Teen Driving: The National Perspective Elizabeth A. Baker, Ph.D. Regional Administrator, NHTSA Region 3 Virginia Distracted Driving Summit

Teens Have High Crash Rates Overall Especially high: During the first few months/miles of driving At night With teenage passengers With alcohol Young drivers, ages 15- to 20-years old, are especially vulnerable to death and injury on our roadways – traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in America. Mile for mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers. Alcohol plays an important role with older teens, but not with younger teens (15-16). Impaired driving fatalities begin to climb at age 17 and peak at age 21, for all ages. Graduated Driver Licensing is an important part of the effort to reduce the risk for these especially high-risk drivers.

Fatal Crash Involvement per 100 Thousand Licensed Drivers, Day vs Fatal Crash Involvement per 100 Thousand Licensed Drivers, Day vs. Night This chart clearly demonstrates that teens have higher crash involvement at night. Most crashes occur earlier in the evening - between 9pm and midnight. (FARS and FHWA, 2011)

Crashes per Million Miles, by Driver Age Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year olds (NHTSA, 2007) In 2006, 3,490 15- to 20-year-old drivers were killed and an additional 272,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes (NHTSA, 2007) This graph clearly shows that 16-19 year old drivers have highest crash involvement per million miles traveled than any other age group. (2001-2002 GES data; IIHS, 2006)

National Priorities for Making Teen Drivers Safer Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Reducing Teens’ Access to Alcohol Increasing Seat Belt Use Parental Responsibility NHTSA is focusing its effort in these priority areas to prevent motor-vehicle-related fatalities and injuries for teens.

Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Three-stage GDL laws address immaturity and inexperience, the primary factors contributing to young driver crashes. As of August, 2013: All States and the District of Columbia have GDL These are typically 3-stage systems with most model components, although no State has all components of a model system. Detailed list of licensing requirements by State can be found at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) website: http://www.iihs.org/laws/ IIHS maintains an excellent website (shown) that matches all state laws with an ideal. IIHS rates the states compared to that “ideal.”

Common GDL Restrictions Passenger Restrictions Nighttime Driving Restrictions Safety Belt Requirements Cell Phone Restrictions Zero Tolerance Alcohol Restrictions MAP-21 reintroduces an incentive grant for States to adopt and implement GDL laws. The minimum qualification criteria set forth for the GDL grant by MAP-21 are prescriptive; few potential applicants currently meet all of the minimum qualification criteria prescribed by MAP-21.

How is GDL Effective? Expanding the learning process Reducing risk exposure Delaying full licensure Improving driving proficiency Enhancing motivation for self-driving

Reducing Teens’ Access to Alcohol Teens are at far greater risk of death in an alcohol-related crash than the overall population, despite the fact they cannot legally purchase or publicly possess alcohol in any State. High-visibility enforcement of underage purchase, possession, and provision laws can: create a significant deterrent for violation of youth access laws; reduce underage drinking; and decrease alcohol-related crashes. Additionally, parental responsibility is key to educating and protecting our teens.

Increasing Seat Belt Use Teens buckle up far less frequently than adults do. One of NHTSA’s top priorities is working to ensure that people of every age buckle up—and this includes a special emphasis on young drivers.

Parental Involvement Survey research shows that parental involvement in teen driving can lead to positive outcomes. What can parents do? Be familiar with State GDL law and its provisions Enforce GDL law and its provisions Limit exposure in risky driving situations above and beyond GDL law Follow through on supervised driving requirements in State Use technology to aid in monitoring Withdraw driving privileges when appropriate Research has shown that parents can be a powerful influence on their teens’ driving. Some specific things parents can do are listed on the overhead. Many parents are not familiar with their State GDL law and its provisions. Parents should make sure they are familiar with the law and let their teens know that they are familiar with the law. GDL is very difficult to enforce for law enforcement; parents need to be the frontline for enforcement. Parents should enforce the State GDL law with appropriate sanctions for noncompliance. Parents often go above and beyond the State law and enact their own rules and regulations. Parents should follow through on supervised driving, even when the State does not require proof of completion. The use of technology to aid in monitoring may be very beneficial. There are several systems available that will collect data on teen driving and send a “report card” to the parents on a weekly/monthly basis. Other devices may establish boundaries for the teen that when violated, will alert the parent via a text message or cell phone call. These devices have come down considerably in price, making them more accessible to parents. Finally, parents should not be afraid to withdraw their teens’ driving privileges when appropriate.

Parental Involvement ROLE MODEL GOOD BEHAVIOR! If you drive distracted, unbelted, or impaired—your kids will, too. This point cannot be emphasized enough.

Driver Education Traditional Driver Education Requirements 30 hours of classroom instruction Theory Rules of the road Safe/defensive driving Risk assessment 6-10 hours in-vehicle training (car control) It is believed that a multi-stage, carefully designed driver training program, integrated with GDL, may lead to lasting behavior change and reduced crash involvement.

Summary Young drivers have very high rates of involvement in fatal crashes. GDL laws have been proven to be effective in reducing these crashes. Reducing teens’ access to alcohol can have a significant effect on decreasing crash rates. Similarly, increasing teens’ use of seat belts can provide better outcomes in crashes, drastically reducing fatalities and injuries. Parental involvement and role modeling are vital to helping teen drivers learn the skills they need to be safe. The goal of driver education is to teach novice drivers the skills to be safe and competent drivers.

Regional Administrator THANK YOU For more information: http://www.nhtsa.gov/Teen-Drivers Elizabeth A. Baker, Ph.D. Regional Administrator NHTSA Region 3 Beth.baker@dot.gov