A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Young Drivers (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 12-56
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From page 12... ...
V-1 EXHIBIT V-1 Objectives and Strategies to Reduce Young Driver Crashes Objectives Strategies 1.1 A -- Implement or improve 1.1 A1 -- Enact a graduated licensing system (P) GDL systems 1.1 A2 -- Require at least 6 months of supervised driving for beginners starting at age 16 (P)
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From page 13... ...
It is intended that, as implementation of these strategies continues under the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan initiative, appropriate evaluations will be conducted. Resulting information on their effectiveness can then be used to provide better estimating power for the user, and the strategy can then be upgraded to a "proven" (P)
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From page 14... ...
Substantial amounts of practice are needed -- at least 6 months or more -- before a novice driver begins to develop the savvy required to be a proficient and safe driver. Driving with an adult supervisor enables novice drivers to gain needed "real world" driving experience in a reasonably safe fashion.
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Because teenage drivers have a substantially higher crash risk than adult drivers, failure to wear safety belts makes them especially vulnerable to injury or death. Well-publicized enforcement programs and primary safety belt laws have increased belt usage for all drivers, including teen drivers.
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There are many ways in which parents can manage their teen's driving in order to reduce this risk. Parent-teen driving agreements and new technologies for monitoring teen drivers have the potential to reduce young driver crashes during this high-risk period.
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As additional guides are completed for the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan, they may address the details regarding the design and implementation of strategies for safety management systems. • Strategies to Improve Emergency Medical and Trauma System Services -- Treatment of injured persons at crash sites can have a significant effect on injury severity and the duration of needed treatment.
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From page 18... ...
id=1645. Agencies dealing with safety issues related to younger drivers at the state and local levels should integrate information from this volume, as appropriate, into their existing plans and programs, including in particular statewide strategic highway safety plans.
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. Most parents also support extended learner periods, as well as nighttime and passenger driving restrictions.
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. In addition, some local communities have adopted policies or practices whereby traffic violations are routinely dismissed for teen drivers who provide evidence of having taken a formal traffic safety class.
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General Description A primary goal of graduated driver licensing (GDL) is to ensure that teens obtain substantial driving experience in a variety of situations before they begin unsupervised driving.
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From page 22... ...
V-11 EXHIBIT V-3 Strategy Attributes for Requiring at Least 6 Months of Supervised Driving for Beginners Starting at Age 16 (P) Technical Attributes Target Novice drivers under the age of 18 Expected Available studies suggest that crash rate decreases of 22%–40% are possible with Effectiveness substantially extended learner periods.
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From page 23... ...
For the learner stage to be maximally useful, some indication of adequate performance, rather than simply passing time, accumulating hours or reaching a particular age, should be required for novice drivers to move to the next, less restricted and less protected licensing level. [See Strategy 1.1 A1 of this guide regarding the need for successive licenses to be earned by maintaining a safe driving record.]
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From page 24... ...
. Nighttime driving is more dangerous for a variety of reasons: driving in the dark is a more difficult task, even for adult drivers; many young drivers have had less experience driving at nighttime; and additional risk factors such as fatigue, alcohol use, and recreational driving involving multiple teen passengers are more common at nighttime.
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From page 25... ...
young driver crashes can be substantially reduced by introducing a nighttime driving restriction, and (2) declines in crashes correspond closely to the time that the nighttime restriction begins.
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From page 26... ...
A nighttime restriction should cover the first 6 months of unsupervised driving. If the teen maintains a safe driving record for the full 6 months (i.e., no citations or at-fault crashes)
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From page 27... ...
In addition, police will need training about the nighttime restriction and other provisions under their state's GDL system. Legislative Needs This strategy will require legislative action to implement a new, or revise an existing, nighttime driving restriction.
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From page 28... ...
