Why Passenger Restrictions Make Sense for Teen Drivers

Arizona’s governor signed a bill into law in 2007 that took effect on July 1, 2008. It places a driving curfew on teens and restricts the passengers they can carry. Arizona now joins (at last count) 44 other states that have curfew restrictions, and 38 that have passenger restrictions.

According to the Arizona’s Law for Kids web site:

The [teenage] driver cannot drive on a public highway between 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. unless:

• The driver is with a parent or legal guardian (with a valid license) who is in the front seat next to the driver.
• The driver is driving directly to or from a school sponsored activity, employment, a sanctioned religious activity, or a family emergency.

The driver cannot drive on a public highway at any time with more than one passenger under the age of 18, unless:

• The passenger’s are the driver’s siblings

• The driver is with a parent or legal guardian (with a valid license) who is in the front seat next to the driver.

The driver can only be stopped if the peace officer has reasonable cause to believe that the driver is violating a motor vehicle law of Arizona other than this one.

The passenger restriction issue has been a hot topic for over a decade.

Doherty, Andrey and MacGregor published the results of their studies on the influence of passengers in the car in Accident Analysis & Prevention 30(1):4552 back in 1998. They report that teen drivers carrying one teenage passenger have twice the risk of a fatal crash as teens driving alone, while the risk of a fatal crash is five times higher or teens carrying two or more teenage passengers.

Another study that’s really worth reading is available from NHTSA. It summarizes some of the thoughts and activities that some teens admit to while driving. We highlighted some of the findings from teen focus groups who participated in the research in our January 2007 newsletter.

The study team held a total of 16 focus groups with boys and girls between 16 and 18 from four cities — Atlanta, GA, Fort Lee, NJ, Minneapolis, MN and Seattle, WA. The goal of the study was to document the kind of driving behaviors average teens engage in, and then to learn what kind of public messaging would be effective in alerting teens to the risks involved.

Following are a few of the surprising comments taken verbatim from the study report (with emphasis added):

When asked what might cause teenage boys to change their risky driving behaviors, several boys replied that they…

· …might not always drive responsibly [and] they did not believe they should or would change their behaviors.

· “They generally felt that they were in control of their vehicles and would not change their behaviors until perhaps they were older and had children.

· “While they did feel responsible for the people in their cars, most felt that their friends knew their driving habits, and by agreeing to ride with them, they were accepting the risk.

When these boys were asked what scares them most about being responsible for a serious crash, they mentioned these fears:

· Fear of going to jail

· Fear of the guilt that would come from killing someone else

· Fear of losing parent’s trust

· Fear of ‘breaking parent’s heart if I died’

· When pressed, they indicated that they would not want to die, but if they killed someone else it might be better to have died themselves.

Girls reported other fears:

· Increased insurance cost

· Wrecking a car

· Telling parents

· Guilt about hurting or killing someone

· ‘How will I pay for all the expense?’

One girl reported that she does not see anything [about her driving behavior] changing if she had a bad crash, unless maybe she killed someone. Her parents are not going to take her car away because “they are not about to start driving me around again.”

The girls also “…made a point of talking about eating with forks as being a problem (more than just eating a sandwich). Apparently they frequently try to eat things like pasta that require utensils. This means the driver has to balance a plate in her lap and use a fork, all while trying to steer. They frequently spill food, which causes another distraction. While they all acknowledge that this is a bad idea, they do not anticipate changing their behavior or their menu choices.“

Teens complain justifiably that passenger restrictions add to traffic jams and waste fuel when they can’t carpool to school. Yet there’s no argument that the saving of young lives during the intermediate licensing phase is well worth the inconvenience.

Expensive Gas — Fewer Fatalities

With the nation suffering under $4 per gallon gasoline, there’s at least one good piece of news: traffic fatalities may be cut by up to almost one-third. About 1,000 each month, 12,000 per year, with teen drivers enjoying the biggest reduction.

Researchers Michael Morrisey, Ph.D., director of University of Alabama, Birmingham’s Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, and David Grabowski, Ph.D. of Harvard Medical School studied the fatality rate per capita from driving crashes, then compared those rates to the quarterly cost of gasoline between 1983 and 2000. They found that each 10 percent increase in the cost of gasoline was accompanied by a 2.3 percent reduction in driving fatalities.

Re-visiting the research using price data through 2006 showed consistent results, and suggests that fatalities could be reduced by as much as 1,000 people per month with our current $4 per gallon fuel cost. Annualized, 12,000 fatalities avoided is almost one-third of the roughly 40,000 annual death toll on America’s highways.

Teens are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of this phenomenon. While the entire driving population shows a 2.3 percent reduction, 15 to 17 year old drivers saw a decline of six percent, while for 18 to 21 year old drivers it was 3.2 percent.

What’s happening in your family? Are you limiting your teen’s driving? Does your teen have enough of his or her own money to afford $4 gas? Are your teens driving slower to save gas? Driving less? Waiting until a later age to begin driving? No matter what the reason, when teens — the most crash-prone, risky drivers — drive fewer miles, it’s bound to have an effect on the overall statistics.

There aren’t many silver linings to the dark and persistent $4 per gallon gas situation, but we can be glad it’s saving lives.

This Law Applies Only to Teen Drivers

Teenage drivers are unique among all other drivers for many reasons – their high likelihood of being involved in and causing crashes being the most critical. The response to this national problem from the legislative side has been to single out teens with two laws that apply only to teens.

These are the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws and the Zero Tolerance BAC (blood alcohol content) laws. In addition, of course, teens are subject to all the other laws that govern the driving behavior of every driver.

GDL laws are now in effect in every state in the country. They are designed to prohibit the most risk-laden driving situations for novice drivers, allowing them to gain experience and gradually be exposed to greater risk as they learn.

GDL in most states requires youngsters to begin with a Learner’s Permit, usually at age 15 or 16. This level of licensing must be held for a specific length of time, the “Mandatory Holding Period,” usually six months. Why? Because during the Learner’s period, teens are learning to drive. That’s why parents are required by law to drive with their teens for a specific number of daytime and nighttime hours — usually 30 to 50. Many states require parents or guardians to submit an affidavit certifying that they and their teen have, in fact, done that practice driving.

When a teen passes the road test and is ready to drive alone, without a parent or guardian in the car, he moves to the Intermediate level license. This stage usually lasts until at least age 17 or 18 and includes a night driving restriction, usually starting at 9 or 10PM. Most states also have a restriction on carrying teenage passengers, usually allowing no teenage passengers, or no more than one.

But did you know: beginning to drive solo is the most risky time of any? That’s when Mom or Dad are no longer in the car, watching traffic and giving advice and direction. It’s the time when he’s likely to turn the radio on full blast, or play with his iPod or cell phone when he’s driving. Driving alone is a wonderful feeling of autonomy. Teens report that they feel “more adult” when they’re driving.

Data from Nationwide Insurance shows the difference in crash rates between Learners and Novices. Learners are those with a parent still in the car; Novices are driving solo without parents. Based on this data, crashes increase from around 10 to over 120 — a 12-fold increase — when teens begin driving alone! There is a gradual reduction in crashes as the driver becomes more experienced. But even after two years, the crash rate for solo drivers is still nearly three times higher than it is for Learners.

Enforcement of GDL laws is critical if those laws are to have any effect. But our law enforcement system faces several problems when dealing with young drivers.

First, police in most jurisdictions are tasked with preventing “serious” crime. Many, if not most jurisdictions, consider enforcement of GDL laws to be a “secondary enforcement” issue. That is, they won’t simply stop a car driven by a visually young-appearing person because the office thinks there may be a GDL violation underway.

Then too, there may be a tendency for officers to overlook possible GDL violations, and for prosecutors to dismiss them because the suspect is “just a kid.” Further, it is often difficult for law enforcement to determine the age of the driver unless a stop is made.

All of this has had the effect of placing the first responsibility for enforcement of GDL on parents. Yet parents are often unaware of their role under GDL enforcement.

Allstate Insurance’s “Under Your Influence” survey of 1,000 parents is published at our web site, with Allstate’s kind permission. The survey results are shocking because they show how little parents know about teen driving risks…and how parents fail to take the actions that can prevent crashes.

