Understanding the contributing factors to young driver crashes: A comparison of crash profiles of three age groups

•Identification of associated characteristics in young driver age groups highlights the components of the GDL framework.•Violation, distraction, passenger presence, crash time, and restraint usage are the dominant crash contributing factors.•Female teen drivers are more likely to involved in crashes compared to the male counterpart.•‘Failure to yield’ turns out to be linked with higher likelihood of young driver crashes than other driving violations. Despite the adoption of the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) in 1998, the disproportionately high rate of young driver (15–24 years) crashes is still prevalent on Louisiana roadways. This paper utilizes the five years (2014–2018) crash data in Louisiana aiming to compare the crash profiles of three age groups (15–16 years, 17–19 years, and 20–24 years) to determine the contributing factors, crash characteristics, and severity outcomes. An extensive review of previous literature along with engineering judgments facilitated the understanding of the crash variables that were eventually used in the multinomial logit model with additional consideration of the current framework of the statewide GDL program. Results revealed that factors such as driving violation, distraction, passenger presence, time of crash, and driver protection system have been highlighted as the top ten predominant factors in multiple young driver groups. This study shows there is a ground for data-driven improvement for young drivers in Louisiana by presenting a broader view of a variety of issues based on the findings. Nighttime driving outside passenger restricted hours in GDL program, violations especially ‘failure to yield’, driving behaviors such as cellphone distraction especially in drivers aged 17–19 years and non-use of driver protection system across all young driver age groups are among the addressable key issues that may be influential in reducing young driver crashes. The study concludes that implementation of the GDL program would be more effective through continuous improvement and reevaluation of its components and strategic application of complementary young driver safety programs.