“Congratulations, you’ve passed the driving test.” At the age of sixteen people can receive their driver’s license. Many think that this age is too high but many more think it is too low. The leading cause of death for sixteen year olds is motor vehicle crashes. Raising the drivers age to even just eighteen can reduce the risk of accidents with being more experienced, more mature, and parents being able to educate teenagers more than at sixteen.
Motor Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S teens. In 2013, 21,683 teens in the United States ages sixteen to eighteen were killed and 24,243 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. That means six teens ages 16-18-year olds died every
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day as a result of motor vehicle crashes. What people don’t realize is they are giving these teenagers vehicles to handle, which are hard for even an experienced, adult driver to handle. Raising the age requirement to 18 for driving can allow someone to be more experienced with handling a vehicle. The percentage of crashes for teenagers have been reduced in, “States with GDL programs in place report as much as a 40 percent drop in the number of fatal crashes among sixteen-year-old drivers.” (Shope Review Of Evaluations Results since 2002). Having in place GDL programs or making it a state requirement to take driver’s ed in highschool can make a driver more educated.
There is three components to GDL, all separately contribute to reduced crash rates. The three components, extended learner permit period, nighttime driving restrictions,and passenger restrictions, combined result in the highest crash reductions among sixteen-year-old drivers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety records, “The majority of newly licensed teen drivers exit the learner period with significant skill deficits, leading to a much higher risk of crashing compared with more experienced drivers.” If driver’s ed or GDL is placed in a requirement, the risk of crashing will be dropped significantly. This further proves the need for teengers to be given more time to become more experienced before taking the road on their …show more content…
own. The traffic accident rates for sixteen to nineteen-year old drivers are higher than those for any other age group.
What causes teenage drivers to be such risky drivers? Although teens recognize that talking or texting on a cell phone while driving is unsafe, they often engage in these behaviors anyways. Teenagers aren’t paying attention in most crashes,“In 2013, there were 3,154 people killed and an estimated additional 424,000 motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Distracted Driving 2013). Teenagers are more worried about checking their phones and social media than they are about driving, but as you grow older you start to care less about that. Wisdom is an integral part of maturity. As you age you go through more things and learn more resulting in being more mature. Adults have the maturity to be able to put down the phone while driving unlike teenagers. “Distraction was a key factor in fifty-eight percent of crashes involving drivers ages sixteen to eighteen,” according to an analysis of video footage of 1,691 moderate to severe crashes 6 seconds before they occurred. Having the knowledge of what the distraction can cause may help teenagers to become self aware and mature to put the phone down when driving. Though it won’t reach all teens, but the waiting till 18 can push people to be more aware of their actions and result in the reducing of
crashes. On the other hand, many will say that being able to drive at sixteen helps a lot of parents with their kid getting around places. Which it does help parents in not having to worry as much, but wouldn’t they be even more worried knowing that their kid could be in an accident. Kids can easily get transportation to and from places with buses, biking, walking, and even the choice of uber. Most parents would want to know their kids are safe and not having to worry about how they drive and if they aren’t experienced enough. With waiting till eighteen parents are able to help the teenager drive more and get more experience. Crashes are preventable, “Teens who say their parents set rules and pay attention to their activities in a helpful, supportive way are half as likely to crash.” (Parent Involvement in Driving). If parents were to be more involved in their teenagers life then the teenager would be more experienced and taught the rights and wrongs. Some teenagers don’t have parents to teach them how to drive or how to be good and nice. Those teenagers would need more time to learn these things on their own or from another source, so teenagers driving at sixteen doesn’t help all parents because some don’t have those parents. As of know the most common death for teenagers is motor vehicle crashes and it’s the most common for any age, but people aren’t as worried about it. People think that it’s out of their control to stop these crashes, it isn’t. These crashes can be reduced or stopped with the simple acts that allow teenager to become more educated with driver’s ed programs. They’d be more mature with age of gaining wisdom of having to fight the ups and down’s of life. They would have more time for a parent to teach them and give more experience. These acts of being educated, more mature, experienced and with changing the driver’s age to eighteen will save thousands of lives, a majority of which have yet to live theirs.
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
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.
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...
For years fiery debates whether the driving age for teens should be sixteen or eighteen captured the nation. Sixteen year-olds have a legitimate argument for keeping the age where it stands, but statistics show that sixteen year olds are not responsible enough to drive, and that more practice is needed before anyone should get a driver’s license. However, from the looks of it, it seems that legislation is going to make the legal driving age eighteen.
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
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.
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.
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.
Sixteen year olds have a higher crash rate than drivers of any other age. “ in 2011, teenagers accounted for 10 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths” (Teen Driving Statistics). For this purpose, Many states have begun to raise the age limit by imposing restrictions on sixteen years old drivers. For example, limiting the number of passengers they can carry while driving. “The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report in May 2012 that showed that the risk of 16- or 17-year old drivers being killed in a crash increases with each additional teenage passenger in the vehicle. The risk increases 44 percent with one passenger; it doubles with two passengers, and quadruples with three or more passengers. The study analyzed crash data and the number of miles driven by 16- and 17-year olds” (Teen Driving Statistics). Another example, is that many people believe that teenage drivers have a race boy/girl mentality. This mean that when any teenager gets into a vehicle of any kind they get some type of thrilled or that the driving laws do not accommodate them in any way, shape, or form. They would go drag race ...
Getting a driver’s license can be the most exciting part of a teens life. But what do teens have to do beforehand in order to obtain that license? For some, it's months of training and for others, they can complete everything within a few months. But does all that training make teens better drivers? The three main reasons why more drivers education for teens is not beneficial are: restrictions for teen drivers make it harder on parents, teens have to be able to get around without their parents, and not all teens need more drivers education.
Driving a car and obtaining a driver’s license does perhaps seem to provide people with a great sense of independence and freedom. Teenagers need to feel independent in order to learn to become successful on their own as well as realize how to handle life situations on their own, and having a license seems the perfect start and most effective way to do so. When teenagers feel this independence they tend to act more mature, knowing the responsibilities they must now carry on their own (More4Kids). Teenagers often look forward to the freedom that driving offers as well. Teenagers are able to take drives to escape from life’s many stressed, and leave any troubles at home behind without rebelling out against their loved ones.
“Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional deaths for teens (16-17),” reported The New York State Department of Health. The most exciting thing about being sixteen in the United States is driving. Teenagers can not wait to be sixteen to drive, however, they do not understand the dangers that come with driving at such a young age. Sixteen is the age between child life and adulthood. It is a time when they are not stable and undergoing change, which makes them unsuitable to drive. Many teenagers would say that they need to get to places. In response to that claim, there are public transportation systems and bikes as available alternatives for young drivers. The financial stability and matureness of eighteen year olds proves
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
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time,” said by Steven Wright. Teenagers look forward to their sixteenth birthday so they are able to drive. Everyone has felt that feeling where they can hardly wait to get behind the wheel and start driving. Little do people know teen drivers are more likely to die from a car accident than from a homicide, suicide, or cancer combined (Littlefield). They are mostly inexperienced with the road and how to handle distractions. If the age were moved to eighteen teenagers would have more driving experience (Sostarecz). Teenage drivers are extremely eager to drive because of freedom, but they are not aware of the distractions and peer pressure on the road; their experience of driving is not as well as others and statistics show how many deaths are caused due to teenage driving.