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Findings Show Graduated Drivers License Working in North Carolina

27 July 2000

Number of Young Driver Crashes Has Significantly Declined Since Enactment of Law

    RALEIGH, N.C. - Preliminary findings of a study released Tuesday reveal that
the state's graduated license law is saving lives and preventing injuries among 
teens in North Carolina.

    The study, conducted by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety
Research Center, found that 16-year-old drivers were involved in 26% fewer
crashes in 1999 than in 1997, the year the GDL law was enacted.  Additionally,
injuries and fatalities among 16-year-old drivers declined 29% from 1997 to
1999.

    Data for 16-year-old drivers was the basis of the study because by 1999,
nearly all drivers that age had begun their driving experience under the GDL
program as opposed to the previous licensing system.

    The study also found that a principal component of GDL, a restriction on
unsupervised nighttime driving by novice drivers, is working as anticipated.
While 16-year-old driver crashes declined by 22% during the hours between
5 a.m. and 9 p.m., the decrease was 47% during the restricted driving hours of
9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

    "The decrease in young driver crashes at night translates into lives
saved.  In 1997, there were 13 drivers 16 years of age who were killed between
the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.  In 1999, there was only one 16-year-old driver
killed during those hours," said Dr. Rob Foss, the primary author of the
study.  "GDL is doing exactly what it was intended to do -- save lives and
prevent injuries, and there is ample reason to believe that a permanent
decrease in young driver crashes will result from the GDL system."

    Future studies of GDL will examine its effects on 17-year-old drivers to
determine which elements of the program produce the greatest results and what
the enduring effects of GDL are on drivers after they finish the GDL program.

    "We have been behind GDL from the very beginning," said Joe Parker,
director of the Governor's Highway Safety Program.  "We hope these findings
will help encourage other states to enact GDL legislation so that young
drivers everywhere can learn the fundamentals of driving before going out on
the road on their own."

    North Carolina was only the second state to enact a GDL system, which
serves the purpose of reducing crash risks for young beginning drivers by
systematically providing them with more practical experience, gained under the
safest possible conditions, before allowing them to drive on their own.  An
estimated 145,000 teen drivers have participated in the GDL process since the
program went into effect in December 1997.