The Importance Of Overinvolved In Teen Driving

Young drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 experience high collision rates on roads, And this requires the need for raising the legal driving age to not have unnecessary injuries to our future generations. No parent or loved one ever wants to lose a child to an avoidable automobile collision caused by driver inexperience, preventable error, or carelessness behind the wheel. Additionally, the volume of traffic on US roads and highways alone causes intimidation among many experienced drivers.

At the age of sixteen driving is a coming of age- a transition from childhood to adulthood. With many things the older a child gets the more prepared they are but with driving it is not dependent to a certain age but rather experience. To many American families teen driving is undeniably a privilege. To receive a license as a developing 16 year old one needs guardian permission. If such activity is a privilege to begin with it should come with certain requirements and regulations.

One of the most anticipated moments in a teenager’s life is when they finally pass the driving exam and get to stare into their own fresh, gleaming, brand new driver’s license. This is certainly a life changing moment for any teenager, but not in the way they would expect. Sadly, car accidents with teens at fault cause more injuries and deaths than any other demographic in the world. While getting a license at 15 or 16 may be a commonplace milestone of the American way, the associated risks of having young teens driving without restriction are simply not worth the privilege of being able to drive at such an early age.

The organization recommends the Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) for young people. This is a method that has proven to decrease teen's driving crash rate by 20 to 40 percent. This method works by allowing young drivers to increase their driving experience, while decreasing the common risks teens face when driving, such as nighttime driving and distractions that happen when carrying teen passengers. Car crashes are the number 1 cause of death for teenager drivers and the problem is because they don't wear seat belts, struggle with speeding, and their teen passengers serve as a distraction. GDL allows teen drivers to only drive with supervision or with immediate licensure, teens may drive unsupervised, but with restrictions, such as, without

One of the states with the toughest licensing programs is New Jersey. All first-time drivers under 21 must follow graduated license restrictions. As a result, significant reductions in crash rates occurred for 17 and 18 year-olds. It also completely eliminated crashes for 16 year-olds. These restrictions have been shown to shift the crash rates to older people who simply wait to get their license to avoid restrictions. The same case in New Jersey was studied by Dr. Masten. He shows in his research that 20 to 24 year-olds in New Jersey have seen a 10% increase in deadly crashes. A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also shows that young drivers 15 – 20 years old have a lower crash percentage than 25 – 34 year-olds, 35 – 44 year-olds, and 45 – 54

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.

With a graduated license, teens will earn the experience they need to become skilled drivers. According to the text, “Studies show that it is inexperience, not age, that causes accidents.” Think about it: could changing the age from 16 to 18 really prevent accidents or just put more inexperienced adults on the roads? Teens make up 7 percent of all drivers, but are involved in 20 percent of all accidents. The reason being is that many teens do not have the road experience necessary to make safe driving decisions.

Teenagers dream of the day when they will receive their license and take a step closer to independence and gaining freedom from their parents. It is the rite of passage that many fifteen-year old yearn for. We count the days to our 16th birthday, waiting to make a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles to receive our permit. It is exciting, exhilarating and just the mere thought of racing down the country roads make our spine tingle...Freedom! We all remember those months leading up to getting our permits but in those first days behind the wheel do we think about the number of deaths and accidents that occur due to teen driving? The number of families destroyed, futures cut short all because that excitement we feel takes us over and

At 17, they can apply for an intermediate unrestricted licence in order to have more passengers in the car. Not only that, but 17 year olds are not allowed to drive between the hours of 11-5 AM unless it’s for work purposes. Furthermore, many parents can enable text blockers on their teen’s phones. What this does is disables the phone from sending or receiving texts if the vehicle is driving more than 10 miles per hour. Insurance companies also offer dash-cams for records purposes, thus keeping teen drivers under surveillance while they drive. With the teen’s knowledge of being monitored by parents, this will decrease their bad driving habits in fear of losing their car, licences, or even their lives. Bad driving among teens is a serious issue, but with today’s technological advances, it will surely decrease over time and simply be known as a joking

Training and educating programs can help teens learn driving skills, but these programs do not produce safer drivers. The only thing that's taught in driver education is how to drive legally and not responsibly. It's often not poor skills that cause the crashes in the first place. Its teenagers' attitudes. A vast majority of teens are thrill seekers, thinking they are bullet proof and invincible. "Thus the potential for death and destruction is great"(Grant14). Teens naturally tend to rebel against adult standards and regulations. Peer pressure influences teenagers much more than advice given by an adult. Today's teachers have either forgotten or they ignore the fact that 16 year-old drivers show off as soon as they get in the car with their

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.

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

     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.

Driving down the highway, heading to the movies with three of your best friends in the car singing along to your favorite song; what better way to spend a Friday night. The car in front of you slams on their breaks; but you didn’t notice, you were looking over at your friend, singing and laughing. Suddenly, the lives of four teenagers hang in the balance, dependent on the skill and reaction time of one inexperienced teen driver. This scenario is far too common when reviewing the safety of teenage drivers. Currently, Florida is one of five states in the country that has no restriction on the number of teenage passengers in a car driven by a teenage driver (“Teenagers”). As adults, parents, and members of our community, we need to band together and encourage Florida lawmakers to impose restrictions on the number of passengers under the age of 20 in vehicles driven by teenage drivers. By doing so we not only protect the safety of our children but also innocent passengers and fellow motorists. Fourteen states, including Georgia, Indiana, West Virginia, and California prohibit any passengers under the age of twenty for the first six months of driving and lessen the restriction, allowing one passenger under the age of twenty after that (“Teenagers”).