An Assessment of Graduated Licensing Legislation

Inexperienced drivers have a higher crash risk than drivers who have been driving for several years or more. To become an experienced driver, on-road driving is both necessary and risky. Graduated licensing systems are designed to address this situation, managing the risks of young beginners as they acquire on-road driving experience while in this vulnerable stage. David Preusser has described driving situations that entail higher or lower risk for teenagers: the low risk of supervised driving, the peaking of risk immediately after licensure, and the extra risk late at night and when transporting young passengers. To what extent are the graduated systems enacted thus far encouraging low-risk and discouraging high-risk driving?

Prior to the modern graduated licensing movement, which began in 1996 in the United States, state licensing systems did a poor job of addressing the major risk factors for young drivers. Most states required little in the way of supervised driving experience to be gained prior to licensure, and in most cases full driving privileges were bestowed immediately upon licensure (Williams et al., 1996). As Pat Waller noted, “The system we have historically imposed on young beginning drivers violated almost everything we know about learning” (Waller, 2003). One could argue that the main causes of the extremely high crash rates among 16 and 17 year-olds were inexperience, immaturity, and the way we licensed, which encouraged early and easy entry into the driving population.

In contrast, graduated systems lengthen the low-risk supervised learner stage and put curbs on high-risk driving for some period of time after a license is obtained. Lower risk driving is encouraged, there being no other way to become an experienced driver than by accumulating miles on the road. This process in effect raises the age of getting a full-privilege license, thus incidentally addressing the immaturity factor as well as the experience component.

Most jurisdictions allow a learner’s permit to be obtained prior to the 16th birthday. In a graduated licensing scheme optimized for safety, a permit would not be obtainable until age 16, would have to be held for at least 6 months, and the initial licensing stage would have a strong nighttime restriction (starting at 9 p.m. or earlier) and a strong passenger restriction (no young passengers allowed), with both restrictions lasting until age 18. Each of these features can be found in some states, but no state has all of them. In fact, even with substantially relaxed criteria for a “good” rating — learner’s permit for 6 months, initial licensing with either a fairly strong nighttime restriction (starting by 10 p.m.) or a fairly strong passenger restriction (no more than one), graduation at age 17 — only nine states qualify. Twenty-three states are rated as having acceptable systems, 13 are marginal, and 6 are poor.

Despite the lack of strong overall systems, the modern graduated licensing movement has transformed the way we license in the United States. All but four states have enacted at least one component of graduated licensing. Thirty-six jurisdictions (35 states and Washington, D.C.) have systems that include both an expanded learner phase and some restrictions on high-risk driving once licensed. Tables 1 and 2 highlight key licensing system features in 1995 and 2003.

Table 1.

Learner’s Permit Requirements

	Number of States
Minimum Duration	1995	2003
None	40	6
Less than 30 days	2	1
30 days	5	0
60 days	1	1
90 days	3	5
4 to 6 months	0	3
6 months	0	30
More than 6 months	0	5

Table 2.

Restrictions on Initial License Holders Right After Licensure

	Number of States
Restriction	1995	2003
Nighttime restrictions
Before midnight	6	15
Midnight or later	3	21
Young passenger restrictions
Zero	0	11
No more than 1	0	8
No more than 2 or 3	0	4

The changes are dramatic. In 1995, required learner periods usually were absent and, where required, the minimum periods were short. In 2003, 35 states have minimum periods of 6 months or more. In 1995, 9 states had nighttime restrictions, compared with 36 in 2003. No state had a passenger restriction in 1995; now there are 23.

Although 36 jurisdictions have restrictions on late-night driving, the majority do not begin until midnight or later, whereas the bulk of the nighttime crashes of 16–17 year-olds occur in the 9-midnight hours (Williams and Ferguson, 2002). About half of the passenger restrictions allow one or more young passengers — high-risk situations (Chen et al., 2000). Although few of the passenger restrictions permit multiple passengers right after licensure, five relax their criteria and allow two or three passengers after a few weeks or months of allowing none or one.

The bottom line is that there has been great improvement in how we license young beginners in terms of protecting them while they are learning, but there still are many jurisdictions that do this inadequately. A few states still do not have any elements of graduated licensing. Fortunately, the graduated licensing movement has remained strong, with more states enacting legislation each year, and 11 states have strengthened the legislation they passed initially. The goals now are to continue these trends and find ways to improve compliance with graduated licensing requirements.