LITTLE ROCK — The state’s recently expanded graduated driver’s license program is credited with bringing down the number of accidents involving teenage drivers and the number of traffic deaths in the state, according to a report commissioned by law and health professionals.
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement compared vehicle accident rates from 2008 through 2010, the first year the new state law affected teenage drivers, and the agency found that the rate of fatal crashes dropped from 25 per 10,000 drivers in 2008 to 10 in 2010.
Dr. Mary Aitken, the head of the Injury Prevention Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, said the decrease in fatal crashes saved roughly 32 lives.
“Novice drivers, particularly younger drivers, are safer if they gain experience driving independently under circumstances we know are lower risk,” Aitken said.
Act 394 of 2009 places further restrictions on drivers younger than 18. It requires teenagers with “intermediate” licenses to stay off the roads between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., to have no more than one other passenger younger than 21 and to not use cell phones while driving.
Using Arkansas State Police crash data and federal statistics on licensed drivers, the study found that crashes involving 16-year-olds dropped 22 percent, from 1,467 per 10,000 drivers in 2008 to 1,145 in 2010.
Although the number of crashes in all age groups fell from 2008 to 2010, the drops were largest in the age groups affected by the law, state health officer Dr. Paul Halverson said.
In a country where teenagers are three times more likely to die in car crashes than older drivers, and in a state that “historically” has teenage fatality rates that are double the national rate, Halverson said the recent figures validate the legislation.
“This is good governance ... when people can come together and save lives, this is what it’s all about,” Halverson said. “[Act 394] will pay dividends in ways that can’t be calculated.”
In 2008, there were 21 fatalities between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. involving teen drivers.
In 2010, when the restrictions were in effect, that number dropped to five.
Instances of accidents in which driver distraction was noted, where teenage drivers had five or more passengers, also fell by 20 percent for all teen drivers younger than 18. The biggest drop came for 16-year-olds, with crashes falling from 36 in 2008 to 15 in 2010.
State Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, who sponsored the legislation in 2009, said he was “tickled” to see the success of his legislation, saying the data “vindicated” his efforts.
Jeffress, D-Crossett, first pushed the idea to place tighter restrictions on teen drivers in 2007, not long after his teenage daughter lost two friends in a crash.
The bill failed in the state House of Representatives that year, but after extensive lobbying by professional, medical and civic organizations, it later passed the Legislature and was signed into law in 2009. With its passage, the state joined 45 other states that had similarly tightened the rules for teenage drivers.
“We’re a rural state ... a lot of teens in rural Arkansas drive at an earlier age,” Jeffress said. “And they think they can do more than they actually can. ... When you take away a lot of [threats, like night driving and distracting passengers] ... this will help them get the proper training.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/27/2012