Graduated Driver Licensing: California Program

Background

Program Goals:

To reduce the number of teen deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicle collisions; to provide new drivers with the opportunity to gain gradual driving experience under conditions that minimize the exposure to risk; educate the public, especially parents, about the severity of young driver problem

Intent:

Unintentional injuries

Risk Factors Addressed:

Limit unsupervised driving; driver inexperience; restrict nighttime driving; restrict the number of passengers in the vehicle (no more than 1 teenage passenger)

Place of occurrence:

Community

Age/Age Range:

Adolescents

Other Population Characteristics:

High-risk behaviour; use of alcohol; fatigue; lack of driving experience

Resources

Year Developed:

1998

Collaborative Organization(s):

Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC), Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS); California Department of Motor Vehicles

Funding Resource(s):

California State General Fund to the California Department of Motor Vehicles

Costs:

Fiscal 1997-1998: $41,520
Fiscal 1998-1999: $102,155

Implementation

Context/Setting:

Legislation; Community-based Prevention / Highschools

Strategies Used:

Education; Enactment

Activities Used:

Media campaigns; government legislation information; visits to high schools; parent-teacher associations; driver education courses

Program Evaluation:

Licensing and operations division frontline workers of the DMV provide general monitoring of the program; R&D Division of DMV along with other public and private traffic safety research groups (ACSC, IIHS) and the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Centre are involved in ongoing evaluations of the effectiveness of the program. First evaluation examined parent & teenager opinions regarding the California GDL sytsem; second and third evaluations focused on determining how effective the system is in reducing injuries, fatalities, and overall motor vehicle collisions for young drivers

Source of Best Practice:

Road-related Neurotrauma and Road Safety: Opportunities and Challenges for Prevention Science.
Richard Volpe, John Lewko, & the LSAP Research Group, 2006

Original Source:

The first GDL model was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (U.S.) in  1977

Supplementary Material:

World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention
http://www.who.int/world-healthday/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/ 

Local Example(s):

Ontario’s Graduated Licensing System

Contact Information: 

Anne Drumm
Legislative Representative/Lobbyist
American Automobile Association
989th St
Suite 1520
Sacramento, California 95814
Email: drumm.anne@aaa-calif.come
Tel: 916-443-2577 

Outcomes

Long-term outcomes/Effectiveness:

Significant reductions in injuries and fatalities, especially specific to nighttime driving and passenger restrictions.

Short-term outcomes:

New GDL system favourably accepted by teenagers and their parents; increased types of behaviours that collectively are expected to lead to motor vehicle collision and injury reduction

Cost-Effectiveness:

Since California already had a provisional license before the GDL system, basic procedures were not changed which cut down on costs According to the DMV’s pre-licensing policy section, a portion of the funds generated by the licensing fees helps to cover the cost of implementation and ongoing delivery of the system

Other

Date of Review:

Reviewed 2005

Classification:

Best Practice