The association of graduated driver licensing with miles driven and fatal crash rates per miles driven among adolescents

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Inj Prev
• Personal Author:
  Zhu, Motao ; Cummings, Peter ; Zhao, Songzhu ; Coben, Jeffrey H. ; Smith, Gordon S.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws are associated with reduced crash rates per person-year among adolescents. It is unknown whether adolescents crash less per miles driven or drive less under GDL policies.
  
  Methods
  
  We used data from the US National Household Travel Survey and Fatality Analysis Reporting System for 1995–1996, 2001–2002, and 2008–2009. We compared adolescents subject to GDL laws with those not, by estimating adjusted incidence rate ratios for being a driver in a crash with a death per person-year (aIRRpy) and per miles driven (aIRRm), and adjusted miles driven ratios (aMR) controlling for changes in rates over time.
  
  Results
  
  Comparing persons subject to GDL policies with those not, 16-year-olds had fewer fatal crashes per person-year (aIRRpy 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47, 0.91), drove fewer miles (aMR 0.79, 95% CI 0.63, 0.98), and had lower crash rates per miles driven (aIRRm 0.83, 95% CI 0.65, 1.06). For age 17, the aIRRpy was 0.83 (95% CI 0.60, 1.17), the aMR 0.80 (95% CI 0.63, 1.03), and the aIRRm 1.03 (95% CI 0.80, 1.35). For age 18, the aIRRpy was 0.93 (95% CI 0.72, 1.19), the aMR 0.92 (95% CI 0.77, 1.09), and the aIRRm 1.01 (95% CI 0.84, 1.23).
  
  Conclusions
  
  If these associations are causal, GDL laws reduced crashes per person-year by about one-third among 16-year-olds; half the reduction was due to fewer crashes per miles driven and half to less driving. For ages 17 and 18, there was no evidence of reduced crash rates per miles driven.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Traffic Adolescent Automobile Driving Female Humans Incidence Licensure Male
• Source:
  Inj Prev. 21(0):e23-e27.
• Pubmed ID:
  24525908
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4133321
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 AA018313/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/United States ; R01 HD074594/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States ; R01AA18313/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/United States ; R01HD074594/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States ; R21CE001820/CE/NCIPC CDC HHS/United States ; R49CE002109/CE/NCIPC CDC HHS/United States ; U54 GM104942/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States ; U54GM104942/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  21
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:8e40ecaf988eb82b312c30c804a66be058b61792d673314dd39e70cb1c409710
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/31073/cdc_31073_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 190.05 KB ]