Car accidents are the leading cause of death among American teenagers. Sixty-one percent of teen passengers are killed while riding with a teen driver. In response to those two declarations, most US states and territories have adopted GDL laws. GDL is the acronym for Graduated Driver Licensing. While the GDL does not guarantee that your teen will avoid being ticketed or injured in a crash, there are ways to help assess the maturity and experience of the teen driver that can increase her safety.

If you have a teen eager to learn to drive, becoming familiar with the GDL in your area will be one of the most important laws to understand. However, thinking beyond the GDL requirements and restrictions is essential to increasing the safety of teen drivers. Parents are the key to teen driver safety when they know which “knowledge lock” to open.

As an injury prevention educator for a local hospital, I teach youth and parents how to use GDL components effectively. In an effort to reach more parents with this important information, I share much of what I teach through a series of articles.

Most components of the GDL law include: Minimum supervised driving requirement; Transportation of siblings and relatives; peer-to-peer transportation; Curfew; Driving record. These five components generally focus on the minimum legal requirements, but do not explain how to use the components effectively to include security considerations.

The first article in this series explained how the brain’s maturing role of the prefrontal cortex is intrinsically involved in adolescent driving development and focused on how to help a teenager develop well-practiced driving skills to prepare them for get the license.

Thinking outside the GDL box for passenger restriction and curfew

passenger restriction

While GDL passenger transportation laws vary from state to state regarding siblings and relatives vs. peer-to-peer transport, it is important to note:

1. Younger siblings are the second most difficult passengers to control; drunk passengers are the most difficult to control;
two. Older siblings are often critical and annoy the new driver;
3. Most GDL laws allow the immediate transportation of up to three equal passengers in the second 6 months of license;
Four. The potential for a fatal crash is nearly doubled when three identical passengers are being transported;
5. Sixty-one percent of teens killed in car crashes are passengers of a teen driver.

NOTE: Even as veteran drivers, parents have a hard time controlling drunken child passengers. Why would we think newly licensed teen drivers are capable? Endangering the teen driver and their passengers for convenience is dangerous. Protecting the teen driver and her passengers is risk management that is within a parent’s control.

Strategies to consider for passenger transport between siblings and partners

Allowing teen drivers to transport their siblings after the first year of solo driving

Parents help teens select their fellow passengers based on the trustworthy behavior of the teens they are considering

Once peer-to-peer riding is legal, allow teen drivers to only carry one peer-to-peer passenger at a time for the first year of license.

Allow the transport of two passengers in the second year of license

Postpone transporting three passengers until the teen has driven without citations or accidents for a minimum of 2.5 years.

Parents should always be the drivers when teen teams need transportation and never rely on teen drivers to provide transportation.

In addition, the exposure to legal liability extends to the parents as long as the children are dependents taken as a tax deduction or the parents pay the greater amount of support for youth over the age of 18. Considering that car accidents are the leading cause of death among 15-20 year olds provides a good reason to ban college-age youth from driving when they are in school until their senior year. However, even veteran drivers who do not drive for long periods need time to redevelop driving acuity, therefore driving acuity is also compromised for youngsters who do not drive for long periods and therefore , require some “driving supervision” before being allowed to drive alone again.

Curfew

Most GDL laws include a curfew from midnight to 5:00 a.m. However, a large number of accidents involving teens occur right after school, between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. , and more than 40% of teen crashes occur between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Speeding and distractions are recognized as major contributors to late-night crashes among teens, but they may not realize that driving at night requires an additional skill set.

Curfew Safety Strategies to Consider

Focus on developing the teen’s safe, sound, and reliable daytime driving skills.

Periodically drive with your teen to assess whether good driving habits are being eroded by unsafe behavior.

Practice night driving with the teen for a period of two years before allowing teens to drive at night.