The need to separate legal drinking and driving ages is often advanced as an argument for reducing the licensing age. The validity of this argument is examined by investigating the interaction between the minimum driver licensing age (which varies between 16 and 18 years), minimum legal drinking age (18 for all states) and the casualty accident involvement rates of young drivers. Accident involvement rates were corrected to control for differences between states in levels of safety and accident reporting rates and cumulative involvement rates (from minimum licensing age to age 20) were examined. It was found that the additional accidents resulting from allowing persons to drive below age 18 were not offset by their lower accident rates at ages 18-20. It is concluded that the higher licensing age in victoria (18) results in a net road safety benefit even though the accident involvement rates of 18 and 19-year-old drivers in victoria is generally higher than that of the first and second year drivers in other states. A positive effect (if any) due to the separation of legal drinking and driving ages is diluted by under-age exposure to alcohol and swamped by the safety disadvantages of increased exposure. (A)
Abstract