Jonathan: What can be done to reduce teenagers’ high crash rates? Do driver education programs make teens auto insurance quotes lower and are they safer?

Ensuring teen safety

Response: The most effective policies limit teenagers’ driving exposure — for example, night driving and passenger restrictions for beginning drivers and higher ages for initial licensure. General curfews that apply to all late-night activities for 13-17 year-olds also reduce crashes and crash injuries. Graduated licensing, designed to provide beginning drivers with an opportunity to gain experience behind the wheel under conditions that minimize risk, was originally introduced in New Zealand in 1987. Beginning with Florida in 1996, almost all states have now introduced elements of graduated licensing. Evaluations of graduated licensing systems in New Zealand, Nova Scotia, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Michigan have shown them to reduce crashes substantially.

Yes, teen auto driver education would certainly entiltle the teen for cheap car insurance or low teen auto Formal evaluations of U.S. high school driver education programs indicate little or no effect in reducing crashes per licensed driver. And offering driver education in schools has an unintended negative effect on crash involvement by encouraging early licensure among 16-17 year-olds. The net result is more crashes per capita among teenagers. Connecticut eliminated high school driver education and lowered teenage crash rates by reducing licensure. Other school-based programs, such as those intended to reduce alcohol-impaired driving, have not been shown to be effective, at least in the short term.

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