A study released yesterday by the American Auto Association (AAA) estimates that crashes involving drivers 15-17 years of age accounted for over $34 billion in 2006 alone.

The study stated that these teen drivers were involved in nearly a million crashes in 2006, injuring 406,427 people and killing 2,541.  Fatality costs were estimated to cost $3.841 million in lost wages, lawsuits, emergency response crew wages, and medical expenses while injury accidents post an average of $50,512 per incident.

AAA suggests that state governments impose graduated driver licensing strategies, which they claim reduce fatal crashes involving teen drivers by an average of 38 percent. Comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems ease teens into driving through a combination of mandatory practice under supervision, limited driving at night, the use of learning permits, and restrictions on carrying passengers.

A 2006 study by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health showed that graduated driver licensing programs reduce the incidence of fatal crashes of 16-year-old drivers by an average of 16-21 percent, depending on the number of restrictions.  The more stringent the GDL program, the higher the reduction.  

“Graduated driver licensing programs are a popular way to reduce the risk of vehicle crashes for novice drivers. We already knew that the programs reduced crash rates of young drivers, but we didn’t know which programs were most effective in reducing risk,” said Susan P. Baker, MPH, lead author of the study and a professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management and Center for Injury Research and Policy. “After completing our study, it is clear that more comprehensive programs have the greatest effect.”

“This [Johns Hopkins] study strongly underscores the effectiveness of graduated licensing laws. To states searching for solutions to the tragic problem of fatal crashes involving teenagers, it provides extremely valuable new information,” said Nicole Nason, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers, accounting for 36 percent of all deaths of people 15 to 19 years old.  

Maryland was the first U.S. state to implement a graduated driver license program, introducing it in 1979. Since then, 44 states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of a GDL program, as have provinces in Canada and several other countries. The only states that do not mandate a graduated licensing system are Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and North Dakota, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.