785 - Young New Driver Skills by Neighborhood-Level Income and Education

Publication Number: 785.7109

Elizabeth A. Walshe, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, PHILADELPHIA, PA, United States; Shukai Cheng, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Keith Baxelbaum, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Iowa City, IA, United States; Dan Romer, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Flaura K. Winston, Penn/CHOP, Narberth, PA, United States; Alexander K. Gonzalez, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Upper Chichester, PA, United States

Background: Low neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to motor vehicle crash risk—a leading cause of injury and deaths in US adolescents—as well as delayed licensure, when drivers may age-out of young driver safety requirements that can create disparities (e.g. professional driver training in Ohio). Thus, lower SES may impact safe driving skill acquisition before licensure, leaving young drivers at risk for crashes.

Objective: To test whether young drivers from low SES areas have crash-associated skill deficits or dangerous driving behaviors at licensing.

Design/Methods: This secondary analysis uses de-identified, prospectively collected data from Ohio license applicants 16-24 years who completed a Virtual Driving Assessment (VDA) at the time of licensing exam (July 2017-December 2019). The VDA exposes drivers to common serious crash scenarios and classifies drivers as having: No Issues (skilled drivers); Minor Issues (minimal vehicle control issues, i.e. new drivers); Major Issues (major control issues); Major Issues with Dangerous Behavior (major control issues and reckless driving, higher on-road crash risk). VDA data were linked to a neighborhood-level SES score (based on median-household-income and education-level from American Community Survey items), and driver training completion from licensing data. Multinomial regression models tested the relation of SES to VDA class, adjusted for driver training completion.

Results: The sample included 20,211 young drivers, with n=3,190 (15.8%) classified as Major Issues; n=3,696 (18.3%), Major Issues with Dangerous Behavior. Using safer drivers as a reference group (No Issues and Minor Issues), the model showed that SES was inversely associated with the Major Issues class (Relative Risk, RR: 0.963, 95% CI: [0.946-0.980]), but positively associated with the Major Issues with Dangerous Behavior class (RR: 1.028, 95% CI: [1.011-1.045]). Completion of driver training significantly reduced the odds of being in both classes: Major Issues with Dangerous Behavior, RR: 0.782, CI: [0.725,0.845], Major Issues, RR: 0.778, CI: [0.718, 0.843].

Conclusion(s): These data suggest young drivers from lower SES areas are more likely to have driving skill issues but less likely to engage in riskier, dangerous driving. Furthermore, training before licensure improves safety for all. Future studies should examine other individual and SES-related factors impacting these results, as well as the impact of Ohio’s new program to increase driver training access. Clinicians should emphasize skill acquisition alongside reducing risky driving behavior to promote safe driving among teens.