Search

Worldwide there is great variation in how licensing young people to drive is handled. The minimum age for regular licensure varies, generally from 15 to 18 years. Prerequisites and conditions for licensure vary. Some licensing policies are more effective than others in controlling injuries associated with youthful driving; crashes involving young drivers constitute a major public health problem in every motorized society in the world. The first year of licensed driving is the riskiest of all. Inexperienced drivers of any age have a higher crash risk than more experienced drivers of the same age, but youthful age itself is strongly associated with crash risk. In setting licensing policies, societies are deciding how to handle the tradeoff between safety for young drivers (and others that share the road with them) and the mobility needs and desires of young people. Restrictive measures on youthful drivers reduce the crash and injury problem. Restrictive measures used throughout the world include: night driving curfews; prohibitions against driving on expressways; lower maximum speeds; and restrictions on carrying passengers without an adult present. Graduated licensing is a system that starts with a learners permit and systematically lifts restrictions under the rationale that there is no substitute for on-the-road driving as a means of gaining experience. Contains 23 references. (JBJ)

Laws aimed at alcohol-impaired driving have been shown to change behavior in ways that reduce the problem. Alcohol education and public information programs, in contrast, rarely result in short-term behavior change. In part, this is because drinking, and combining drinking with driving, are lifestyle behaviors shaped and supported by many ongoing social forces, and they are not readily amenable to change through brief, one-time education/public information efforts. Moreover, those who contribute most to the problem have characteristics that make them least susceptible to behavior change through educational programs. However, education and public information programs have an important role to play in combating alcohol-impaired driving. They can provide support and impetus for passing laws; transmit knowledge about the provisions and penalties of laws in ways that increase their deterrent effect; and generate public support for law enforcement programs. Greater attention to educating and informing policy and decision makers, rather than at-risk individuals, is needed. (Contains 45 references.) (Author)

Reports on patterns of risk among teenage drivers through a review and synthesis of the literature. Varying patterns of risk form the basis for graduated licensing systems designed to promote low-risk and discourage high-risk driving. (Contains 6 tables, 13 figures, and 29 references.) (AUTHOR/WFA)