Parents and professionals can help protect teens on the road by learning more about and enforcing Colorado’s graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws. Teens who say their parents set rules and monitor their driving behavior in a supportive way are 50 percent less likely to crash and 70 percent less likely to drive intoxicated.
Supporting safe driving for your teen
- Explore the GDL Toolkit to learn more about GDL laws, teaching your teen to drive, and creating a parent/teen driving contract to enforce safe driving behaviors at home. Colorado scored in the lowest tier possible for teen driving safety laws in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's review of state motor vehicle laws.
- Download tools and resources on teen driving safety from the COTeenDriver.com website, hosted by the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Teens are inexperienced drivers and more likely than adults to take risks while driving. Because of this, Colorado implemented GDL laws to help teenagers gain important driving skills gradually while limiting dangers by restricting the number of passengers, banning cellphone use, and setting a curfew.
Data resources
- CDOT Motor Vehicle Problem Identification Reports.
- Motor vehicle fatality data (2012 data) by race and ethnicity.
- Comparison data of teen traffic fatalities before and after GDL implementation.
- Colorado Teen Driving Alliance fact sheet on teen driving.
- Colorado Child Fatality Prevention System.
National resources
State resources
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The Colorado Department of Transportation’s Office of Transportation Safety provides funding opportunities each year for local communities to address motor vehicle safety issues.
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The Colorado Department of Revenue’s Division of Motor Vehicles has information on licensing and the Colorado Driver Handbook (also available in Spanish), which covers the laws of the road. The division also certifies and lists all driving schools in the state.