This paper evaluates proposed legislation to raise the minimum driving age for teenagers, arguing that such laws would likely neither significantly reduce accident rates nor be fair to young drivers. Drawing on data from the Journal of Safety Research, the Maryland Highway Safety Office, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and a Liberty Mutual/SADD Teen Driving Study, the paper challenges claims that older age alone reduces crash risk. It contends that inexperience—not age—is the central danger, that drunk driving is an adult problem as much as a teen one, that parents bear primary responsibility for safe teen driving, and that restricting driving rights for all teenagers based on the behavior of a few is inequitable.
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A number of lawmakers in the state of Nevada began pushing for the passage of a bill that would raise the age at which teenagers may obtain automobile licenses (Hagar). The legislators supporting the law cited statistics as their main reason: according to the United States Department of Public Safety, in 2002, 6,327 American youths between the ages of 16 and 20 were killed in traffic accidents. Similar bills in Nevada previously failed, although they were enthusiastically supported by bipartisan legislators. Around the same time in Maryland, bills proposed by the governor and legislative advocates requested greater parental involvement and harsher penalties for driving infractions (Gavant).
Should such laws be passed? Are they fair to teenagers? Will they achieve their stated goal of lowering fatality and accident rates? Regardless of what proponents of these bills argue, such legislation will probably not significantly decrease accident numbers. In addition, these bills are likely prejudicial against younger teenagers.
Those in favor of raising the driving age point to the conclusions of a series of research papers published in the January 2003 special issue of the Journal of Safety Research (Lin), which make a compelling case for older drivers. According to that report, accident risk is highest among the most inexperienced teens. Drivers 16 years of age experience crashes almost three times as often as more experienced drivers aged 18 to 19.
The key word, however, is "inexperienced." If drivers are only a couple of years older but still inexperienced, will that make a meaningful difference? No matter what their age, new drivers are likely to have the same level of inexperience and pose the same degree of risk. Furthermore, the statistics cited from the United States Department of Public Safety cover accidents involving youth and young adults from 16 to 20. Does this mean it would be best to withhold a permanent license until age 20? Even the strongest advocates for raising the driving age would find it difficult to endorse that conclusion.
Kenneth Beck, a professor of public and community health, and doctoral student Mary Moser conducted a study for the Maryland Highway Safety Office State Highway Administration. They found that it is not only young teenagers who are guilty of reckless driving — older individuals also report engaging in unsafe behavior behind the wheel. The most surprising result, Beck noted, was that nearly 12% of survey respondents, or one in nine, admitted to driving after drinking. The respondents, who spanned all age groups, also reported the following behaviors in the past month:
The Maryland Highway survey also asked drivers about their most critical traffic concerns. Speeding and aggressive driving topped the list, and 75% or more of respondents identified drunk driving, underage drinking, road rage, running stop signs and lights, cell phone use, and distracted or drowsy driving as their biggest worries.
Those who strongly support raising the driving age also cite alcohol abuse as a serious factor. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that over three million teenagers are out-and-out alcoholics, with several million more having a serious drinking problem they cannot manage on their own. Automobile crashes are among the leading causes of death for 15- to 24-year-olds.
Two problems exist with this substance-abuse argument. First, the statistics extend to young adults up to age 24. No one would seriously propose keeping people off the road until that age, yet 24-year-olds can be just as prone to dangerous drinking habits. Second, although substance abuse is a significant problem among younger drivers, it is equally — if not more — serious among older ones. "Hardcore drunk drivers," defined as individuals who drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or above, do so repeatedly, and are highly resistant to changing their behavior despite previous sanctions, treatment, or education, account for a disproportionately large share of drunk-driving fatalities. Drivers with BACs exceeding .15 represent only about 1% of all drivers on weekend nights, yet they are involved in nearly 50% of all fatal crashes during those hours. In the United States in 1995, almost one-third of all fatally injured drivers had BACs exceeding .15, and they represented almost two-thirds of all fatally injured drivers who had been drinking. These hardcore drunk drivers are not teenagers — they are individuals who have been drinking for many years and have typically been involved in prior accidents.
Moreover, although the overall number of drunk drivers has declined, the prevalence of high BAC levels has not followed the same trend. In 1986, 41% of fatally injured drivers aged 25 to 45 had BACs above .15. By 1996, this figure had declined by only 10%.
Beck stresses that safe driving by teenagers should not be the responsibility of the legislature but of parents or caregivers:
"They need to do a much better job of monitoring and restricting the driving privileges of their teens. Research has shown that parents who set restrictions and engage in active monitoring of their teens have teens who are significantly less likely to report a variety of high-risk activities, including unsafe driving. Research also shows that parents are fairly unaware of the actual level of risk-taking that their teens engage in when they drive. Thus, their perceived vulnerability to these events is lower than it should be."
Some of the practical steps that parents can take to improve their child's driving ability include: talking to them about responsibilities long before they obtain a permit; modeling good driving habits; not using the driving permit as a reward or punishment; and addressing any substance abuse concerns before allowing their child behind the wheel.
According to a 2004 Liberty Mutual/SADD Teen Driving Study, role modeling by adults is critically important. The survey clearly shows that parental influence on teen drivers helps explain a distinct disconnect between how teens view themselves as drivers and their actual driving habits. Nearly nine out of ten teens (89%) describe themselves as safe drivers, yet many engage in risky behaviors that often lead to crashes — including speeding, neglecting to use seat belts, and talking on a cell phone while driving. Many teens do not view these behaviors as dangerous, suggesting they believe they are safe precisely because their parents drive the same way:
"Parents better positioned than law to change teen behavior"
"Raising driving age unfairly penalizes responsible teens"
Simpson, H.M., Mayhew, D.R., and Beirness, D.J. Dealing With the Hard Core Drinking Driver. Ottawa, Canada: The Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 1996.
"Teens Copy Parents' Driving Habits." Road & Travel. n.d. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. 21 February 2005.
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