Should the driving age be raised to 18? Alarmed by car accidents involving teenagers, a number of states are considering raising the age for getting a license.
YES
On teenage boys from Chicago went out for a late-night drive and
had a terrible accident. The car spun out of control and struck several
objects, including a giant light pole. Two of the boys--a 16-year-old
and a 17-year-old--were killed. The driver of the car was just 16.
After this tragic accident, thousands of people began asking what
could be done to prevent this from happening again.
The answer is raising the driving age. That's why I introduced
legislation to raise the driving age in Illinois from 16 to 18. I
realize this idea is controversial, but I could not stand by and watch
one more young person die because he or she was not quite ready to be
behind the wheel.
All 50 states prohibit pro·hib·it
tr.v. pro·hib·it·ed, pro·hib·it·ing, pro·hib·its
1. To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. See Synonyms at forbid.
2. 16-year-olds from drinking alcohol, buying
cigarettes, and purchasing handguns. Yet somehow most states are willing
to put them in charge of a car, which could potentially be a deadly
weapon deadly weapon n. any weapon which can kill. This includes not only weapons which are intended to do harm like a gun or knife, but also blunt instruments like clubs, baseball bats, monkey wrenches, an automobile or any object which actually causes death. .
Between 1995 and 2004, there were 30,917 fatalities in accidents
that involved 15-to-17-year-old drivers, according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.
2. In keeping with: according to instructions.
3. a study by the AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association.
(Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. Foundation for Traffic Safety. About a third of those deaths were the
teen drivers themselves. The rest were pedestrians, passengers, and
people in cars that teenage drivers struck.
As an Illinois lawmaker, I cannot sit back and watch more innocent
lives be claimed because of lack of experience. Raising the driving age
may seem burdensome to parents and busy teens, but we have to remember
that this is a proposal about safety, not convenience.
--Representative John D'Amico - For the mobster, see Jackie 'Nose' D'Amico
John David D'Amico (September 21, 1937-May 29, 2005) was a National Hockey League (NHL) linesman and later supervisor of officials. Democrat, Illinois State
Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions:
NO
If your neighbor robs a bank, should you go to jail? No. If your
classmate gets in an accident, should your driver's license Noun 1. driver's license - a license authorizing the bearer to drive a motor vehicle
driver's licence, driving licence, driving license
license, permit, licence - a legal document giving official permission to do something
be
taken away? Of course not. Neither situation is fair. Raising the
driving age will punish all young drivers for the mistakes of a few of
their peers.
In this country we live by the principle of innocent until proven
guilty. Those who want to raise the driving age have labeled teens
guilty before they've gotten in an accident or before they've
even stepped into a car. They believe that just because of your birth
date, you are dangerous and must be punished by having your ability to
drive taken from you.
Those who favor raising the driving age say that statistics show
teenagers are more likely to get into accidents than adults.
What they don't say is that statistics also show that men of
all ages are 77 percent more likely to kill someone while driving than
women. If people want to save lives by raising the driving age, then how
about saving lives by allowing only women to drive?
Except raising the driving age won't save lives. Studies show
that it is inexperience Inexperience
See also Innocence, Naïveté.
Bowes, Major Edward
(1874–1946) originator and master of ceremonies of the Amateur Hour on radio. [Am. , not age, that causes accidents. Raising the
driving age will just create inexperienced in·ex·pe·ri·ence
n.
1. Lack of experience.
2. Lack of the knowledge gained from experience.
in , accident-prone drivers at 18
instead of 16.
Teens need the ability to drive just as much as anyone else--to get
to school, to get to work, to get to sports or band practice, or just to
go out with their friends.
Cars are necessary for mobility in this country. Taking that away
is a large disruption to the lives of teenagers for no good reason.
--Alex Koroknay-Paticz National Youth Rights Association
COPYRIGHT 2006 Scholastic, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
AS an 18 year old driver I do believe that raising the driving will produce the results that most are hoping for, which is a drop in the numbers of teen accidents. If 16 year old have the priveledge of driving taken away from them, then they will find other ways around the law. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Also what should be taken into account is that when our parents were our age, they were just as anxious to drive like we are. Experience is everything. Just like a parent would not want to release their child to the world without some type of experience under their belt, like job and life experiences; one would not want their child on the road withouth some type of driving experience.
