CPCU Looks at Graduated Driver Licensing

When should teenagers be allowed to earn an unrestricted driver' license? And who should be responsible for making this decision—legislators, parents, or teens?

When confronted with staggering statistics finding "34 percent of all deaths of 16 and 17-year-old boys are the result of car crashes," and "45 percent of all deaths of 16 and 17-year-old girls occur when they are drivers or passengers in auto wrecks," it's easy to wonder if 16 and 17 years of age is too young for teens to begin driving.

In Graduated Driver Licensing, an article in the Winter 1999 edition of the CPCU Journal, Lloyd Sandbulte, CPCU, cites the above statistics in his study of phased in driving privileges as a means to reduce traffic accident rates among teenage drivers and improve highway safety. Sandbulte, a senior products analyst for Farm Bureau Financial Services in West Des Moines, IA, is a member of the Iowa Chapter of the N/A (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters).

Sandbulte's study offers an overview of the problem, information on how phased in driving privileges are being implemented in Iowa, and reactions by those affected. The study indicates that the effectiveness of graduated driver licensing depends on how many more states adopt it, how extensive the restrictions are, how well they are enforced, and how well parents and teenage drivers support their intent.

While graduated driver licensing laws differ from state to state, Sandbulte reports, "the solutions being adopted commonly address driver training, supervised driving, seat belt requirements, delaying the age at which a driver's license can be obtained, restricting provisional drivers licenses, and increasing penalties for at-fault accidents and traffic violations." He also explains that while some states have adopted graduated driver licensing laws, many are currently debating the issue.