For example, the survey shows less than one third of parents believe teens are good drivers. Yet nearly nine in 10 parents say that their own teen can drive safely. This “not my teen syndrome” gives parents a false sense of security as parents embark on what may be the most dangerous phase of child-rearing.

When it comes to understanding laws associated with novice drivers, Allstate reports that 93 percent of parents believe they can teach their kids to drive, yet three in five have never heard of, or are only vaguely familiar with, Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws. Most parents, unaware of GDL laws — which are designed to minimize a novice driver’s exposure to the highest risk driving situations — allow the exact behaviors that the laws are designed to prohibit. In simple language, ignorance of the laws puts young drivers at risk!

Where is GDL going? States are updating their laws to include more restrictions. Several states have enacted updates to their GDL that became effective on July 1, 2008. For example, California now makes it illegal for drivers under the age of 18 to use a hand-held cell phone while driving.

Senate Bill 38: ” This bill, on and after July 1, 2008, would prohibit a person under the age of 18 years from driving a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone, even if equipped with a hands-free device, or
while using a mobile service device…”

Yet the question remains: What can be done to inform, educate and motivate parents to take the appropriate actions to enforce GDL laws in their own families? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has published a GDL state-by-state summary of laws accessible here. It’s updated every month and serves as a good starting point for parents to get the info they need. The Governor’s Highway Safety Association has another more detailed version here.

If you’re a parent, take a minute to print a copy of the laws in your state. If you’re a teen driver, get up to date on the law that applies to you and you alone!

An Exciting New Connection – Dr. Charles McDaniel

About a month ago we had our first contact with Dr. Charles McDaniel of Consolidated Driving Programs, Inc. in Boone, NC. What a pleasure to meet Charles! We’ll be meeting with him and two of his associates later in July to discuss a parent-teen training program designed to educate parents and teens on the risks surrounding learning to drive.

There’s really no question that parents are the #1 influence in a teen’s life. They have control of the car keys, set the rules on any number of subject and are responsible for their kids. We’ve felt for a long time that parents are under-served on issues surrounding teen driving – especially considering their pivotal role in keeping their children safe.

So we’re excited to begin working with Dr. McDaniel. Here is a bit of his background, borrowed from the “About the Author” segment of his very popular “Parents Deserve a Brake” series, which includes educational CD’s, ebooks and printed books.

Charles has dedicated 50 years of his life to the improvement of driver education. He obtained his Doctorate in Curriculum Development/Highway Traffic Safety from Michigan State University in 1970.

He has been appointed to professorships at the University of Alabama, Memphis State University, Michigan State University, the University of Alaska at Juneau, and San Diego State University in the field of Driver and Traffic Safety. His last tenure as a college professor was at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where he served as director of the Center for Safety and Driver Education, and professor of safety and driver education.

He was project director for the development of a basic-level emergency medical technician training program for the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services. He designed an advanced driving maneuvers and emergency vehicle operator course program that set new standards in driving skills development that would prove useful in government, commercial and industrial applications. In addition, during the 1980s, he was instrumental in the development of a unique anti-terrorist driving program for professional chauffeurs. He has designed off-street multiple car driving ranges in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Iowa, Washington state, California, and for the Dekalb County, Georgia National Driving Education Study.

He has held memberships in the American Society of Safety Engineers, American Academy of Safety Education and Phi Delta Kappa, and has served on the boards of the National Safety Council and the Florida Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association. He is a former president of both the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association and the Southeast Region of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Association. Dr. McDaniel has also received numerous state, regional and national awards for his efforts in driver and traffic safety.

He has also been a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NEA), and has served as an instructor/trainer in five distinct driver improvement programs conducted throughout the United States. Following his retirement from Appalachian State University, Dr. McDaniel established his own company dedicated to driver improvement. Consolidated Driving Programs, Inc. offers courses in driver education that are relevant to private, industrial, and commercial applications.

His innovative programs and common-sense approach to the task of driver improvement have helped to make him a recognized authority in his field. His dedication and efforts to improve driver education have resulted in his appointment or election to a large number of regional and national organizations, which target the development of a better driver and a safer traffic environment.

Congratulations to Charles for a remarkable career – still going strong – that has touched the lives of countless young drivers.