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Back to 2014 Annual Meeting Abstracts
The Impact of Graduated Driver Licensing on Preventing Motor Vehicle Crashes in Massachusetts
Haytham M.A. Kaafarani, MD, MPH1, Jarone Lee, MD, MPH1, Elie P. Ramly, MD1, Catrina Cropano, BSc1, Yuchiao Chang, PhD2, Toby Raybould, MS1, Eric Klein, MD, Alice Gervasini, PhD, RN1, Laurie Petrovick, CPHQ, MSc1, Chris DePesa, RN, MS1, Carlos A. Camargo, Jr, MD, DrPH3, George C. Velmahos, MD, PhD1, Peter Masiakos, MD4
1Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 2Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 3Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 4Department of Pediatric Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
BACKGROUND:
Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL) programs phase in driving privileges for teenagers. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the 2007 GDL law on the incidence of total motor vehicle crashes (tMVC) and fatal MVC (fMVC) among teenagers in Massachusetts.
METHODS:
The Fatality Analysis and Reporting System, the Missouri Census Data Center and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation databases were all used to create and compare the incidence of tMVC and fMVC pre- (2002-2006) and post- (2007-2011) law. Three driver age groups were studied: 16-17 (evaluating the law effect), 18-20 (evaluating the sustainability of the effect), and 25-29 (control group) years old. As a sensitivity analysis, we compared the incidence rates per population and per licenses issued.
RESULTS:
tMVC decreased following the law for all three age groups (16-17: 7.6 to 4.8 per 1,000 people, p<0.0001; 18-20: 8.5 to 6.4 per 1,000 people, p<0.0001; 25-29: 6.2 to 5.2 per 1,000 people, p<0.0001), but the percentage decrease in tMVC rates was less in the control group (16-17: 37%; 18-20: 25%; 25-29: 15%; both p-values<0.0001). The rates of fMVC also decreased in the 16-17 (14.0 to 8.6 per 100,000 people, p=0.0006), 18-20 (21.2 to 13.7 per 100,000 people, p<0.0001) and 25-29 age groups (14.4 to 11.0 per 100,000 people, p<0.0001). All the results were confirmed in sensitivity analyses.
CONCLUSIONS:
The 2007 Massachusetts GDL was effective in decreasing the incidence of teenager tMVC and fMVC; the effect was sustainable. This study provides further support to develop, implement, enforce and maintain GDL programs aimed at preventing MVC and their related mortality in the young novice driver population.
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