Graduated Licensing More than a third of all deaths occurring between the ages of 16 and 18 are from car crashes. High school driver education is not the answer. It may be the most convenient way to learn driving skills, but it doesn't produce safer drivers because it's often not poor skills that cause crashes. It's teen's attitudes: Peer pressure influences young teens more than advice from adults. Young teens are slower than adults to perceive danger and, when they do, they often feel immune to it. Teens don't relate to mortality. As a result, they don't use seatbelts as often as older drivers and they deliberately seek thrills like speeding. A promising approach to the problem of teenage crash deaths and injuries involves controlling access to unrestricted driving, lifting controls one by one until a young driver "graduates" to full licensure. The key is to influence when beginners drive and with whom. Restrictions typically include: limitations on teen passengers prohibitions on night driving and requirements that beginners drive only with older, experienced drivers Graduated licensing began in New Zealand in 1987. It has proved effective, and similar systems were adopted last year in two Canadian provinces. Now graduated licensing is generating interest in the United States. Driving is a far more complex task than most 16 year-olds realize. Beginners need to accumulate a considerable amount of experience before they're able to combine steering, scanning the environment, and other driving skills. And handling a car responsibly takes more than mastering the skills. It takes gaining the maturity to gain sound judgments.

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