Whereas a nighttime driving restriction protects young drivers from the variety of risks involved in nighttime driving, a passenger restriction should further reduce young driver crashes by reducing the risk that carrying passengers creates during the hours not covered by a nighttime restriction. This is important since many crashes involving young drivers occur during the daytime, particularly during the hours immediately before and after school (Williams, 2003)
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From page 29... ...
SECTION V -- DESCRIPTION OF STRATEGIES V-18 EXHIBIT V-7 Strategy Attributes for Implementing a Teenage Passenger Restriction Allowing No Young Passengers (T) Technical Attributes Target Novice drivers under the age of 18 Expected Although many studies have shown the sizeable crash reductions that follow Effectiveness implementation of a GDL system, it has been difficult to determine the specific effect of passenger restrictions.
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From page 30... ...
Appropriate Multiple passenger crashes involving teen drivers and passenger injuries in teen driver Measures and Data crashes should both decrease. Crashes among teens with restricted licenses should also decline.
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Cell phones can be both physically and cognitively distracting for a driver. Experimental studies using driving simulators have shown that cell phone use is associated with delayed reaction times and impaired performance (Alm and Nilsson, 1995; Consiglio et al., 2003; Strayer et al., 2003)
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From page 32... ...
Potential Difficulties Lack of compliance with laws prohibiting cell phone use is a major problem. In New York, drivers' use of hand held cell phones declined measurably during the first few months after the law prohibiting cell phone use took effect; however, use had returned to previous levels one year later (McCartt and Geary, 2004)
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From page 33... ...
Recent studies have found that between 23 percent and 50 percent of young drivers report occasionally violating nighttime restrictions, and between 34 percent and 80 percent acknowledge violating passenger restrictions (Begg et al., 1995; Goodwin and Foss, 2004; Mayhew et al., 1998; Williams et al., 2002)
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From page 34... ...
In Iowa, teen drivers are referred to a remedial driver improvement process if they receive a moving violation or are involved in a crash to which the driver contributed. Both the teen driver and a parent/guardian must participate in an interview with a DOT official who, based on the circumstances of the incident, may impose additional driving restrictions or recommend license suspension.
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From page 35... ...
who is assigned to the school and who can assist in conducting checkpoints. To enforce nighttime driving restrictions, checkpoints and saturation patrols can be employed in the evening in areas with high concentrations of teen drivers (e.g., after school sporting events)
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Strategy Attributes for Publicizing and Enforcing GDL Restrictions (E) Organizational and Institutional Attributes Organizational, Support from high ranking officers increases the likelihood that GDL restrictions will be Institutional and consistently enforced by most officers.
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From page 37... ...
. For example, a recent projection combining crash data with BAC measurements from a national roadside survey suggests that males ages 16 to 20 who have a BAC between .08 percent and .10 percent are more than 20 times as likely as sober teen drivers to be involved in a fatal crash; females with a similar BAC are estimated to be about 6 times more likely to be in a fatal crash (Zador et al., 2000)
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From page 38... ...
More information about enforcement of safety belt laws can be found in the NCHRP Report 500, Volume 11: A Guide for Increasing Seatbelt Use. In addition, an excellent manual with guidance for implementing a well-publicized safety belt enforcement program is available from Buckle Up America (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ people/injury/airbags/buckleplan/bua_website/index.htm)
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From page 39... ...
Objective 1.1 C -- Assist Parents in Managing Their Teens' Driving Strategy 1.1 C1 -- Facilitate Parental Supervision of Learners (T) General Description Young driver experts are in substantial agreement that more effective parental involvement in mentoring teen drivers holds substantial promise for further reducing young driver crashes (Hedlund, Shults and Compton, 2003; Simons-Morton, 2002)
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From page 40... ...
Finally, it may be possible to develop community-based support programs for parents of teen drivers comparable to those that have been established to support and encourage the use of child safety seats. Potential Difficulties There is currently no infrastructure in the United States for helping parents of beginning drivers.
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From page 41... ...
