New Jersey is the first state in the United States to require novice drivers to put a red reflective decal on their license plate as part of their graduated driver’s license law. The decals signal the young driver’s probationary status to other drivers and law enforcement. A study by Allison Curry, PhD, MPH and her colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that New Jersey’s law has prevented more than 1,600 crashes and helped police officers enforce regulations unique to new drivers.
Decal laws could be an opportunity to further enhance the effectiveness of state level graduated driver’s licensing programs, Curry explains in her presentation.
The Critical Opportunities initiative of the Public Health Law Research (PHLR) program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation presents evidence and ideas for proposed legal and policy changes that can positively impact public health challenges. This video that presents these ideas and evidence, and includes the practical and political feasibility of implementing the proposed changes to laws and policies. All Critical Opportunities videos can be viewed at http://youtube.com/CriticalOpps4PHL
Learn more about the NJ decal law:
- “Graduated driver licensing decal law: effect on young probationary drivers,” published in January 2013 the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (open access via SSRN).
- Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Facts about GDL Identifiers and Decals” via teendriversource.org
- See the slides from this presentation
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The views expressed in these Critical Opportunities presentations are those of the authors or presenters, and do not represent the views or values of Public Health Law Research or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.