Raising Driving Age to 18

Research Paper Raising Driving Age to 18 In the 13 July, 2011 USA Today newspaper article by William Van Tassel, manager of AAA’s driver training program, says that, “ Teens do continue to drive distracted even when they recognize the dangers,” According to the teen driving statistics that are provided by the CDC, about 3,000 teens died in auto accidents in 2009 and 350,000 were treated for injuries. For all those reasons, I think the legal driving age should be raised to 18 from 16. One shocking thing I have found is that it is not only because of their teenage age, but that they are inexperienced drivers. In addition, The driver’s ed classes are also effect on teenage driving ways. The classes need to be more strict driving safety. However, bad teenage driving has recently resulted in many tragic deaths; most 16 and 17 years drivers are not mature enough to take decision on the road. All problems can be solved by giving good instructions to all teenagers, buckle up while driving, and the most important thing raising the legal driving age to 18.

I’ve researched about teens driving at the age of 16, and I found out that the deaths aren’t from reckless driving alone, but also the drivers are inexperienced. I was reading the Atlanta Journal and Constitution and the headline stated “Teens need more than crash course in safety”. Driver’s ed classes are the most important thing how teenagers drive; however, in those classes, they mostly teach about how to pass the driving test. For example, I took my driver’s ed class in 2009, in my high school. Their teaching class was 15 days long, but their teaching class on driving car was only 2 days long. This is how I passed my driver’s ed class, yet I did not learn enough from their practice driving. In addition, the book “Crash Proof Your Kids” said, “your advice or approach to a given driving situation may differ from the advice given to your teen by his driver education book or teacher.”(pg 48) To be able to achieve that goal, the teachers and parents should teach the student same about driving. A confident driver is a way better driver than someone who is confused and scared.

One important reason for raising the driving age to the 18 is insurance. It can help them financially since the cost of insurance is cheaper. In December 8, 2000 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Gary Butler said, “55.8 percent of the teens who died in Georgia passenger car crashes from 1996 to 1998 were unrestrained. Tellingly, of those who died in pickup trucks, 76.5 percent weren’t wearing seat belts.” Imagine how many of those lives teens under the age of 18 were. 16 years-old drivers have things they have not gone through yet that could mean their death, if they don’t understand how to drive safely. They must be able decide what is going on around them. When they are driving anywhere, they drive always under pressure of many restrictions. On the other side, not all teenagers are reckless driver, but also some drivers drink and drive.

In the book Alcohol, Young Drivers, and traffic Accidents said, “One of the provinces investigated by Warren……… the underage population. (pg 21) Those all result show that whenever government lowered a drinking age, it directly effected on teenage drivers. Even though teens show maturity, but that is not enough for a good driver, experience is the only key to safe driving. By raising the legal driving age to 18 can help achieve all goals. In this country, by law, people become adults at the age of 18. They are more responsible with themselves, and are more curious with their actions. They are willing to deal with the consequences of what they did. They will be more careful when they drive, which make them confident and safe drivers. All in all, It is required to raise driving age from 16 to 18. It can fix many issues about poor teen drivers.

Meanwhile, we can reduces accident rates and make better statistics that we have today about teens driving. Driving safely is not the only issue that will be accomplished, but also drivers will respect each other by following the laws. Just because of those laws, many extraordinary and good things will happen: people will save their life, people will save more money, less death caused by teen drivers, and the most important all, everyone will have more confident when they drive. I believe this are the only some things that we have to do it.

Citation:

Lary, Copeland. “Most teens still driving while distracted.” USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 July 2011.Jonathan, Shorman, and TODAY USA. “Close calls rattle teen drivers.” USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 13 July 2011.Staff, Joey Ledford, and