Assessing the Residual Teen Crash Risk Factors after Graduated Drivers License Implementation

Graduated driving licensing laws are now in place in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. However, despite stricter supervised driving requirements, restrictions on the number of passengers, and earlier nighttime driving curfews, teen drivers continue to be at a higher crash risk than the adult driving population. The National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) dataset was examined to compare and contrast the primary crash factors for teen drivers (16–18 years. old) and adult drivers (35–55 years. old) in the GDL era. It is was found that teen drivers were 2.40 (CI:1.19–4.85) times more likely to be in a control loss crash and 1.88 (CI:1.12–3.15) times more likely to be in a road departure crash relative adult drivers. Furthermore, teen drivers who were in a crash were 1.73 (CI:1.25–2.38) times more likely to be distracted, 1.83 (CI: 1.38–2.43) times more likely to be driving inappropriately, and 1.47 (CI:1.30–1.67) times more likely to be inadequately aware of their driving environment than adults. Passengers and aggressive driving also contributed significantly to the heightened crash risk for teen drivers, after GDL implementation. This study emphasizes that while the number of teen crashes has decreased with GDL, the relative crash risk for certain experience related causative factors and pre-crash scenarios remain high for teen drivers after GDL implementation nationwide.