The debate of maturity has lasted for decades and is brought up more today with advancements in technology. Should a ten year old have an Iphone? Should middle schoolers be working in factories? Should fifteen year olds be driving? The latter of the three, being a huge topic for debate now more than ever.
Cars and cellphones were huge technological innovations of their respective time, and both continue to progress to further heights. There is no law or penalty against buying your preteen child the newest phone for them to annoy all their friends’ parents, who haven’t bought their child a cell phone, except maybe the look of disgust from other parents. Driving took a different turn, many states soon after the invention of motor vehicles implemented an age restriction of eighteen. That age would drop to an average of sixteen throughout the fifty states during the second half of twentieth century. Now it’s time to lower it again, but in the right way.
Fourteen is the age of an average teenager starting their freshman year of high school. With two parents working full time jobs, sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the kid to get to school. What easier way to help out parents who show up five to ten minutes late every morning, than to let their child drive themself to school. The initial reaction would be that anyone on or near a road is now putting his or her life at risk. To ease the mind of those people, extensive testing should be implemented to decide if the young teen is capable of operating a vehicle safely, because not every fourteen year old across America is ready to be driving a multi-thousand dollar car. Driving is a privilege that most of the world uses every day, to see if a child is mature and responsible enough ...
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... would be for their own benefit. A young teenager who isn’t of average height or weight could be considerably injured if hit by another driver. Most people against lowering the driving age would suggest that teenagers make up the largest group of automotive accidents. This may be true, but “adults 65 and older make up the same number of auto accidents every year”(Westlake 648), but there’s no legislation on retesting the elderly.
Letting younger, mature, qualified teenagers drive could save parents time and money. By relating these younger driving age laws to student’s grades, school districts nationwide would see an increase in standardized testing and GPA, due to the motivation of getting their license. The only students that would be placed on the road would be the ones capable of handling such a large privilege, making the roads no less safe than they are today.
Endersby -. Its not a question if teenagers are worse drivers than more responsible adults. According to a few researchers, a study in the 1990’s said crash-related deaths from sixteen and seventeen year olds were eighteen per 100,000 in New Jersey, and twenty-six per 100,000 in Connecticut. More than 5,000 teens in the U.S. die every year in car crashes. The National Highway Safety Administration said that the rate of crashes per mile driven for beginner drivers was almost ten times the rate of drivers thirty to fifty-nine.
People who support a higher driving age have many good arguments and question whether teens really need to drive as early as they do now (Gregory). Researchers for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety say that “raising the driving age makes sense and would save lives” (cited in Gregory).They also say that “licensing at later ages would substantially reduce crashes involving teen drivers” (cited in Gregory). It seems like many people agree with them. For example, Crisp states, “Handling several thousand pounds of automobile at highway speeds is ...
“I am superman; I am invincible”, is what one young man thought of himself on August 30, 2009. He left a friend’s house with a young woman in the car with him; it was a dark night and he was feeling good about himself. He thought he would try to impress the young girl and went way too fast. As he topped the hill, he ran off the road, over-corrected, and lost control of his vehicle. The accident claimed both their lives. Numerous car accidents involve young teenage drivers. Raising the minimum driving age to 16 would greatly reduce the number of automobile accidents involving teen drivers because they lack experience on the road, they lack maturity, and they would have less accidents resulting in safer roads.
According to national teen driving statistics, 16-year-olds, in particular, are 3 (three) times more likely to die in a crash than the average of all drivers, and they have higher crash rates than any other age group. In 2008; 81% of teenage crash deaths were passenger vehicle occupants, 31% of teenage drivers killed had been drinking alcohol, 55% were not buckled up, and 37% of male teenage drivers involved in fatalities were speeding. Teenagers who drink and drive have a greater risk of serious crashes than older drivers with equal blood alcohol concentrations. Teens do not wear seat/safety belts as much as adults. Teens tend to take more risks due to overconfidence in their abilities. These risks include: speeding, tailgating (driving too close to the vehicle in front), running red lights, violating traffic signals and signs, illegal turns, dangerous passing, and failure to yield to pedestrians.
Teens need to be taught that driving is a task that is complex and demanding. Parents know how much experience a young driver has, and they know exactly how inconvenient it is when they have to drive with their teen everywhere while they have their permit. Teens tend to cause most traffic accidents in adults’ eyes. They are not experienced yet, and often fail to pay attention to others on the road. They often think of a car as being some type of toy, but they do not know how powerful it really is. The driver education programs must be strengthened in order to make sure that students really have safer habits, behind the wheel experience, and by having a better understanding of all the laws on the road.
I. Introduction A. Should 16 year old teenagers be able to drive? B. “Those who favor raising the driving age say that statistics show teenagers are more likely to get into accidents than adults. What they don't say is that statistics also show that men of all ages are 77 percent more likely to kill someone while driving than women.
