RALEIGH – Current and former elected officials including N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Wayne Goodwin and Department of Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey joined the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program along with legislators, advocates, researchers and others to celebrate the 25th anniversary of North Carolina’s Graduated Driver Licensing system (GDL) during an outdoor ceremony in Raleigh on Thursday, June 23.
The system, which began in December 1997, requires teen drivers to practice behind the wheel with an experienced driver for 12 months before being allowed to drive on their own. North Carolina led the nation in adopting this science-based approach, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and remains widely supported by the public today.
This new approach to licensing quickly produced a dramatic decline in crashes involving teen drivers - reducing fatal and serious injury crashes by 46 percent; and reducing overall crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by 38 percent. GDL has since been adopted by nearly every state across the nation.
Mark Ezzell, director of the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program, cited North Carolina’s vision in adopting this system 25 years ago.
“While the GDL licensing system is standard in most states now, it really took leadership and vision 25 years ago to adopt this system,” Ezzell said. “That bipartisan vision helped establish North Carolina as a leader in teen driver safety.”
Causey applauded the effort in his remarks.
“Our North Carolina Graduated Driver Licensing system has been saving lives for 25 years by providing teenagers and new drivers with much needed experience in low-risk environments,” said Commissioner Causey. “Not only are we keeping people safe on the roads, but we’re also keeping automobile insurance rates in check.”
Speakers included those who helped enact the legislation that established GDL, such as former State Sen. Debbie Clary. As a newly elected General Assembly member in 1995, Clary was instrumental in the establishment of the Graduated Driver Licensing system. She recounted the story behind its inception, including the bipartisan nature of the work to establish GDL.
“We kept losing teen drivers in crashes - that was happening with increasing frequency, and we knew we had to do something about it,” said Clary. “This idea was embraced because passionate people worked together, without drawing party lines, to achieve a common goal to save the lives of teens and other road users.”
DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin also spoke at the event. He worked with Clary on the establishment of GDL more than two decades ago.
“Time and again, research shows that the GDL system has worked to keep teen drivers safe - in fact, fatal and serious injury crashes involving teens have dropped by nearly 50 percent since it was implemented,” Goodwin said. “It’s imperative that we keep this system in place for years to come, because we know for a fact that it saves lives.”
To learn more about Graduated Driver Licensing, a science-based approach that has led to a dramatic decline in teen driver crashes, check out a video and fact sheet at this link.
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