Raising The Driving Age

Position Essay

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.

The social ramifications of raising the driving age are great in their extent. Raising the driving age causes more than just

mere inconvenience. Firstly, families across the nation would be forced to make many changes in order to provide transportation to and from high school. Many adults’ schedules simply do not align with school times and raising the driving age forces high school students to be totally dependent on other means of transportation. While car-pooling and riding the bus are other options, the whole dynamic of transportation to and from school is totally changed if the driving age is raised.
Sports and other extracurricular activities would be forced to change. A national survey conducted in 2012 found that approximately eighty-two percent of teenagers ages twelve to seventeen had been or were at the time involved in at least one extra-curricular activity (Extracurricular Activities: Teens Aged 12-17, n.d.). Many teenagers drive themselves to practices and meetings for various activities. Buses and carpooling are also difficult because of extra-curricular activities’ odd hours and scheduling. Raising the driving age would make it difficult for many teenagers to participate in extracurricular activities.
The final social problem that would be created by raising the legal driving age is that the very concepts of independence and responsibility would change in a dramatic way for the youth of America.

An article written in 2016 by Chittom, Lynn-nore, and Finley mentioned this about many critics’ views on the social problems created by raising the legal driving age, “Meanwhile, critics argue that people under age twenty-five are legally allowed to vote, join the military, marry, attend college, and drink alcohol, and so should not be prevented from driving.” Across America, when teenagers reach the age of sixteen or seventeen, they begin their journey towards being an independent and responsible adult. Choices about career, marriage, what and who to vote for, and whether or not to join the armed forces are just a few of the decisions that teenagers are starting to work through (Chittom, Lynn-nore, and Laura Finle, 2016). However, without the privilege of legal driving, many of the steps towards adulthood became confusing and complicated in many ways. Ultimately, raising the driving age lessens the responsibility that comes into play while transitioning into an

adult.
The second reason that the legal driving age should remain the same is that the economic impacts would be extreme and possibly disastrous. Every year, many teens begin searching for a source of income and make their first step into the workforce. Workers under the age of 25 make up around one-fifth of hourly-paid workers. Many teenagers work for minimum wage and do not have large salaries, yet they are learning responsibility and becoming mature adults while learning to provide a modest income. If the legal driving age were to be raised many teenagers would no longer be able to save for college, buy a car, or even pay for normal expenses and activities. The article “Young and out of Work: An Analysis of Teenage Summer Employment, 1972-2012” written by Mixon, Wilson, and Stephenson (2016), describes the importance of employment for teenagers as such:
“For many teenagers, a summer job was a rite of passage. Beyond the earnings gained from summer employment, evidence suggests that summer work may have additional benefits. such as reducing participation in criminal activity (Heller 2014); reducing behavior such as drug or alcohol use, fighting, and damaging others’ property (Sum, Trubskyy, and McHugh 2013); and improving subsequent academic achievement (Leos-Urbel 2014) (page or para #).
Not only are the earnings important, but young adults also get social benefits from being employed at a younger age.
If the legal driving age is raised, then businesses that rely upon young workers or even cater to young workers would be without employees. Restaurants are an often used example of how many some sectors of business rely heavily upon minimum wage workers and people entering the workforce (Mixon Jr., J. Wilson, and E. Frank Stephenson, 2016). However, more than just one sector of the economy would be affected by an increase in the legal driving age.
Without the independent young adults, a whole segment of the workforce would no longer exist, except on a very small level. This could be devastating to the economy in general. Without transportation to and from the workplace many eager teenagers would be forced to wait until later in life to get a job and starting earning and saving money. According to “Young and out of Work: An Analysis of Teenage Summer Employment, 1972-2012,” (2016) teenage labor markets profoundly affect the future economy. So overall, raising the driving age would prevent many teenagers from having any major source of income, it would take away many current and prospective young employees from business, and it would have an extremely negative affect on the economy.
Though one of the main arguments for raising the legal driving age is that being older will make novice drivers better at driving, raising the driving age does not the increase the amount of experience new driver has. Novice drivers are novice drivers, regardless of age. Novice drivers tend to overestimate their driving skills no matter the age. Also, novice drivers tend to make faulty and incomplete evaluations of what is happening out on the road. Drivers without much experience are not as well prepared to face challenging scenarios on the road (Yao1, Qimin, John1 Wagner, Kim2 Alexander, and Philip2 Pidgeon, 2013). However, advocates for raising the legal driving age argue that the reason young, novice drivers make novice mistakes is that the brain in teenagers is still developing. This may be true on some small level, however there are differences in how different genders respond to difficult and risky driving experiences (Montgomery, Jade, Kristofer D. Kusano, and Hampton C. Gabler, 2014). So, what can ultimately be expected if the driving age is raised, is a shift of the problem from one age group to another. This is because the problems among young, novice drivers are inexperience, lack of responsibility, and lack of training.
The final problem about raising the driving age is that doing so does not increase the level of responsibility among new drivers. According to “Age and Gender Differences in Time to Collision at Braking from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study” (2014), “Younger drivers are also more prone to distracting behaviors such as cell phone use while driving, which decreases their awareness of the behavior of a lead vehicle.” Raising the driving age does not teach new drivers about the dangers of driving and it does not create any more sensitivity towards safety. Also, according to “Counterpoint: Allow Local Governments to Set the Minimum Driving Age,”(2016) “Minimum age regulations deprive some deserving people of the opportunity to operate a car at an earlier age, while allowing irresponsible people to do so at a later age.” Because age does not correlate with responsibility, experience and training are the keys to solving the problems related to young drivers.
The alternatives to raising the driving age would be far more effective and cause much less damage socially and economically.

There are many options other than raising the minimum age that are very effective and less damaging; such as, an increase in the use of graduated licensing systems, using driving simulators to teach novice drivers, and allowing states to set their own minimum age for different areas. Increasing driver’s education requirements while adding in new teaching methods is an excellent alternative to raising the driving age. Along with those additions, the learner’s permit and restricted licenses could be given more requirements to make sure that the problem of experience is addressed. In their article “Minimum Driving Age: An Overview” (2016) Chittom, Lynn-nore, and Laura Finley point out that, “In August 2006, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported that statistics for the state of California since the implementation of graduated licensing laws showed a 27 percent drop in late-night crashes and a 38 percent drop in crashes involving teen passengers.” Also, according to “Assessment of an Automotive Driving Simulator to Educate Novice Drivers, (2013) ”Transportation system simulators, such as aerospace, automotive, and rail, have been used effectively over several decades in support of operator training and research

studies.”
In summary, sixteen should remain the legal driving age in most states and areas because; the economic burden would be extremely large and the problems experience, responsibility, training, and safety awareness would not be adequately solved by simply rising the legal driving age. Also, the alternative would cause less drastic damage to society and the economy, while being more effective at solving the real issues.