2007 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey: Driver Education and Graduated Driver Licensing [Traffic Safety Facts]

NHTSA · 2008 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Behavioral Safety Research

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Summary

This research note summarizes findings from the 2007 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS), a national telephone survey conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The study addresses public attitudes, knowledge, and self-reported behaviors regarding driver education and Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL). The survey sampled approximately 12,000 individuals aged 16 and older across the United States, with an oversample of youth aged 16–39 to ensure sufficient data on seat belt nonusers and adults with children. The analysis focuses on a new module introduced in 2007 specifically targeting driver education and GDL policies. The methods involved administering two questionnaire versions to randomly selected participants, collecting data on driving frequency, vehicle types, driver education history, and preferences for licensing structures. The data were weighted to yield national estimates. The survey examined demographic variations in driving habits, such as nighttime driving frequency and vehicle ownership trends, alongside specific questions about parental involvement in teen driver training and public support for various GDL restrictions. Key findings indicate that 62% of drivers had taken a driver’s education course before obtaining a license, with lower participation rates among African-Americans, Hispanics, and individuals with lower incomes or education levels. Regarding licensing, 79% of the public favored a provisional license stage with special rules for teenagers rather than an immediate unrestricted adult license. Support for specific provisional license restrictions was high: 99% supported mandatory seat belt use, 94% supported prohibiting cell phone use, 86% supported passenger limits, and 83% supported a clean-record requirement. However, support for unsupervised nighttime driving restrictions was lower at 73%, particularly among teenagers. Additionally, while 82% of respondents recommended parents spend 25 or more hours teaching teens to drive, only 48% reported receiving that level of parental assistance themselves. The significance of these results lies in the strong public support for GDL systems and parental involvement in novice driver training, suggesting a receptive audience for safety initiatives. The authors conclude that while general support exists, communication strategies should account for demographic differences in support levels. The study highlights a gap between recommended and actual parental teaching hours, indicating a need to identify and overcome deterrents to parental involvement. Furthermore, the weaker support for nighttime driving restrictions suggests that further research is needed to refine these components and build a stronger case for their implementation.

Key finding

79% of the public supports a provisional license stage for teenagers, and 82% recommend that parents spend 25 or more hours teaching their teens to drive.

Methodology

survey

Sample size: 6000

Provenance

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Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• learner drivers
• parental management
• graduated licensing
• driver education effectiveness
• licensing policy
• novice drivers

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Applied Guidance: policy recommendations
• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence