State driver licensing systems license over 146 million drivers who operate one or more types of the nation's 165 million registered motor vehicles. Driver licensing programs involve every driver at regular intervals. These programs have a potential for exercising some measure of control over the general driving population and over identified problem and impaired drivers. Requirements for obtaining a driver license and the application of license control systems for drivers varies considerably among the States, however, activities to identify unacceptable performance, problem drivers, and apply driver improvement or educational treatments are an integral component of all State driver licensing systems. Driver licensing and improvement countermeasures currently in use include motorcyclist testing and training, provisional licensing, knowledge and skill testing, warning letters, instruction programs, individual counselling, probation, restriction, suspension/revocation, model driver improvement program, suspension enforcement, uniform traffic ticket, vision testing, one license concept, laws uniformity, driver records, and the National Driver Register. This paper discusses 33 countermeasures, nine with documented crash reduction capability.
Abstract