Minimum Driving Age: Overview
The minimum driving age in the United States varies by state, with the age for obtaining a learner's permit ranging from fourteen to seventeen. Most states allow young drivers to receive full driver's licenses between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. The introduction of graduated licensing laws in the early 2000s has significantly shaped how new drivers are licensed, providing them with provisional licenses that come with restrictions to promote safe driving habits. These laws require new drivers to hold learner's permits for a period, typically under adult supervision, before progressing to less restricted licenses.
The debate surrounding the minimum driving age centers on safety concerns associated with teen drivers, with advocates of graduated licensing citing high accident rates among younger drivers. Critics, however, argue that experience, rather than age, is the critical factor that influences driving safety. Ongoing discussions also touch on the impact of these laws on teen employment opportunities, especially for jobs that require late-night driving. As research continues to evolve, perspectives on the effectiveness and implications of minimum driving age regulations remain varied, reflecting a complex interplay of safety, experience, and societal norms.
Minimum Driving Age: Overview
Introduction
Minimum driving ages in the United States are regulated on a state-by-state basis. They range from the age of fourteen to seventeen to obtain a learner's permit, with the vast majority of states offering full driver’s licenses between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.
By the early 2000s, all fifty states had instituted some form of graduated licensing laws. Under these laws, drivers are issued provisional licenses prior to receiving their full-privilege licenses. The majority of these laws offer six-to-nine-month restricted licenses, often called learner’s permits. With these licenses, new drivers might be required to drive with adult supervision or may have restrictions on the time of day they are permitted to drive. More restrictive laws include suspension of driving privileges for accidents, specific provisions regarding passengers, additional driver’s training requirements after an accident or ticket, safety belt requirements, and stricter guidelines and consequences for driving under the influence of alcohol.
During the twenty-first century, the use of graduated licensing laws has raised some debate over the age of full licensure. Advocates for these laws cite fatality rates among teen drivers and studies that suggest that teens are not capable of driving-related decision-making. Meanwhile, critics assert that driving experience is of greater concern than age.
Understanding the Discussion
Full-Privilege driver’s license: An unrestricted driver’s license granted according to each state’s licensing laws.
Graduated licensing laws: Laws that allow new drivers to gradually transition from restricted licenses to full driving privileges as they develop safe driving experience.
Learner’s permit: A restricted license given to a driver at a set age, prior to the age at which they could attain an unrestricted license. Generally, a learner’s permit mandates that a young driver practice driving with a licensed adult present in the vehicle.
Restricted driver’s license: A license given to a driver at a set age that limits their driving privileges and includes restrictions intended to help them gain safe driving experience.
History
With the invention of the automobile in the last years of the nineteenth century, states began to consider how best to manage traffic and automobile operations. By 1913, newly-established departments and registries of motor vehicles in states such as California, New York, and New Jersey began issuing operator’s licenses for people wishing to drive.
As states established their licensing laws, concerns were raised regarding accidents by inexperienced drivers, minimum driving age requirements, and testing and education for new drivers. In response to these concerns, the Uniform Vehicle Code—first published in 1926 and revised regularly thereafter—suggested that temporary instruction permits be issued to provide an opportunity for new drivers to gain highway driving experience under the supervision of a licensed driver. These first learner’s permits were valid for sixty days and were only issued to individuals who were at least sixteen years old.
In the early 1970s, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed and promoted a model graduated licensing program. Under the model system, young drivers would begin with temporary learner’s permits enabling them to gain experience in low-risk environments, with training and driving supervision for a period of at least six months. Upon successful completion of their driving exams, they received intermediate licenses that restricted high-risk situations such as night driving, but included greater freedom in independent road experience. After a period of six to twelve months, those drivers with good driving records could then proceed to full licensure.
Despite the fact that the NHTSA offered states a financial incentive for implementing their suggestions, only California and Maryland adjusted their licensing laws to include any of the recommended changes. Most states rejected the graduated licensing model based on the argument that the restricted licenses punished young drivers and limited their mobility. The NHTSA continued to recommend a graduated model for state implementation, however.
