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Texas Ranks Fifteenth in Unlicensed Drivers in Deadly Crashes

13 July 2000

    HOUSTON - Texas has the fifteenth highest percentage of improperly licensed drivers involved in fatal crashes, according to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Of Texas drivers involved in fatal crashes, 14.9 percent had an invalid license, meaning their license was suspended, revoked or expired, they had no known license or they had an unknown license status. Nationally, the number of all improperly licensed drivers involved in fatal crashes is 13.8 percent.

    The study, titled "Unlicensed to Kill," examined five years of traffic data from 1993 through 1997. Drivers without a valid license are involved in 20 percent of all fatal crashes in the nation, the study shows.

    "This means one out of every five fatal crashes involves at least one improperly licensed driver," said Rose Rougeau, public affairs specialist for AAA Texas. For the period analyzed, 42,049 people nationally were killed in crashes involving at least one driver who was improperly licensed. "These numbers indicate that improperly licensed drivers are endangering the safety of all motorists," added Rougeau.

    According to the AAA Foundation study, there are two proven effective countermeasures that can be used against improperly licensed drivers: vehicle impoundment and ignition interlocks. The study also pointed to another potential solution that may appear sometime in the future: an electronic "smart card" driver license. This credit card-like device would contain a computer chip that would be needed to start a driver's vehicle. If the license is revoked by the licensing agency, the violator would be prevented from driving.

    According to the national data analyzed in the study, improperly licensed drivers are more likely than properly licensed drivers to be young, male and involved with driving under the influence or hit-and-run crashes. They are also more likely to have previously received three or more license suspensions or revocations.

    The survey was conducted for the AAA Foundation by Lindsay Griffin III and Sandra DeLaZerda of the Texas Transportation Institute. The report can be viewed at the AAA Foundation Web site: http://www.aaafoundation.org.