“We found that 36 percent of drivers are bypassing the GDL laws, waiting until they are 18 (to get a license),” said Cindy Antrician, public affairs manager for the Dayton branch of the AAA Allied Group.
Even as the economy improves, young people — especially those in urban communities — are choosing to take public transportation, walk, bike or ride with a family member or friend.
Ohio PIRG found that delays in major life events, such as entering the workforce and starting a family, might be a factor for some millennial. The report also states that “graduated licensing requirements adopted in recent years by state governments have likely played a small but important role in causing young people to delay or forgo getting a driver’s license.”
The percentage of high school seniors with driver’s licenses declined from 85 percent to 73 percent between 1996 and 2010, according to the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety, and federal data suggests the the decline has continued since then.
Now, as part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, AAA is promoting new research that suggests experience matters more than age when it comes to young-adult driver safety.
AAA found that, while new drivers licensed at older ages tend to be less likely to crash during their first months and years of driving than younger beginners, drivers licensed at 18 are more likely to be involved in a crash resulting in injuries.
In total, drivers licensed after the age of 18 were involved in 800,000 crashes in the United States in 2012 alone.
Antrician said those statistics are a result of drivers missing out on the experience and education provided by graduated drivers’ license programs. “Turning 18 does not instantly make someone a safer driver. This new research clearly demonstrates how important experience is to safe driving and suggests that graduated driver licensing laws may be beneficial for people that begin driving at an older age,” she said.
Graduated drivers’ licensing laws are designed to help new drivers gain practical experience in a relatively safe environment by restricting their exposure to risky situations, such as driving at night or with young passengers. They have reduced crashes among 16- and 17-year-old drivers, but do not apply to drivers aged 18 and older. The result is that those drivers with relatively no experience are allowed, according to state law, to sit behind the wheel.
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