The Allstate Foundation
Why Graduated Driver Licensing?
GDL is a driver licensing system that is proven effective at reducing teen drivers' high crash risk by 20-40%. GDL reduces teen driver exposure to high crash risk situations, such as nighttime driving and teen passengers. This allows new drivers to build experience and skills in lower-risk conditions. Learn more about your state’s GDL laws.
Why YOU Should Support Graduated Driver Licensing:
1. This is an urgent national issue. Teen drivers’ involvement in motor vehicle crashes is an urgent national and state issue requiring national and state action. More than 81,000 people were killed in crashes involving drivers ages 15 to 20 in the decade from 2000 to 2009.1
2. We know the causes. The main reasons novice drivers crash are driving inexperience and exposure to high-risk situations. The most significant high-risk situations affecting teens are driving at night, with passengers and with distractions, particularly those involving cell phones and other electronic devices.2
3. We have the vaccine. GDL systems for novice drivers offer a proven solution to this public safety crisis. More than 70 scientific studies have evaluated GDL and documented its effectiveness. 3 States that have implemented comprehensive GDL are seeing reductions in fatal crashes of 25 to 50 percent annually.4
4. States are not using the vaccine fast enough. Comprehensive GDL systems include seven elements, but only nine states today have five or more elements in their laws. Thirty states have three or fewer. Only two states have all seven.5
5. Many more lives can be saved. An estimated 2,000 lives per year can be saved if all states were to enact all of the elements of GDL.6
6. Billions of dollars can be saved. The total cost to the nation of crashes involving teen drivers in 2009 was $38.3 billion.7 If all states were to enact comprehensive GDL laws, the estimated 2,000 lives that would be saved and thousands of injuries that would be prevented each year would produce savings of more than $13.6 billion per year.8
7. Parents and teens support GDL. Parents of teens strongly endorse GDL laws. More than two-thirds of teens also support a single law that incorporates the key elements of GDL.9
A Call To Action
Teen driving crashes kill thousands of Americans and cost our nation $38 billion each year. GDL is a proven solution that is widely supported by the people most involved in this issue – parents and teens – and even more widely supported by other American adults. Adoption of comprehensive GDL across the nation would save thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year.With each passing day, more Americans die and the opportunity to do the right thing is lost. The time is now.
Won’t you join us in advocating for GDL? The lives you save may include yourself, a loved one or somebody you know. The dollars saved will be yours and all of ours.
