Stronger rules for British Columbia’s Graduated Licensing Program, which took effect in 2003, saved at least 31 lives and prevented 17,500 crashes involving new drivers in the three-year period following the changes, Solicitor General Kash said.

He said that the changes for new drivers has been a public safety success, dropping the number of crashes in the province by 28 percent.

ICBC examined crash rates before and after the changes to the Graduated Licensing Program, and used comparison groups of other drivers to rule out demographics, weather or other external factors for the decrease in crashes. In the program’s first three years, the new driver crash rate dropped by almost 16 per cent.

The program began in 1998, and in 2003 it was enhanced with changes that included extending the learner stage from six months to one year. The novice stage was extended from 18 months to two years. For learner drivers, the supervisor age requirement was raised from 19 to 25 and novice drivers were restricted to carrying one passenger, unless accompanies by a supervisor or unless the passengers were immediate family members.