In 2000, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published the report Unlicensed to Kill, which was based on a study that examined the license status of drivers involved in fatal crashes during the period 1993-97. The results showed that 20% of all fatal crashes in the United States involved at least one driver who did not have a valid license at the time of the crash. This report gives the results of a new study of state practices regarding drivers involved in fatal crashes that also has updated and extended the findings of the original Unlicensed to Kill report. The new study’s reanalysis of the data in the first report (using data on fatal crashes from 1993 to 1999) confirmed its results: Approximately 20% of fatal crashes involve at least one driver who did not have a valid license at the time of the crash. These data also show a wide variation across states in the proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes who lacked a valid license - from a low of 6.1% in Maine to a high of 23.1% in New Mexico. Furthermore, trend analyses show that the proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes who lack a valid license showed small but steady declines during the 7-year study period. The proportion of suspended drivers (those whose licenses were suspended at the time of the crash) involved in fatal crashes increased slightly, from 4.5% in 1993 to 5% in 1999. But the proportion of drivers who were unlicensed; whose licenses had been revoked, expired, or cancelled; or who had an unknown license status all declined by a small amount during the 7 years. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting