Graduated licensing programs have emerged largely in response to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study that found that half of the 4 million new teen drivers have accidents within the first year of driving.

Graduated-licensing programs feature three stages, two of which require teens to drive with adult supervision. As a result, the risk that a teen is driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs is greatly reduced, experts say.

States with graduated driver's licensing programs for teens are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Virginia.

Michigan officials said their state's graduated-licensing law resulted in a 28 percent decline in the number of 16-year-olds in auto accidents in the first year after the law was enacted in 1997.

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