Timing of Driver’s License Acquisition and Reasons for Delay among Young People in the United States, 2012

Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems were first introduced in the United States in 1996. These systems are designed to protect new drivers by limiting the initial exposure to risk and gradually phasing in additional driving privileges as the new drivers gain experience. Numerous studies have shown that GDL has significantly reduced the numbers of 16- and 17-year-old drivers involved, injured, and killed in motor vehicle crashes, however, the few studies of its effects on 18- and 19-year-olds have produced conflicting results. Some researchers suspect that because most states’ GDL systems apply only to new drivers younger than 18, GDL might encourage young people to wait until age 18 to obtain a license to avoid the requirements and restrictions associated with GDL, resulting in older teenagers having less driving experience and higher crash risk than they would without GDL. This study investigated the ages at which young people obtain driver’s licenses, as well as reasons for delaying licensure among those who did not obtain a license before turning 18. A questionnaire was administered online to a representative sample of 1,039 young adults ages 18-20. The data were weighted to reflect the population of 18- to 20-year-olds in the United States. Delay in licensure was found to be widespread. Only 44 percent of respondents reported that they obtained a driver’s license within one year of the minimum age for licensing in their state, and only 54 percent reported that they obtained a license before turning 18. Large social and economic disparities in licensing rates and in the timing of licensure were identified. Among young adults who lived in households with annual incomes of $60,000 or more, 60 percent were licensed within one year of their state’s minimum age for licensure and 72 percent were licensed before age 18. In contrast, among young adults who lived in households with annual incomes of less than $20,000, only 16 percent were licensed within one year of their state’s minimum age and only 25 percent were licensed before age 18. Respondents who described themselves as black or as Hispanic were significantly less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have been licensed by any given age; this was observed even after controlling for household income. There was little evidence that GDL was itself a major reason or motivator for delaying licensure. The most common self-reported reasons for delayed licensure were not having a car, being able to get around without driving, and costs associated with driving. Few cited difficulty associated with GDL requirements or undesirability of GDL restrictions. Furthermore, of 19- and 20-year-old respondents not licensed before age 18, fewer than one in three obtained a license before turning 19, suggesting that most were not simply waiting until age 18 to get a license merely to avoid the requirements and restrictions associated with GDL. In conclusion, although there was little evidence that those who delayed licensure did so for the purpose of avoiding their state’s GDL system, a substantial minority of all young people—and a majority of those who are black, Hispanic, or from low-income households— begin driving without the protection that GDL systems are designed to provide. Given the large proportion of new drivers who are 18 years old or older, further research is needed to investigate their levels of safety or risk, to evaluate the potential impacts of extending GDL systems to new drivers aged 18 and older, and to explore other ways to address the needs of older novice drivers.