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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.
According to Anne Fleming, a Spokeswoman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "Immaturity and inexperience both contribute to crashes. It's hard to untangle the two…Raising the age from 16 to 17 saves lives in crashes. Raising it to 18 saves even more lives"(ProQuest). It is believed that the human brain is nearly 95 percent developed by the age of six. Neural connections are being made incredibly quick during a child’s first few years. However, this does not take into account a second period of maturing the brain goes through that lasts until the age of 21. The second growth in the brain accounts for important skills like decision making and risk assessment (Triplett). These two skills are essential to operating a motor vehicle. Teenagers at 16 years old are three times more likely to be involved in an accident than teenagers at 19 (Triplett). Experts believe that t...
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...ere created in the 1920s. Finally, compare this law to the others we as Americans abide by everyday. All three of these points lead me to believe that we should raise the driving age to 18 to decrease the accident rate and to save lives.
Works Cited
Ford, Adam and Newton, Heather. "Point: The Minimum Driving Age Should Be Raised."
Points Of View: Minimum Driving Age (2013): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.
Gregory, Ted. "Should 16-year-olds drive?" Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. 09 Sep. 2008.
Web. 19 Oct. 2013.
ProQuest Staff. "At Issue: Teens and Driving." ProQuest LLC. 2013: n.pag. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 20 Oct 2013.
"Teen Driving." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Opposing
Viewpoints In Context. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
Triplett, William. "Teen Driving." CQ Researcher 7 Jan. 2005: 1-24. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
Are teenagers at the age of 16 able to comprehend the responsibility and danger of getting behind the wheel? Although some teenage students possess responsible habits, they may still face the peril of not being able to measure consequences of taking a risk. Jay Giedd, chief of brain imaging at the National Institute of Mental Health st...
Just like the teenage boy that died in the wreck, most young teen drivers think they are invincible and are owners of the road which is all due to lack of maturity. The mind set of young drivers now days is “I’m too young to die”, or “it wont happen to me” and they are so blinded by the immature thinking that it gets them in trouble. Some traits generally linked with the immaturity are: chance taking, testing limits, poor-decision making, overconfidence, speeding, following to closely, and dangerous passing (Williams). When you have youthful age and immature characteristics combined the crash possibility is enlarged. The 15-16 age groups are among the most accident prone of most groups (“Don’t”), so why then would we want them behind the wheel? “Most U.S. states license at age 16, but the minimum age for a regular license is 14 in South Dakota and 15 in five other states including: Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and South Carolina”, stated Allan F. Williams. Youthful age and immature thinking is part of the reason wh...
Driving is something people do everyday. Although many people do it well, some do not, that being said the legal age to drive should be raised to twenty one years of age. The driving age should be raised because teens at the ages of fourteen through twenty should not be behind the wheel for the simple fact that they are just too young and too inexperienced to drive, also someone of that age can get more distracted than a person who is twenty-one or older and has had some time to mature and become responsible enough to operate a motor vehicle. “In the United States, 16–19-year-olds have the highest incidence of motor vehicle deaths among licensed drivers and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15–20-year-olds.” (Haggerty
Car crashes are the leading cause of severe injury and death among teenagers. "In 2010, seven teens aged 16-19 died everyday from motor vehicle injuries." (Injury Prevention and Control: Motor Vehicle Safety) The reason these accidents are happening is because too many teens are getting behind the wheel without enough experience or common sense. Many studies have shown that teens are more likely to be distracted, experiment with drugs and alcohol, and take more risks in general with their vehicles. Many states have tried to negate these risks buy increasing the amount of experience a teen driver must need but the statistics show that may not be enough. There are many ways we can decrease the amount of accidents and deaths to our teen drivers, one of which is increasing the age to get a driver's license.
If we were to raise the driving age it would most likely be changed to 18. The best reasons for raising it to 18 would probably be that they are more responsible. “Children are not equipped to handle these vehicles, which are hard for even an experienced, adult driver to handle.” (Ron Shaffer) They have More money because of there jobs and if you go away from home you need a license.
Teenagers brains and reflexes are not fully developed until the age of 18. B. “At age 16, most people are not fully mature. Many teens do not realize that their reflexes and hand-eye coordination skills are not fully developed yet, and they can end up getting in accidents.” (articles.mcall.com) C. Most teenagers do not have the capability to prevent or withstand a car accident or the air bag deployment. V. Conclusion A.
In recent years, the legal driving age has become a topic of heated debate. There are many supporters that advocate for raising the legal driving age to eighteen or twenty-one. However, raising the driving age would cause some major problems. Sixteen should remain the legal driving age in most states and areas because the economic burden would be extremely large and the problems related to young drivers would not be adequately solved by simply rising the legal driving age. This essay will outline the reasons why the legal driving age should not be raised and what some of the better choices are instead.
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.
We should raise the legal driving age to 18 because it could reduce fatalities, give teenager more time to learn, and promote more environmentally friendly alternatives. The leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds is auto accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they state, “In 2014, 2,270 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 221,313 were
There is one day of the year that every teenager around the world looks forward to: the day they get their license. This is the day they are granted total freedom on the roads. The legal driving guidelines include: getting your permit at age fifteen and getting your license at sixteen and three months. Everyone has their personal opinions on whether or not the driving age should be lowered or raised. Reasons the age should be lowered is the driving experience outweighs the age, the decreasing rate of crashes due to the training provided, proper instructors, and the elimination of bad habits taught by peers and parents.
“Young Drivers More Prone to Car Crashes Due to Their Underdeveloped Brains” 29 Apr 2010:
Many accidents are caused because teenagers are unaware of driving risks and hazardous situations. One piece of evidence that shows that teenagers need driving experience appears in the following quote, “Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations,” ("Teen Drivers: Get the Facts"). Teenagers will not have enough driving experience if the driving age is lifted. If teenagers are allowed to drive at sixteen then they will be prepared to drive later on. The longer one waits to drive, the longer it takes for them to become prepared for the risks and hazards of
Millward, David. "Driving Age Could Rise to 18 under New Proposals." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
How old is it to drive? Most would argue the legal driving age of sixteen seems appropriate for someone to begin taking the wheel, while others say that twenty-one is a more sufficient age. Even though raising or maintaining the driving age at sixteen contains both pros and cons, major facts need to come to consideration if the driving age ever increases. As a teenager driving, I believe that people wanting to raise the driving age do not realize the negative effect that that would cause. For instance, if the age increased, teenagers would lose independence and freedom, parents would have to sacrifice their time and freedom, and even though teenagers die in car crashes every year, it would not decrease the overall number of deaths per year.