State driver licensing officials have observed a growing percentage of young people delaying driver licensure until age 18 or older and a declining percentage of teens (16-17 years old) who are obtaining their driver license. Because graduated driver licensing (GDL) restrictions and training requirements generally apply only to new drivers under the age of 18, more young people may be delaying licensure until age 18+ to avoid these restrictions and requirements. As a result, a larger share of young people are being licensed without GDL restrictions and without being required to complete driver training prior to licensure.
In Washington State, 18 and 19-year-olds within their first year of licensure have the highest rate of injury and fatal crash involvement among all young drivers, with the highest rates occurring among 18-year-old drivers who first received their driver’s license at age 18. As a result of these observed trends, there have been policy proposals focused on increasing the age of the driver training requirements and-or GDL restrictions to novice drivers age 18 and older. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of GDL requirements and/or driver training for older novice drivers (new drivers age 18+).
The objective of this research is to identify causal factors associated with higher crash risk among young drivers that delay licensure until age 18+ and the effectiveness of driver training and-or GDL requirements in reducing this risk. To support this objective, the selected research agency will (1) conduct a broad national study of causal crash factors associated with higher crash risk and (2) conduct a scoping study for evaluating driver education and/or GDL requirements for a potential follow-on research effort.
