Are young driver training requirements in your state strong enough?

Philadelphia — Training requirements that vary by state may leave some newly licensed teen drivers “ill prepared for safe driving,” results of a recent study suggest.

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania looked at license policies across the country. They found that 29 states require young drivers to complete both professional behind-the-wheel training and adult-supervised practice hours before licensure.

That leaves 19 states that have “no or minimal training requirements” and two states that “encourage” training but allow adult-supervised driving as a substitute, Elizabeth Walshe, lead study author and CHOP research scientist, writes in a blog post.

“States without comprehensive driver training requirements, or states that rely on [adult supervision] alone to prepare teens to drive safely, may be missing an opportunity to reduce young driver crash risk by helping to develop much-needed critical driving skills before licensure,” Walshe writes.

A press release notes that data shows crashes “decline as adolescents gain more driving experience, suggesting that teens’ skills are not fully developed at licensure.”

The researchers recommend parents of teen drivers use state requirements as a baseline, and build on them.

“Due to individual variability in cognitive development and crash risk among young drivers, clinicians should generally advise parents to go beyond state minimum requirements as needed for their child,” the study states. “In particular, teens with medical or other conditions that could impact crash risk may benefit from training beyond what is provided by supervised practice alone.”

The study was published online in JAMA Network Open.

The National Safety Council offers resources for parents and teens on driving safely.