Today I learned

Being able to own a car without a license probably isn't the main cause behind the rise in these statistics. At least I'm not convinced that requiring a DL to own one will do any good. Many countries don't require a license to own or even register a car and have far better traffic accident statistics.

At least in Germany, most unlicensed drivers are just the ones that continue driving after having their license revoked, which explains why they are a big source of accidents. This also means however, that most of them have completed their driver training at least once. From what I'm reading it sounds like in NY, administrative chaos during covid has caused some people to just not get a license at all? If so, then the most obvious solution to me is lowering administrative hurdles for getting a license. In car-dependent places like the US and Germany, it's very difficult to prevent people from driving a car at all. So, why not focus instead on making sure the people who need to drive can get a license?