Driving is a wonderful privilege and a pleasure for many American teens. It is a way to get away from nagging parents and siblings, and a way for a kid to have a little responsibility. Even though people think most students who are of age to get a driver’s license would have one, research is showing that the average age a person first gets their license is going up. Regardless of the age when a teenager receives their license, the number of passengers for teen drivers should be limited. New drivers spend many hours on the road with friends. Between working, driving to sporting events, running errands or visiting friends, teen drivers spend a ton of time burning up the roads. Driving may even take up a majority of their time. A lot of …show more content…
The reason for this is the person who already has their license can give the inexperienced driver tips, help them keep their eyes on the road by not distracting them, making sure they do not run through a red light or stop sign, and even to help the teen ignore other passenger’s advice who do not know how to drive. The licensed person can use their knowledge to help the young driver to make it from point A, to point B. Just like any other skill, driving takes time to learn and get better at. Recent studies have been done that show a decline in the number of drivers getting their driver’s license between the ages of 16 and 19. “It’s especially pronounced for the teens—in 2014, just 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds had a license, a 47-percent decrease from 1983, when 46.2 percent did. And at the tail end of the teen years, 69 percent of 19-year-olds had licenses in 2014, compared to 87.3 percent in 1983, a 21-percent decrease.”(Beck) Of the people surveyed in this study many said that they were too busy, could not afford to drive, or already had a ride from others as their reasons for not getting their license. The longer teens wait to get their license the more mature, they can become and that should make them better drivers. “Based on government research, drivers under age 20 have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.” (How to prevent...) Parents need to make sure when they are teaching their teens to drive that they make sure let them
Many teens in the US are employed part time while also attending high school. Having a license enables these teens to get to and from work, job interviews, or even in some cases become employed in the delivery business. USA Today reports that while 30% of teens have jobs, employment rate is still falling. Increasing the driving age would only decrease the number of teens in the workforce. Surprisingly one third of those teens working, do so to support their family. Without proper transportation these teens would be forced to either miss more school or work less in order to make ends meet while still
Young drivers should have to wait until they are 18 years old to get their license because 16 year olds are more likely to get in an accident than an older driver. One author said, “Sixteen-year-old drivers are the most likely to crash, so raising the age at which teens could get their license would save many lives…” (Rubin). Rubin gives a valid reason to why the minimum driving age should be raised from 16 to 18. If the driving age is raised, there would be less people involved in wrecks, which would help the world out as a whole. Even though 16 year olds are more accident prone than other drivers, taking 16 year olds off of the road would save the lives of everyone on the road. However, there are people who believe that the minimum driving age should not be raised because of various reasons. One article states that, “If they have to wait until they are 17 or 18, they remain dependent on parents practically until they are ready to go off to college, join the military or take a
Every day teens are given access to automobiles. Every day these young people go to their jobs, classes, and athletic practices. Do they all abuse their driving privileges? No. Then why restrict all teens, including the law-abiding and mature, by raising the driving age? This debate reaches all across the nation, to all levels of government, and many related laws and propositions can be found. If the driving age is increased, teenagers will have more difficulty getting jobs and gaining experience. On the other hand, if the driving age is 18, new drivers will have more maturity. So the question remains, should the legal driving age be 18 years old? No, the current driving age
Maturity and rationalization is not yet achieved or experienced by teenagers. In the era of technology there are several distractions for drivers of any age to maneuver. Parents can play an educational role by enrolling their teen into a driver’s educational program. Some states require students to complete a comprehensive graduated drivers licensing (GDL) program prior to receiving their license. The brain function is still developing in teenagers and may impede the quick thinking process necessary to become a responsible driver. For the safety and welfare of teenagers the age requirement in Arizona for a driver’s license should be increased from 16 to 18 years of age.
Putting teens on the road at a young age as low as 15-16-years-old allows them to gain experience that will help them become more accustomed to the road when they get their driving licences at 18. As stated in the article, Teenage Driving Laws May Just Delay Deadly Crashes, it says “Many teenagers, rather than deal with the extra restrictions for 16-17 -year-olds, are simply waiting until they turn 18, and skipping the restrictions altogether. As a result, a greater proportion of inexperienced drivers hit the road” (40). This proves that teens who do not drive at 16 are more likely to get into car crashes, because they wait til 18 to avoid being restricted like the 16- 17- year-olds. Teens who skip the 16 -17-year-old restrictions are just starving themselves from gaining the early knowledge on driving that is needed to prevent fatal crashes. The same article also says that, “There have been 1,348 fewer deadly crashes involving 16-year-old
Teen driving allows American youth to have their license between the ages 13-15. At this age, our American youth are more likely to be careless while driving without supervision. The younger teen drivers are the more susceptible to fatal car accidents they will be due to the lack of supervision and proper driver’s education. Lack of maturity and experiences leads to developing poor driving habits. The teens in the age group 16-18 are usually more mature in handling a motorized vehicle. States that allow 13-15 year old teens drive are more likely to get in more car crashes from driving earlier and not having enough experience.
