Washington University School of Medicine released a study last Friday that showed state laws that have limited driving privileges for teens have reduced the incidence of drinking and driving among teenage drivers.
Most states incur stiff penalties for teen drunk driving, and graduated driving licensing laws that limit the number of passengers young drivers may transport and how late they're allowed to drive are even more effective.
“Teens in states with the strongest laws were less likely to drive after drinking or to ride in a car with a driver who had been drinking,” said first author Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, PhD, research assistant professor of psychiatry in a press release. “In states with the toughest laws, teens were half as likely to engage in those risky behaviors.”
Researchers evaluated the effects of teen driving laws on alcohol use and risky driving behaviors in 45 states and gathered drinking and driving information from more than 220,000 16-17-year olds who were surveyed between 1999 and 2009, during which time most state driving laws were strengthened. Researchers found that teens living in states with the strictest laws also were least likely to drink and drive or to ride in a car with a driver who had been drinking.
Current Missouri teen driving laws prohibit drivers with intermediate licenses between the ages of 16 to 18 from operating a motor vehicle with more than one passenger who is under 19 years old and who is not a member of his or her immediate family in the first six months of holding the license or from driving alone between 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. except to and from a school activity, job, or for an emergency, unless accompanied by a licensed driver 21 years old or older,
For more information on the study, click here. For more information on teen driving laws in Missouri, click here.
