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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Susan P. Baker, MPH, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 624 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410 955 2078, sbaker@jhsph.edu, Li-Hui Chen, MS, PhD, Office of Analysis and Epidemiology, National Center for Health Statistics (CDC), 3311 Toledo Rd, Hyattsville, MD 20782, and Guohua Li, Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1830 East Monument Street, Suite 6-100, Baltimore, MD 21287.

BACKGROUND: 44 states and DC have 3-stage Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs. There has been no national evaluation of the impact on injury crashes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the overall reduction in involvement in injury crashes (including fatal injury) of 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old-drivers in relation to GDL programs in the U.S. METHOD: Population-based rates of involvement in injury crashes during 1994-2004 were calculated for drivers ages 16, 17, 18, 20-24, 25-29, and 30-54 in 28 states with GDL programs and 7 states without GDL, in relation to census data for the same years. For each age and each type of program, rates were calculated for 5-8 quarters before and 5-8 quarters after GDL implementation. Negative binomial regression models accounted for time-related and state-related variations. RESULTS: GDL programs were associated with an overall reduction of 18% in injury crashes of 16-year-old-drivers. This figure includes results for states with less successful programs. Programs with 5 or more components were associated with reductions of 24% to 26%. For drivers aged 17, programs with 6 or 7 components were associated with reductions of 13%. Significant changes were not seen for drivers of other ages. There was little or no difference between daytime and nighttime crashes or between rates of male and female drivers. CONCLUSION: The more comprehensive graduated driver licensing programs achieve reductions of about 25% in injury crashes of 16-year-old drivers. If all states had adopted and enforced comprehensive GDL programs, about 24,000 injury crashes each year might have been prevented.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the size of the problem of teen driver crashes.
• Understand the value of comprehensive GDL programs.
• Encourage states to implement GDL or upgrade existing programs.

Keywords: Motor Vehicles, Injury Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered