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Table 1.1: Comparison of Oregon's GDL program to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety’s "DesirableComponents”“Desirable Components” (Insurance Institute forHighway Safety)Oregon's Graduated License ProgramLearner's PhaseInstruction Driver PermitMinimum age to receive permit is 16.May receive permit at age 15 (ORS 807.280(2)(a)Require supervision by a fully licensed driver whois at least age 21Require supervision of person 21 or older with valid license (ORS807.280(5))Require 50 hours of supervised driving and either drivers education(normally 24 hours classroom and 6 hours behind the wheel) or anadditional 50 hours of supervised driving (ORS 807.065). Superviseddriving must be with a person age 21 or older who has had a valid licensefor at least 3 yearsRequire 30-50 hours of certified driving, some ofwhich should be nighttime driving. If drivereducation is required it should be integrated tocomplement graduated licensingMust have learner's permit for at least 6 monthsMust have instruction driver permit for at least 6 months (ORS 807.065)Intermediate StageProvisional LicenseUnsupervised driving not permitted before age 16and not until have had a learner’s permit for atleast 6 monthsUnsupervised driving allowed at age 16Restrict unsupervised night driving between 9 or10 PM and 5 AM, except under certain conditionsRestrict unsupervised driving between midnight and 5 AM, except undercertain conditions, for first year or until age 18. (ORS 807.122 (b))Limit teenage passengers to 0 or 1 during some orall of the intermediate phase, unless an adult ispresentHold beginning drivers in the intermediate stageuntil at least age 18Consider an exit driving test to ensure competenceprior to full licensure.Include penalty provisions that delay full licensurefor beginners with poor driving record.For first 6 months no passenger under the age of 20 is allowed who isn't amember of their immediate family; for the second 6 months no more than3 passengers under the age of 20 are allowed who aren’t a member of theirimmediate family. (ORS 807.122 (a)).Hold beginning drivers in provisional license stage until age 18, butpassenger and night driving restrictions end in 1 year or at age 18,whichever comes first. Other restrictions and the provisional driverimprovement program apply until age 18.No exit driving test, but required written examination to test knowledgeand understanding of safe driving practices prior to obtaining provisionallicense. (ORS 807.065 (b))Driver Improvement Program restrictions are more stringent for driversunder age 18. DMV will restrict driving privileges for 90 days to a personwho has 2 driver improvement violations, 2 preventable accidents, or acombination. Can drive only for work purposes without passengers,except parent, stepparent or guardian. DMV will suspend drivingprivileges of a driver with 3 driver improvement violations, 3 preventableaccidents, or a combination. Increased suspension periods apply foradditional traffic crimes. (ORS 809.480 and OAR 735-072-0023)Full Driving PrivilegesFull Driving PrivilegesPassenger restrictions in effect until at least age 17Nighttime driving restrictions in effect until atleast age 18Passenger restrictions in effect until at least age 17Nighttime driving restrictions in effect until at least age 17Significant research has been done on GDL programs. This report focuses on the findings of tworecently-published studies that addressed Oregon’s GDL program and does not investigate anyof the other studies on this topic. For readers interested in other current research on this topic, a2

special issue of the Journal of Safety Research, “Novice Teen Driving; GDL and Beyond –Research Foundations for Policy and Practice Symposium”, reports on much of the most recentresearch (National Safety Council 2007).1.2.1 Oregon’s Graduated Driver Licensing ProgramChanges were made to Oregon’s provisional licensing program in 2000. Prior to those changes,elements of Oregon's provisional license program included: safe-driving practices knowledge test; 28-day waiting period between attempts, for drivers who fail the road test; suspension for any measurable blood alcohol; suspension until age 18 for any major traffic conviction; accelerated driver improvement program; and the license heading “Provisional Driver License,” and the license showing “minoruntil ” date, indicating the date a person turned 21.In 1999 the Oregon legislature added tougher qualifications for 16 and17 year olds to get alicense, more restrictions during the first year of licensure, and stricter penalties when laws areviolated. The graduated driver license law which went into effect in March 2000 includes, inaddition to the requirements already in place, the following elements: an instruction permit for six months prior to issuance of full driving privileges; completion of at least 50 hours of supervised driving experience and an approved driverseducation course or parent certification of completion of at least 100 hours of superviseddriving experience; Passenger and nighttime driving restrictions which, when violated, can result in issuanceof a citation (ORS 807.010(2)) if the police officer has probable cause to make a stop:9 for the first six months after obtaining the license, no occupants can be in the car whoare under age 20, except immediate family members;9 for the second six months, no more than three passengers who are under age 20 canbe in the car, except immediate family members;(Passenger restrictions do not apply while the provisional driver is driving with aninstructor as part of a certified traffic safety education course or with a parent orstepparent who has valid driving privileges.)9 for the first twelve months, no driving is allowed between midnight and 5 a.m. exceptbetween home and work, between home and a school event for which there is noother transportation available; for employment purposes; or if accompanied by alicensed driver who is at least 25 years old; Longer periods of license restriction and suspension if traffic laws are violated. Underthe Provisional Driver Improvement Program, drivers with two driver improvement3

violations or crashes, or a combination, will have their driving privileges restricted for 90days to drive to and from work only. Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) mayrequire the driver to complete a defensive driving course or re-take license tests.Subsequent violations or accidents will lead to a six month license suspension which willcontinue to be in effect even if the driver turns 18; A distinctive license. All drivers under the age of 21 have a red border around the edgesof the card with the date the licensee turns ages 18 and 21. The photo is distinguishablebecause of its placement on the right side of the license instead of the left. For driversunder 18 the license heading states “Provisional Driver License”.)Oregon has additional laws that require school attendance or proof of graduation and allowsparents to withdraw their consent of driving privileges for their son or daughter who is under theage of 18.A comprehensive public information program directed at teens and their parents was launchedprior to the implementation of the GDL program. DMV continues to have public informationmaterials available on its website Materials include a Transportation Safety Division publication “The Road to Getting YourLicense” and a Practice Driving Log for tracking practice hours. When the graduated licensingprogram first was implemented, a manual called “Tuning Up” was offered to parents when theirson or daughter got an instructional permit. There is now a publication called “The OregonParent Guide to Teen Driving” that includes a driving log so parents can keep track of superviseddriving time.1.3CRASH INVOLVEMENTThe number of young drivers involved in fatal and injury crashes has declined significantly sincethe GDL program was implemented in March 2000. Figure 1.2 shows the changes in the numberof teenage drivers involved in fatal and injury crashes since 1985. The year the GDL programwas implemented is marked. The reduction in crash involvement of 16 year old drivers has beenparticularly dramatic. In 1998 there were 1,195 16 year-old drivers involved in fatal and injurycrashes; in 1999, 1,078; in 2000, 898; and the numbers continued to decline so that in 2006, 65816-year-old drivers were involved in fatal and injury crashes in Oregon.4

Drivers in Fatal and Injury Crashes2,50016172,0001819GDLimplementedMarch 00120032005YearFigure 1.2: Teen drivers involved in fatal and injury crashes, 1985-2006The reduction in teen driver involvement in fatal and injury crashes from 1985 to 2006 issignificant, but, overall, teens are overrepresented in motor vehicle crashes. To take a closerlook at this, we have calculated the rate of involvement of teens in fatal and injury crashes usinglicensed driver data and compared this to the rate of involvement of all drivers. Though the useof licensed driver data as a measure of exposure is not as representative as vehicle miles traveled(VMT), VMT data is not available. We can speculate that younger teens probably drive fewermiles than older teens, but it is not possible to determine the vehicle miles traveled by age.ODOT has used 1998 as the base year for analysis in its public information reports about theimpact of the teen driving program due to concern that 1999 data might be tainted by theinfluence of early licensure of teens wishing to avoid upcoming requirements. Unfortunately,the driver license data which was needed for the analysis included in this research report was notavailable for 1998. Table 1.2 shows the rate of involvement (using licensed driver data) ofdrivers in fatal and injury crashes, by age, for the years 1999 and 2004. These years wereselected to represent the period prior to the implementation of the expanded provisional licenseprogram and the year by which all teenage drivers had been exposed to the requirements of theprogram. Our use of 1999 data rather than 1998 data for the analysis does not imply that thecomparisons previously presented in other reports are incorrect.5

