Graduated Driver Licensing Case Study

Did you know that each year, car accidents result in more teen deaths than any other cause? There is a way to prevent this and that is to institute the Graduated Driver’s License (GDL) in all states. This would help by allowing teens to earn driving privileges gradually. Instituting the Graduate Driver’s License will reduce traffic deaths among teens, and also gives teens the driving experience they need to operate a vehicle responsibly.

Why I don’t agree with participating in a graduated licensing program. I don’t agree with it because some critics say GDLs may even increase teen driving accidents. Some people argue that it slows down teens going to work

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

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.

We have implemented many ways in our society to decrease the amount of car accidents teens get into. Two of these ways are that you have to wait until you are 18 to drive and the other is the graduated license program. These are both effective ways to decrease the amount of teen car accidents, but they both have their pros and cons. Some people may prefer that you should wait until your 18 to drive, and others think the graduated license program is better. I personally think the GDL program is better than waiting until you are 18.

The question inquired is whether raising the driving age to 18 or imposing a graduated driver’s license (GDL) would lower the accident raise for teens. The advocates for both say that the restrictions would lower allow teens to get behind the wheel when they are ready. Although neither would work well, one must be chosen.

Simultaneously, accidents involving automobiles without a doubt are devastating. How would one feel if a loved one was killed in a collision due to an intoxicated driver? Wouldn’t the individual want to do something about it? The death of the Candy Lightner’s daughter lead to her development of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This act gave full federal highway funds only to states that set the minimum age to purchase or consume alcohol at twenty-one years (Sanghavi). Once all states raised their MLDA to twenty-one years, drunk-driving accidents and deaths decreased. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the reduction in traffic fatalities due to the legal drinking age of twenty-one prevented 846 deaths in 1997 and prevented a total of 17,359 deaths since 1975 (Balkin 168). This single statistic shows that automobile accidents have substantially decreased in response to the authorization of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. In addition, the average teenager earns their drivers license at the age of seventeen. This being said, allowing a young driver with only one years experience (excluding a learners permit) to legally consume alcohol would surely be an irresponsible decision. Most people know

Graduated licences go off the chart! This restricts teens to a certain amount of driving hours. Now some states are debating whether to get GDLS or keep it the same way it is. Teens having Graduated drivers licence will decrease the number of accidents.

To our country 16 years old is a milestone, just like 10, 13, and 18. This day teens don’t get the right to vote, or be seen as an adult by American society- but that day the DMV presents them with the gift of freedom and independence in the form of a driver’s license, provided they pass the test and complete their hours. Is it fair to punish a whole generation of responsible driver’s by making them wait to receive until they got college. Of the average 5,000 teenagers (age 15-17) automobile involved deaths per year, 60% are not wearing seatbelt. Revealed 52% of 16- and 17-year-old teen drivers admit to using, answering, and making cell phone calls on the road. 34% admit to text messaging while driving a vehicle. Revealed 52% of 16- and 17-year-old

Some might say that raising the driving age wouldn’t allow teens to get the experience they need to become better drivers. However, co-driving and graduated driving programs both give teens experience without compromising the safety of others. In fact, since the first graduated driver programs were instituted, there has been 1,348 fewer deadly crashes involving drivers ages 16-19. Some states have strict driving laws that require at least 70 hours of supervised driving, a minimum intermediate license age of 17, driving after 8 p.m. or a ban driving on with other teens in the vehicle. Graduated licensing programs restrict these actions until teen drivers have more experience because teens in the first few months of licensure have a high risk of crashing.

A quote from “What is the Age of Responsibility?” by Alexander Wagenaar, a health policy professor at the University of Florida, states that “The people who are advocating going down to 18, should acknowledge that they’re willing to risk an extra thousand deaths per year and double that number of injuries.” (3) However, this is a common misconception that the amount of teen highway deaths can be lowered by raising the legal drinking age. A quote from “A 16-year-old is as good as an 18-year-old -- or a 40-year-old -- at driving,” by Lawrence Steinberg, states “...in practice we create legal boundaries for a complex mix of political and practical reasons, which frequently lead to las that make no sense… Actually, countries with a higher driving age but a lower drinking age have far safer highways than we do.” This clarifies the fact that raising the driving age will alleviate teen car accidents more than raising the legal drinking age will. To the contrary, setting the drinking age at 21 only exacerbated the problem. This encouraged young adults to disrespect the law by using fake IDs. It also deprives them the legal access to social activity which is prevalent throughout the United States. Doing so also encouraged student binge drinking at universities under illegal and unsafe circumstances. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would simply mitigate the stress regarding alcohol

Turning sixteen is a major turning point in a teenager’s life, you’re finally at the age where you are given much more responsibility and freedom than before. And the biggest responsibility is being able to get your license and drive. And being given the keys to a car means a teenager can move on from depending on their parents. That’s why raising the driving age from sixteen will cause much more harm than good to many teen’s lives. The legal driving age should not be raised, despite the many efforts by the government. There is no need to raise it, the positive effects will not come close to the negatives that come’s along with it, additionally teens need to get prepared for the real world, need to drive to get around, and most of the time car crashes are not even their fault. If push comes to shove their needs to be better driver education and standards to help teens to be more prepared to drive and improving graduating driver licensing. Graduating driver licensing(GDL) or restrictive licensing is a way that states regulate what a teen can do when they first get their license to limit the amount of crashes they get into and to keep them safe. Although the age differs from state to state the same general restrictions still apply. Which include determining whether a new driver can drive with passengers, and even having a curfew set for driving times. In Florida sixteen-year old cannot drive between 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Keeping them off the streets at night. They however cannot

GDLs are a more successful and effective way to teach adolescents to drive. According to the text, “Our current programs don’t teach young people to drive … They teach them how to pass a test.”. Using GDLs will allow practice on the roads for driving and better accuracy. GDLs allow teens to receive driving privileges slow and steady instead of all piled at once.GDLs will help drivers better rather than waiting until 18 to get a driver’s license.

The Graduated Driver License(GDL) has saved many people, which has dropped the teen percent rate down,5 to 15.But GDL’s don't always work,people have mentioned that the reason there aren’t that many crashes are because the driving skills are low.Good and bad, but mostly bad cause of how they don't improve their skills at all.

     The government has recently said that ever since graduated licensing started, there have been fewer accidents involving young drivers. Looking at it another way, it costs consumers less money, beacause fewer cars need to be repair. By having graduated licensing , there are fewer unexperienced young drivers on our roads. Also, insurance companies are a lot happier because they don¡¦t suffer too much by having to pay out claims. If there are