Parenting and teen driving experts generally agree that materials should emphasize the following principles: • Novice drivers need extensive driving practice in a wide range of situations. The amount of driving required in several state GDL systems (e.g., 30–50 hours behind the wheel)
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From page 42... ...
General Description Despite having obtained substantial practical driving experience during many months of supervised driving now required by GDL systems in most states, teen drivers experience a dramatic increase in crashes when they first begin driving alone. The first several months of unsupervised driving compose the period of greatest risk for novice drivers (Mayhew et al., 2003; McCartt et al., 2003)
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From page 43... ...
, and that driving agreements are an important tool for keeping teens safe. In a demonstration trial in Connecticut, parents received a video that discusses teen driving risks and introduces the program, followed by periodic newsletters that emphasize the need for parental restrictions on teen driving.
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From page 44... ...
Keys to Success For programs to encourage effective parental monitoring of teen drivers to have a broad safety benefit, they must be integrated into existing traffic safety or health care systems to ensure they are used widely and correctly. Driver licensing offices, insurance companies and other organizations can provide information and materials to parents about these approaches and their potential benefits, but for these approaches to reduce crashes within a state they will need to be integrated into some formal structural framework that can ensure their widespread use.
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From page 45... ...
Technical Attributes Associated Needs A well-designed graduated licensing program should make it easier for parents to manage their teen's driving during the intermediate license stage. The protective restrictions under GDL can support parents' efforts to establish and enforce driving restrictions for their teenager.
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From page 46... ...
. Many graduated licensing systems effectively prevent the youngest drivers from riding a motorcycle, requiring a full (adult)
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From page 47... ...
Several organizations provide advice for parents about safe vehicle selection for young drivers, including the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Safety Council (see links below)
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Others maintain that driver education should be V-37 EXHIBIT V-12 (Continued) Strategy Attributes for Encouraging Selection of Safer Vehicles for Young Drivers (E)
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From page 49... ...
In this way, the content of the program is more appropriately linked to the experience of the young driver. This two-stage approach to driver education aligns nicely with the multi-stage approach to licensing -- graduated driver licensing (GDL)
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From page 50... ...
Technical Attributes Target Novice drivers, state transportation and education officials, and driver education instructors and administrators Expected The expected effectiveness of this strategy is unknown. Effectiveness Keys to Success To effectively train teen drivers, it is essential that a program address how teens learn rather than simply offering information in a traditional format that may be convenient to deliver, but which is ineffective in training drivers to perceive hazards, make good judgments, and understand their limitations.
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From page 51... ...
Ultimately, the most important measures would be an overall reduction in crashes during the first six months of unsupervised driving by novices; this would also be reflected in a reduced crash rate among 16- to 18-year-old drivers since this is the age when most individuals in the United States begin driving. However, evaluating the effects of driver education programs is particularly difficult (Peck, 2006)
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From page 52... ...
. Numerous efforts are presently under way to develop new approaches to young driver training that may produce crash reductions (Transportation Research Board, 2006)
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From page 53... ...
In both cases, when county-wide school systems revised school start times, motor vehicle crashes involving high-school age drivers decreased. In North Carolina when a moderate sized county changed the school start time from 7:30 a.m.
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From page 54... ...
Research shows that school buses are the safest form of transportation for teens. On a per-trip basis, students are 44 times more likely to be killed in a vehicle with a teen driver than while riding on a school bus (Transportation Research Board, 2002)
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From page 55... ...
SECTION V -- DESCRIPTION OF STRATEGIES V-44 EXHIBIT V-15 Strategy Attributes for Reviewing Transportation Plans for New/Expanded High School Sites (E) Technical Attributes Target High school age drivers, Transportation Planners, and Local School Boards Expected The expected effectiveness of this strategy is currently unknown.
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From page 56... ...
Strategy Attributes for Reviewing Transportation Plans for New/Expanded High School Sites (E) Technical Attributes Appropriate As with other strategies, the main outcome measures are the number and rates of Measures and crashes among drivers of high school age (typically those younger than 18)
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