The role of race and ethnicity on the effect of graduated driver licensing laws in the United States.

Objective: To determine if graduated driver licensing (GDL) law effects were the same for different racial/ethnic groups of young drivers.

Methods: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data files were analyzed using descriptive pre- and post-GDL law analyses and logistic regression. Analyses were conducted on 8,036 drivers aged 15 to 17 killed in single-vehicle crashes from 1999 to 2008. Whites, African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans/Others were examined. Two analyses were conducted: one of all states, and one of the 23 states that adopted a GDL law between 1999 and 2008.

Results: Although GDL laws had varying degrees of success in reducing the likelihood of drinking and driving among young drivers of different racial/ethnic groups, that variation did not occur in fatal crashes where speeding was a factor, except for Hispanics. GDL laws showed similar reductions for White, African-American, and Asian young drivers in single-vehicle fatal crashes; however, young Hispanic drivers were not as affected by GDL as were Whites and African-Americans. Our analysis of states with GDL laws enacted between 2000 and 2007 showed no change for young Hispanic drivers in fatal crashes before and after a GDL law was adopted. Overall, GDL reductions were largest for young White drivers (p<.01), followed by African-Americans (p<.05), Asians (p<.05), and Hispanics (p<.10; not significant). GDL laws had no apparent effect on speeding-related fatal crashes of these novice drivers.

Implications: Reasons for these findings are hypothesized and discussed: (1) differences in drinking patterns of the racial/ethnic groups; (2) differences in driving exposure among the groups; and (3) differences in the influence of parents on youthful drivers entering the GDL phases.