In 2013, more than 2,500 teenagers died in the United States from motor vehicle crash injuries. Such injuries are by far the leading public health problem for young people 13-19 years old (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety [IIHS], 2014). Drivers are not the only ones at risk. Teenagers who are passengers in others vehicles make up a startling 87% of the fatality statistic. Lack of driving experience, disregard for traffic laws, and quick access to full driving privileges contribute to teen death. To reduce teen driving fatalities, successful completion of driver education classes provided by public and private schools should be mandatory for all teenagers prior to receiving their driving permit.
An extreme number of research and data have pointed out that teens are not equipped with safe driving skills. These numbers have lead to countless arguments between teens and adults. All though teens are more interested in their phone then a car they still have a desire to get onto the road. The car offers an immense amount of self conscious and maturity to a teen. This is one of the main points as to why teens are so eager to get out on the road as soon as possible. If and when they do get on the road they look right past the consequences that may occur with driving at such a young age. Without a doubt teenage drivers are very inexperienced when it comes to their first trips on the road because the only prior training they can get is practice
As teenagers are leaving their homes, cities, and in many cases, states, to attend colleges, driving has become an integral part in a teen’s life. However, many states are putting heavy restrictions on teen drivers to keep not only them safe, but the rest of the community as well. But that has not been enough- teen drivers still are a major problem on the road due partly to their lack of mental development. This has pushed some states to consider raising minimum driving age, eliminating the whole problem of inexperience in drivers. The minimum age should not raised, however, because it will not help the issue of road safety.
They are inexperienced because there are newly licensed drivers and they are not capable of controlling a motor vehicle at the ages 16-19. This is because they can give trouble to experienced drivers. They can give experienced drivers trouble by recklessly driving, driving well over the speed limit, and also not being able to control the vehicle. This means that experienced drivers will have to watch out for newly licensed drivers and be able to get around them. Also, teenagers can cause traffic by going too slow or not being able to control the vehicle. For example, you are an experienced driver with well over 10 years of driving experience and you conquer a teenage driver who is going 40 km/h in a 90 km/h zone, you will become frustrated to see that you are behind an inexperienced driver who cannot even go the speed limit. This can cause traffic because of the lack of speed. Inexperienced drivers can also cause accidents. They can cause accidents by going over and below the speed limit, causing traffic, and also not being able to control the motor vehicle. An example of an inexperienced driver causing an accident would be that a car is going very slow on the highway and changing lines at around 30 km/h in a 100 km/h zone and then out of nowhere a car going the speed limit comes and crashes into the inexperienced driver. Inexperienced driving is another factor of why teenagers should not be able to start driving at age 16. Overall, inexperienced drivers cause trouble for experienced drivers, traffic, and accidents because of the lack of
12% of distracted drivers that get involved in fatal accidents are teens.If 16 year olds could not drive then there would be less accidents on the road. 16 year olds also cannot do a lot of things that adults can, this is for a reason and driving should be one of them.16 years old is too young to get a drivers license.
Teen drivers have the mentality were they are untouchable when behind the wheel. But it’s obviously to much to handle for them because when it comes to the facts to many teens die a year. In 2007, 4,200 teens in the U.S aged from 15-17 were killed and 400,000 were treated in the E.R for injuries because of car accidents (“Motor vehicle safety, Teen Drivers, page 1”). This just shows how irresponsible teens are while driving. In a national survey 12.5% of all high school students rarely wear seatbelts, this just asking too get hurt in case an accident happens (“Motor vehicle safety, Teen Drivers, page 1”). This just shows how teens have a bad mentality while driving. In 2005, 54% of teen deaths occurred between 3 p.m. and midnight on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. This statistic shows that one more reason why a teen would want there license is to get to a party or go
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.
Teens should not be permitted to drive until they are 18 years old. They should be able to drive on a temporary permit when they are 16 years old and use it until they turn 18 years old. This permit would allow them to drive only during daylight hours and with a parent/guardian. This would enable the young drivers to become more experienced. The eight hours of drivers training with your instructor is not enough. These teens need to get a feel for the road and learn to drive defensively. If you do not know how to operate a vehicle responsibly, it could be used as a deadly weapon. These young drivers are hurting themselves and other innocent people, because of their lack of experience and their irresponsibility.
In responding , one can say that teenagers always complain about the ¡§grown up¡¨ world and its rules. Teens find it rather hard to be part of the grown up worl until they have the licence to go out on their own. Basically, the whole concept of graduated licencing is not so complicated. There are only a few changes: 1) There must be a fully licensed driver beside you with at least four years of driving experience in the G1 level. 2) There is a year waiting period between the G1 level and G2 level. 3) New drivers may only drive in cities, not on highways, and only during daytime hours. Even though there is a 1 month waiting period between G1 level and G2 level, it can be shortened to 8 months by taking a driver¡¦s insurance training course. During this course, the driver will learn more about techniques on driving, and it will cost less when getting car insurance later on.