Table 1.2: Comparison of fatal and injury crash involvement in Oregon, 1999 and 200419992004% ChangeDriversRateDriversRatein RateLicensedin F&I/1000Licensedin 65.1%16-19All drivers(16 1,37536,27713.32,893,59134,78112.09.8%Sources: ODOT Crash Analysis and Reporting System and DMV. Licensed driver data is from “Drivers of Issuance by Age” report andreflects the number of drivers of each age licensed at end of the calendar year.Specific observations: The rate of involvement in fatal and injury crashes of 16-year-old drivers has declined byover 25%, which is more than twice the decline for all drivers, but the rate of involvement ofolder teenagers (18 and 19) has declined less than for the rest of the driving population. Teenage drivers continue to have more than twice the rate of involvement in fatal and injurycrashes as compared to all drivers. The number of licensed teenage drivers (16-19) decreased by 9.2% from 1999 to 2004 while,in the same period, the number of all licensed drivers in the state increased by 6.3%. Also,according to official state population estimates, during that same time period, the Oregonteenage population increased. Both suggest that the graduated license program is having theadditional effect of delaying licensure. Table 1.2 shows that the proportion of licensedteenagers who are 16-17 has declined since the GDL program went into effect; and, to alesser extent, the proportion of older teenagers who are licensed has also declined.Considering the effects of delayed licensing, the rate of crashes per licensed driver mayseverely underestimate the per capita crash rate. Unfortunately population estimates byspecific age are not available.Figure 1.2 illustrates the reduction in the involvement of teen drivers in fatal and injury crashesas a percentage of the involvement of all drivers during the last 20 years. In 1985, 6.9% ofdrivers involved in fatal and injury crashes were under 16 or 17 years old; in 2006, 4.4% ofdrivers involved in fatal and injury crashes were 16 or 17.6

7198919911993199519971999200120032005YearSource: ODOT, Crash Analysis and Reporting System (CARS)Figure 1.2: Percent of all drivers in fatal and injury crashes that were 16 or 17 years old, 1985-2006Additional observations: Even before the introduction of the provisional license program in 1989 the percent of alldrivers that were 16 or 17 years old that were involved in fatal and injury crashes had begunto decline. With the provisional license program, the relative involvement of teens in fataland injury crashes remained relatively steady for several years, but in the late 1990’s thetrend reversed itself. With the introduction of the graduated driver licensing program in 2000, the involvement of16- and 17-year-old drivers in fatal and injury crashes returned to about the same level asimmediately after the implementation of the provisional driver license program in 1989. The downward trend has continued.Another way of looking at the changes in the involvement of teens in crashes is to look at theirrate of involvement based on the number of licensed drivers. In Figure 1.3 crash rates per 1,000drivers aged 16 and 17 is presented. Crash data is from ODOT’s Crash Analysis and ReportingUnit. Driver license data is from the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services.7

Age 17Age 1619951997Fatal and Injury Crash Rate Per 199119931999200120032005YearSource: ODOT (Crash Analysis and Reporting Unit and DMV). DMV data for 1999 (marked by a dotted line) to 2006 is from the “Driversof Issuance by Age” report and has been determined to be consistent over time. Data for 1985 to 1997 is from driver population reportsgenerated by DMV. Due to changes made to the data system, there appears to have been a significant underreporting of licensed drivers in allage categories in 1998. For this reason, 1998 data was interpolated using 1997 and 1999 data.Figure 1.3: Fatal and injury crash rate, 16- and 17-year-old drivers, 1985-20061.4REPORT OBJECTIVESThe purpose of this report is to review, analyze and synthesize the results of two evaluativereports on the Oregon GDL program: Reducing the Crash Risk for Young Drivers (Mayhew et al.2006) and Evaluation of Oregon’s Graduated Driver Licensing Program (Raymond et al. 2007).The findings of these reports will help ODOT examine the effectiveness of the Graduated DriverLicensing program and identify the elements of the program that offer the most crash reductionbenefits.The report, Reducing the Crash Risk for Young Drivers, was published in June 2006 (Mayhew etal.). The American Automobile Association (AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety financed astudy conducted by the Traffic Research Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) which reviewed notonly Oregon’s graduated licensing program but also programs in Ontario and British Columbia,Canada. This study included interviews of both parents and teens which were conducted by theOregon Survey Research Laboratory (OSRL).The other report, Evaluation of Oregon’s Graduated Driver Licensing Program, was publishedin September 2007 (Raymond et al.). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) supported the study conducted by the Center for Applied Research, Inc. (CAR). This8

study included 14 focus groups of parents, teens, DMV road test administrators, drivinginstructors, police officers, and high school administrators and the analysis of driver records.Oregon Department of Transportation Research Unit has, with the assistance of a TechnicalAdvisory Committee (TAC), reviewed both reports and prepared a summary intended to identifythose elements of Oregon’s GDL program that are effective and aspects of the program thatcould be strengthened.Our review process involved identifying the conclusions that related to Oregon’s teen driverpopulation and determining if the crash data analysis and survey results supported them. TheTAC formed to complete the review of the two reports represented program managersresponsible for licensing and

Significant changes in Oregon's teen licensing laws went into effect on March 1, 2000. The new laws expanded the provisional driving license program which had been in effect since October 1989 and established a graduated driver licensing (GDL) program for all drivers under age 18. The program is intended to reduce fatal and injury crashes