diagrams for the process and requirements/exceptions for licensure, with particular attention to those under age 18 (the age group most commonly subject to GDL laws). States were categorized by BTW and ASP requirements prior to licensure.
Most states (29) require both professional training and adult-supervised practice. However, 19 states have no or minimal training requirements, 7 of which have BTW or ASP requirements. Two additional states encourage training but allow replacement with ASP.
In states with no or minimal training requirements for new young drivers to get licensed, clinicians should be aware that although their patients may be licensed, they may be ill-prepared for safe driving and should incorporate this in their anticipatory guidance around driving safety.
In addition, BTW requirements may favor those with access to and sufficient finances for BTW, potentially creating transportation equity issues in the ability to gain a license and drive legally. As was found in Ohio, those who complete the training and gain licensure before age 18 tend to be from higher income areas. We also found disparities in the spatial locations of BTW services (Driver Training Deserts), creating disparities in accessibility.
Next Steps
Given greater internet accessibility among teens and young adults, online training programs could be a strategy to increase access to high quality training. Unfortunately, to date, few programs have undergone rigorous testing, and none have studied the relative contributions of BTW, ASP and online training in reducing crash risk.
Until now. We’re excited to share that we are planning to conduct an NIH-funded randomized control trial of BTW and online driver training versus usual-care in Pennsylvania as one of the 17 states that requires only ASP without BTW training. We will continue our work with stakeholders to ensure the results will inform policy.
