A new study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has found that teen drivers who spend more time practicing behind the wheel are significantly less likely to be involved in crashes once they start driving on their own.
This research, published as a free ebook by The National Academies Press, is the first of its kind to show solid evidence that more driving practice during the learner’s permit phase directly improves teen driving safety.
The study followed 82 teenage drivers over nearly two years.
Using four cameras installed in each car, researchers monitored their behavior from the time they first got their learner’s permit through the first 12 months of solo driving.
The data was collected between 2011 and 2014 and was later analyzed in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and TransAnalytics Inc.
The results were clear: teens who had more supervised driving practice had 30% fewer crashes or near-crashes compared to those with less practice.
Those with more driving time had 12 safety incidents per 1,000 hours of driving, while those with less practice had 17 per 1,000 hours.
According to lead author Sheila “Charlie” Klauer, this shows the importance of giving teens not just more time behind the wheel, but also more variety in their practice—like driving at night or on unfamiliar roads.
Klauer, a research scientist at VTTI and a professor of industrial and systems engineering, emphasized that teens need real-world experience in different environments to build the skills and confidence needed for safe driving.
The study also found that girls who had limited driving experience during the permit phase were more likely to be involved in risky driving situations than boys.
Another surprising finding was that teens who shared a family car had fewer dangerous driving behaviors than those who had their own car, possibly because shared cars came with more oversight and responsibility.
Unfortunately, many teens in the study didn’t reach Virginia’s required 45 hours of supervised driving before getting their license. This lack of preparation is concerning, especially as crashes involving teen drivers continue to rise. In 2023 alone, 5,588 people were killed in crashes involving drivers aged 15 to 20—a 4.2% increase from the year before.
The researchers urge parents, driver education programs, and policymakers to make supervised practice a top priority. The more experience teens get before driving solo, the better prepared they’ll be to make safe decisions on the road.
