The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety has researched numerous states’ graduated licensing system for drivers, in an effort to improve the quality of driving skills in teenagers and help them avoid causing car accidents.

As car accident lawyers, we handle cases where auto accidents occur because of inexperienced teen drivers behind the wheel.  Often times, these car crashes are more severe in terms of personal injury because teenage drivers do not have the skills and wisdom of veteran motorists.

But will stricter enforcement of requirements for obtaining a car driver’s license really lower the amount of car accident statistics related to freshman teenager drivers?

The Institute rated each state’s car driver’s licensing systems from six to zero, with six and higher as “good”, four to five “fair”, two and three “marginal”, and one or less as “poor”.   No state in America, regardless of points, was ranked above “marginal” if intermediate car license holders could be younger than 16 or it allows unrestricted driving before age 16 and 6 months.

These are the three steps the Institute studied for graduated licensing for most states:

Step One: Supervised Learning With A Car Driving Permit

Usually states require driving permits that can be obtained by teenage drivers at least 16 years old before an actual license is given out.  With a car permit comes a period of driving that is supervised by a parent or guardian to assure that car accidents do not occur before a teenager is legally able to drive an automobile.  This step lasts six months while teenage drivers complete 30-50 hours of supervised driving.

Step Two: Minimized Supervision and Intermediate Car Driver’s License

Once the car driving test is passed, some states still require a minimal supervision period before the actual drivers license is given to a teenager, just to make sure that the chance of a car accident or personal injury from an auto accident is very low.  This step lasts until the teenage driver reaches the age of 18.

Step Three: Official State Car Driver’s License

A full-privilege driver’s license becomes available for teenage drivers after they can show safe driving techniques for avoiding automobile accidents in the completion of the first two steps.

As car accident lawyers, we believe that inexperienced teenage drivers cause more car accidents than older, more educated drivers.  Many times these auto accidents can involve property damage, high medical bills, and even turn into fatal car accidents in the most horrific of instances.

Please feel free to call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced car accident attorney.  We have a large bilingual staff that can assist you in either English or Spanish.