By 1995, only thirty states required new drivers to obtain learner’s permits. Of those states, only eleven required permits to be held for a minimum period of time, and some holding periods were as short as thirty days. Under these programs, it was very easy for young drivers to obtain full-privilege driver’s licenses with only minimal actual road experience. Data collected by the Federal Highway Administration’s Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey 1995 showed that sixteen-year-old drivers sustained 35 crashes per million miles, compared with 20 per million for seventeen-year-olds, 13 per million for eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds, and 4 crashes per million for drivers ages thirty to fifty-nine. Analysis from this data indicated that the crash risk for sixteen-year-olds in 1995–96 was nearly three times that of older teenagers and nearly ten times that of middle-aged adult drivers.
In 1996, Florida became the first US state to adopt a graduated licensing law. The following year, North Carolina implemented the full model graduated licensing law as recommended by the NHTSA. After instituting this policy, statistics showed a twenty-three percent drop in teen auto accidents in North Carolina.
In 1999, the American Automobile Association (AAA) reported that more than 8,000 fifteen- to twenty-year-old drivers were involved in fatal car crashes and nearly 2 million fifteen-to-twenty-year-old drivers were involved in police-reported crashes. According to AAA, teen drivers had a history of reckless driving habits, such as excessive speed, failure to wear seat belts, inadequate defensive driving techniques, and tailgating. According to AAA statistics, motor vehicle accidents were responsible for nearly one-third of all teen deaths, more than cancer, homicide, suicide, and AIDS. Approximately 5,000 teens were killed each year in automobile accidents. With these data in mind, AAA set a goal in the late 1990s to lobby for graduated driving laws in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
In 2005, AAA reached its goal when Montana and Wyoming enacted graduated licensing laws. AAA Clubs thus began focusing on improving state programs by encouraging greater adherence to guidelines related to passenger and nighttime restrictions.
Data soon indicated that the push for graduated driving laws was resulting in safer roads. In 2005, for example, data from the NHTSA showed a 7 percent drop in the rate of fatal crashes among drivers aged fifteen to twenty. In 2006, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported that statistics for the state of California since the implementation of graduated licensing laws showed a 27 percent drop in late-night crashes and a 38 percent drop in crashes involving teen passengers. By 2020, the IIHS reported that deaths resulting from teenage car crashes in the United States had declined by more than 50 percent between 1996, when the first graduated licensing laws were implemented, and 2020.
Minimum Driving Age Today
Despite those promising statistics, critics of graduated licensing laws continued to argue against their implementation into the 2010s and beyond. They emphasized that such laws effectively raise the minimum driving age. By starting the licensing process at age fifteen or later, and phasing in full licensure over a period of stages, teens under graduated licensing laws do not drive unrestricted until age seventeen or eighteen, at least one year later than the traditional driving age. Critics also suggest that a driver’s age is not the relevant issue in regard to traffic safety, but rather that lack of experience is what causes accidents.
Additionally, many businesses are concerned that laws that effectually raise the driving age or restrict certain driving privileges have a negative effect on teen employment. Restaurant owners are particularly concerned with laws that would restrict teens from late-night driving, as restaurants often close during the late evening hours. Some parents have also expressed concern, as they look forward to the time they can stop shuttling their children to various activities and allow teens to transport themselves independently. Further, critics argue that it is other groups, not teens, who pose the most serious risk. In 2022, research from the NHTSA found that alcohol-related traffic accidents were highest among people ages 21–24, rather than among teenagers.
Advocates for graduated licensing laws also recognize that these laws effectually raise the minimum driving age, but find this to be a safe solution to the teen traffic-related fatality statistics. They argue that age rather than experience is the actual cause of traffic incidents among teens, citing sources such as the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), which suggest that the decision-making portions of the brain are not fully developed until an individual is about twenty-five years old. Meanwhile, critics argue that people under age twenty-five are legally allowed to vote, join the military, marry, attend college, and drink alcohol, and so should not be prevented from driving.
These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.
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