Teen Driving, Marvelous Thing Or Chaos Waiting?

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

Several factors contribute to distractive drivers of any age. Cell phones would rate the greatest threat to teen drivers. Incoming calls and text messaging would rate the greatest threat would instantly distract most teens. Any inattention to the road could cause a serious or lethal accident. A few months ago in Casa Grande, AZ an accident involving a teen who was texting lost his life with another passenger seriously injured in the opposing car. “According to the American Automobile Association, almost half of teens admit to texting while driving.” (Distracted Driving 253) Other distractions would include programming global positioning system, smoking, eating, drinking, and applying make-up.

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

Adolescents can be immature, careless and reckless, especially when they’re trying to show off to their other friends. The general public somewhat views eighteen as an appropriate age at which young people grow into adults. As a result, driving should be one of those privileges and responsibilities of being welcomed into adulthood. On the other hand, permitting young people to drive at the same age as they are allowed to consume legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine surely is a big step in the wrong direction. By agreeing to let young people to have the responsibility to drive without the attraction of illegal drugs, nonetheless, you are giving them an opportunity to learn, first hand, the real risks, threats and encounters of driving, hopefully being able to benefit young people make better and more responsible decisions whilst driving. Not only is driving not equal to that of drinking or smoking as it requires an ability test, but those who do drive have to abide to strict laws and registrations. Adolescents are taught how to properly drive cars and have to be able to prove that they can perform to a specific level before they are able to get their licences.

Now the issue here is that since teens from the age of 16-17 have not caused as much deaths 18-19 year olds have. Since they have given them the opportunity to be behind the wheel they are responsible enough and more likely to know what is right and wrong and what they should and shouldn't be

Shari Roan in “Should the driving age be raised” talks about the controversial issue all American families face when it comes to teens driving and the safety of others. She states that in a nationwide analysis the number of fatal crashes between the ages 16 and 17 year old drivers have fallen and the number of fatal crashes between the ages of 18 and 19 year old drivers have risen by almost the same amount. She states that the combination of immaturity and inexperience makes teen drivers particularly vulnerable to motor vehicle accidents. She also explains that car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens resulting in 4,054 fatalities in 2008 according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington Va.

The first position in this argument is some young people who do know how to drive or near to learn driving are mostly immature. Due to a recent study young drivers who do know how to drive are very immature and irresponsible about their driving skills such as drinking and driving, drugs, and sometimes just being behind the wheel will cause such things like car

Apparently, teens driving is a huge mistake and irresponsible. Teens didn’t even attend driving lessons or even a driving school which means they don’t know the rules of

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

entertainment? Youngsters are known for partying, sneaking out, drinking; when it is illegal and we can not have people like this causing chaos on our streets. Minors are also distracted too easily with the latest technology, friends and other passengers. Teenagers also like to eat, talk, and groom which is a distraction. A distraction is anything that could divert a person’s attention from their main task, which is driving. Studies have shown sixteen year olds are immature and their mind is not fully developed, and therefore should not be able to drive. They also do not have enough experience as most youth get their license at the age of sixteen and hardly practice safety on the roads before that. Teenagers consistently cause trouble, they should not be permitted to drive until eighteen years of age.

As a teenager, getting a driving license is a long extraneous task of taking tests, reading driving guidelines, and even taking a required class sophomore year. All of these help prepare new drivers for the next stage of their life in transport. I personally went through all of this just a year ago, and I have seen how it can help prepare fairly new drivers for safe driving. After getting a license there are many limitations put on you, some only last for a few months, but others last for your whole high school career. Limitations like these help new drivers to learn good and lasting habits, so that they can keep themselves and others safe. Some of these laws; however, need to be updated and more defined, so that teenage drivers learn and understand how dangerous driving really is.

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.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and young adults. More than 5,000 young people die every year in car crashes and thousands more are injured. Drivers who are 16 years old are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash, as are other drivers. There are two main reasons why teens are at a higher for being in a car crash and lack of driving experience and their tendency to take risks while driving. Teens drive faster and do not control the car as well as more experienced drivers. Their judgment in traffic is often insufficient to avoid a crash. In addition, teens do most of their driving at night, which can be even more difficult. Standard driver's education classes include 30 hours of classroom teaching and 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training. This is not enough time to fully train a new driver. Teen drivers are more like to be influence by peers and other stresses and distractions. This can lead to reckless driving behaviors such as speeding, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and not wearing safety belts. There is no safe amount that you can drink and still drive. Even one drink can influence your driving offences. “Nowadays, drunk driving has become driving while intoxicated, driving while impaired, driving while under the influence, operating while under the influence (impaired, intoxicated, or whatever), and in many

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.

As a teen I often get stereotyped as a bad driver but this is a very unfair judgment. The fact is I have helped prevent accidents the closest I have ever been to being in an accident was the fault of an older gentleman. Still the numbers do not lie teens have the most accidents of any age bracket. Why do teens have the highest accident rate? I believe it is because of inexperience not bad habits. Most teens have only been driving for a very short time, if at all, when they receive