Advocates has sent a letter to the Ohio House Transportation Committee urging members to oppose House Bill (HB) 463. This measure will reduce the minimum driving age by six months to 15 years old and weaken supervised driving requirements for novice drivers. In doing so, it will erode the graduated driver licensing (GDL) law and threaten the safety of novice teen drivers and all who share the roads with them.
Teenagers drive less than all but the oldest drivers, yet their number of crashes and crash deaths are disproportionately high. Per mile driven, teen drivers have crash rates nearly four times higher than drivers aged 20 and older. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), teens are more likely to misjudge dangerous situations or to not be able to recognize hazardous situations. Teens tend to speed, follow too closely, and underestimate speed and stopping distances. Moreover, compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use.
Conversely, we support the provisions of HB 463 which increase the temporary instruction permit validity period by six months and require that it be held for a year, an increase of six months, before a driver can be eligible for a probationary license. However, we cannot support these changes in a context where the minimum driving age is decreased by six months. Based on IIHS research, the best practices for GDL include a minimum permit age of 16 and a minimum intermediate license age of 17. Delaying the minimum age for obtaining a learner’s permit was associated with lower fatal crash rates for 15- to 17-year-olds combined, and a one-year delay (e.g., from age 15 to 16) reduced the fatal crash rate by 13 percent. Rather than exacerbate the dangers associated with teen driving, we urge members to instead consider making
these changes to upgrade safety.
Read the full letter here.