The purpose of the program's driver license-related activities is to maintain an efficient and effective licensing program that assures only drivers demonstrating the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities are licensed to operate motor vehicles on Florida's highways. The program's primary public benefits are promoting public safety on state roads, providing citizens with a universally accepted form of identification, assisting citizens when this identification is stolen or used fraudulently, and serving as a significant source of state revenues.

We found that

• although graduated licensing restrictions have helped reduce teenage crash rates, additional restrictions may be needed;
• to address the high crash risk of elder drivers, the Legislature should implement more proactive driver licensing policies for elder drivers, such as eliminating mail-in renewals for drivers above a specific age, and the department should continue to research ways to improve driver skill assessment;
• the department should collect data to determine whether the state should continue to allow the use of cellular telephones and items such as route guidance systems while driving, as these can distract drivers and affect their ability to drive safely;
• the department's evaluation of driver improvement courses could be enhanced to better assist providers in identifying under-performing schools;
• the department should establish a system for continuously assessing the validity of its driver tests as tools for determining whether individuals have the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to drive safely on Florida's roadways;
• the department could expand its use of contractors to provide driver-licensing services;
• to improve program efforts to identify uninsured motorists, the department should develop a computer program to identify insurance companies that untimely report insurance policy data so that staff can take action to bring more companies into compliance with statutory reporting timeframes; and
• the program has been inconsistent in including the driver-licensing activities performed by county tax collectors when calculating program outputs.