Driving while young.

• Position: STATESTATS

Car wrecks are the leading cause of death for teens between the ages of 15 and 20, and the risk of crashing is especially high for teens during the first few years they have their licenses.

Since the early 1990s, 44 states and the District of Columbia have enacted graduated driver's licensing (GDL) laws, which gradually phase-in driving privileges for teens. Traffic safety groups recommend that every GDL law include a learner's permit phase with a mandatory minimum holding time, an intermediate stage with a passenger restriction and a nighttime driving restriction, followed by full licensure.

In 2005, most states sought to strengthen existing GDL laws by adding new restrictions on nighttime driving (reducing crashes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. by as much as 60 percent), restricting the number of passengers allowed in a teenager's car (58 percent of teenagers killed in...