Citation

Shults RA, Williams AF. J. Saf. Res. 2013; 46: 167-170.

Affiliation

Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia. Electronic address: rshults@cdc.gov.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2013.04.003

PMID

23932698

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Understanding the reasons for fluctuations in teenage driver crashes over time in the United States is clouded by the lack of information on licensure rates and driving exposure. METHODS: We examined results from the Monitoring the Future survey to estimate the proportion of high school seniors who possessed a driver's license and the proportion of seniors who did not drive "during an average week" during the 15-year period of 1996-2010. RESULTS: During 1996-2010, the proportion of high school seniors in United States who reported having a driver's license declined by 12 percentage points (14%) from 85% to 73%. Two-thirds of the decline (8 percentage points) occurred during 2006-2010. During the same 15-year period, the proportion of high school seniors who did not drive during an average week increased by 7 percentage points (47%) from 15% in 1996 to 22% in 2010, with essentially all of the increase occurring during 2006-2009. DISCUSSION: Findings in this report suggest that the economic recession in recent years has reduced rates of licensure and driving among high school seniors.

Language: en