LOS ANGELES — As more young people delay learning how to drive, California is considering an expansion of its graduated driver license program that would include new drivers younger than 21 years old. Under current law, only new 16- and 17-year-old drivers are required to attend classes and practice behind the wheel for 50 hours before becoming eligible for full driving privileges.

“With this practical expansion of the graduated driver license program, research shows we can annually save the lives of 500 young people just beginning to make their mark on the world,” SB 473 author and California Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, said in a statement. 

Drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 made up almost 9% of drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2020, but made up only 5% of all drivers on the road in 2020, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Young driver fatalities increased 17% that same year.

Since 1998, California has required teenagers under the age of 18 to attend driver education, spend six hours behind the wheel with a driving instructor and practice driving for another 50 hours under the supervision of a licensed adult over the age of 25. Young drivers are restricted from driving at night and with other teen passengers until they are 18.

SB 473 would require new drivers age 21 or younger to take classes and also be subject to various restrictions before being issued a driver’s license with full privileges.

“Providing all first-time, young drivers with driver education and training before sending them out onto our congested roadways is crucial,” Los Angeles School Police Department Lieutenant Rudy Perez said in a statement.

GDL programs reduced the number of teen driver crashes by as much as 30%, according to a 2013 study funded by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.