Graduated Driver Licensing and Drinking among Young Drivers

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among persons aged 15 to 201 and occur at twice the rate among this age group compared with those over age 20. Two out of five deaths among teens in the United States result from motor vehicle crashes. In 2001, more than 4,700 teens ages 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes in the United States. The crash risk for young drivers is greatest at night, and increases when teenage passengers are in the car. Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) addresses the high risks faced by new drivers by allowing them to get their initial driving experience under low risk conditions.

Although programs vary considerably, all 50 States use some form of GDL to reduce the crash risk of underage youths by providing a transition into the complexities of driving. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health asks respondents about the quantity and frequency of their alcohol use in the past month, as well as problems or behaviors associated with their alcohol use, including driving under the influence of alcohol.

The report examines the associations among binge drinking, heavy drinking, and DUI for drivers aged 15 to 17 by the restrictiveness of State GDL laws. Binge alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion for 5 or more days during the past 30 days; all heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users. All estimates of drinking and driving behavior presented in the report are averages based on combined data from the 1999, 2000, and 2001 NSDUHs.

Here are some of the findings:

• During the combined years of 1999 to 2001, 21 percent of young drivers aged 15 to 17 were binge drinkers and 6 percent were heavy drinkers.
• Young drivers aged 15 to 17 in States with the most restrictive driver-licensing laws had lower rates of heavy drinking than those in States with the least restrictive laws.
• Young drivers aged 15 to 17 in States with more restrictive driver-licensing laws had lower rates of driving under the influence of alcohol than those in States with less restrictive laws.
• In states with the most restrictive teen driving laws, 8.2 percent of young teens admitted driving under the influence in the past year. The admitted teen DUI rate was 11.5 percent in states with the least restrictive graduated licensing laws.