More than 5,000 teenagers die while driving each year in the United States (Gregory). In my opinion this is due to three different, yet equally important factors. The first factor is that the teenage mind is yet to be fully developed, causing them to make irresponsible and sometimes reckless decisions. The second factor is that the experience of driving has evolved since the original driving age was established in the early 20th century. The third and final aspect to take into consideration would be that driving is the lowest minimum age of any adult restricted activity in the United States. Although, it can be one of the more harmful, not only to the perspective driver but his or her surroundings as well. Taking all three of these factors into account I believe the minimum driving age should be raised to 18 to decrease the accident rate amongst teenagers.
Teens only make up seventeen percent of the population today, but almost twenty percent of fatal crashes are due to teenagers behind the wheel. Growing numbers suggest changing the driving age to eighteen and some even believe that changing it to twenty-one may save even more lives. With a sixteen year old behind the wheel, accidents are even more likely to occur when compared to a seventeen year old (Boulard). With so much new technology in today’s society there are more distractions on the road than ever before; therefore the legal driving age should be raised to save more lives. If we do not act quickly, then more lives will be lost.
Engines roaring and cars flying down the highway recklessly, racing to the finish. This is a stereotyped outlook on teen drivers. This however, is not the case. Teens don’t drive to race down the road. They drive for freedom. They drive to get where they need to be on their own. The driving age should not be raised to 18 because it takes away their feeling of freedom, Denies the access to needed transportation, denies experience, It puts additional stress on parents, and they need to be learning the driving skill while they’re young.
Turning the age of sixteen is a huge step in the life of a teenager. When becoming the age of sixteen a new challenge is brought into that person’s life, and that new challenge is driving a car. But are sixteen year olds ready for this for this task? Some people would say that driving a car can be very problematic for a sixteen year old. Those people are right, sixteen year old should not be driving cars at that age, and just leave it for the people who are eighteen or even older to handle such a task. There are several good reasons why the government should raise the legal driving age to eighteen than leaving it at sixteen.
Whether or not teenagers should be allowed to get their driver 's license at age sixteen is a known topic across the United States. One of the causes for this argument is the number of fatalities caused by young drivers. Evidence shows, “In 2012, 1,875 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 died in motor vehicle crashes and an additional 184,000 young drivers were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” (“Teen Drivers”). Most accidents are caused by young drivers. In the United States of America, citizens may receive their driver’s license at sixteen, if they meet the requirements. Some people argue that sixteen year olds should not be able to receive their driver’s license. Other people argue that sixteen
Getting a driver’s license can be the most exciting part of a teens life. But what do teens have to do beforehand in order to obtain that license? For some, it's months of training and for others, they can complete everything within a few months. But does all that training make teens better drivers? The three main reasons why more drivers education for teens is not beneficial are: restrictions for teen drivers make it harder on parents, teens have to be able to get around without their parents, and not all teens need more drivers education.
In the article Crash Facts on the 16- to 19- Year-Old Age Group, written by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, it is stated that 11.1 percent of sixteen year old drivers are involved in car accidents. Sixteen year olds are less experienced and are accident prone 2.43 percent more than eighteen year olds. According to Ted Gregory, a Chicago Tribune reporter, in New Jersey, teenagers start driving at the age of seventeen unlike other states with a driving age of sixteen. After the law was enacted, the percentage in fatal accidents dropped 33 percent. This report proves that as teenagers get older, car accidents are less likely to happen. Many would argue that age is just a number and eighteen year olds cause many car accidents as well. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation reported that in comparison to sixteen year olds, eighteen year olds are less likely to be involved in car accidents, with a rate of 8.67 percent. Sixteen year old drivers who are involved in car accidents are more likely than older drivers to cause accidents due to carelessness on the
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time,” said by Steven Wright. Teenagers look forward to their sixteenth birthday so they are able to drive. Everyone has felt that feeling where they can hardly wait to get behind the wheel and start driving. Little do people know teen drivers are more likely to die from a car accident than from a homicide, suicide, or cancer combined (Littlefield). They are mostly inexperienced with the road and how to handle distractions. If the age were moved to eighteen teenagers would have more driving experience (Sostarecz). Teenage drivers are extremely eager to drive because of freedom, but they are not aware of the distractions and peer pressure on the road; their experience of driving is not as well as others and statistics show how many deaths are caused due to teenage driving.
Driving a car and obtaining a driver’s license does perhaps seem to provide people with a great sense of independence and freedom. Teenagers need to feel independent in order to learn to become successful on their own as well as realize how to handle life situations on their own, and having a license seems the perfect start and most effective way to do so. When teenagers feel this independence they tend to act more mature, knowing the responsibilities they must now carry on their own (More4Kids). Teenagers often look forward to the freedom that driving offers as well. Teenagers are able to take drives to escape from life’s many stressed, and leave any troubles at home behind without rebelling out against their loved ones.