Not saying that I am completely for raising the driving age, but if this was to take place there should be other alternatives offered. Alternatives like beling able to havve a permit and practice driving with a well experienced licensed driver or more and better driving classes should be offered in and out of schools!
the bob remix (Member): 18 should be the limit even though im 13 9/16/2009 10:19 PM
After doing my school project I realized that when I'm not fully developed in the brain, hormones in my right temple that control my senses of what to do and 77% of teens get in minor to fatal accidents and I realized how much my family would miss me so i want to wait until I'm 18 teen and so should you and your children so your family will not miss anybody because of an crash or an accident. So buckle up and drive safe it's the law!!!!! :)
The solution is to raise the bar, raise bar to get a license, like that age should be something trivial. And when i mean raise it, i mean RAISE IT!
i agree with Abraham Magana they should raise it.it could save so many lives.
more...
i dont think the age should be higher because when your 18 your almost an adault and will not have any parental guidence and seeing how most 18 year olds are going off to college. The only people they will be driving with are their friends and most people try to impress their friends in college, right? thats why i think the age for driving should not be raised
Bri (Member): Age 14- I Don't Agree 1/21/2010 3:57 AM
I'm sure if we raised our driving age it would save lives at first.Until our lost two years of experience caught up to us.Think about this- not only is it an obvious inconvenience to all the teens just turning 16 and wanting more freedom, but it also takes away responsibility they would've had and will need as they are let out on their own and off to college.If we decide to take away two years of driving experience and hand the keys to children used to depending on their parents and telling them- your on your own here, got you a car, now get a job, I don't want to see you until christmas. Inexperienced teen drivers again but this time with no limit on how late they are out at night, and no where like school to keep them in during the day. Yeah, that's going to solve a lot of problems. Not to sound sarcastic but seriously. Now remember our economy? We'll be causing industrial problems and people losing jobs left and right. Car manufactures, driving instructors, and insurance companies, for two years as we get caught back up. Oh two years, isn't long but if you lost your job right now, would you last two years with no job or extrememly low income? Now we can cause that stress for everyone or we can make sure our teens have the experience they need. Give a GPA limit drivers with better grades are known to be better drivers. Start drivers ed at 14(still getting a permit at 15 of course)and double or triple the hours required of driving.harden the test. Studies have shown its inexperience not age causing our crashers. Why didn't all these complaints come before as well? Shouldn't there have been more speculation the moments we put out that driving age back when we made cars? You want to point fingers at our teens? How about the cars they're being put in? Gorgeous shiny new cars designed to go fast with power engines. Look closer- cars made with cheap metal that gets completely destroyed in any wreck. older cars were made with thick metal and don't go very fast but how many people were killed back then? You won't hear about many fatalties back when cars only went a little faster than you could run or walk. Put a limit on the engine a teen driver can manage with under one-two years of experience,or a wreck labeled with the teen at fault. Have our car manufacturers make our cars durable AND fast. We could do it. But we want the easy way out of putting it on our teens. There are way too many flaws in the arguments of changing our age and too many other ways to try before coming to that conclusion. I firmly disagree.
Stephen Viator (Member): It's what people see it to be. 2/3/2010 3:12 PM
There are a few pros and cona to the law. When we are put behind the wheel at 16 we have more time to learn and to perfect our driving skills. Its not so much our age thatt affects our driving, its our skill and knowledge on how to drive. If we have a person who had gone to Driving Education at age 16 and some one who has gone at age 18, they would know just as much as each other and therefor drive in the same manner of acknowledgment as each other. Its not about the age, its about how much we know, so instead of increasing the age, why not make us take Driver's Education for a longer peroid of time, to get us more prepared for our life to come.
i believe that itshoould stay the same as it is even thought im onlt 14 i beleive that there are other possiblies you can make the driving test harder and a least you must have a premit for a year before stepping behing the wheel experience is everything there is also if they do raise the age i forid but then it will just be 18- 21 year olds or older getting into accidents they are allowed to drink so i say no way leave the age the way it iss now
First and for most for Alex Paticz Youth rights spokesperson, you have compared band and sports practice and convenience of the automobile to a human life. Raising the driving age may effect some drivers who are now driving e. g. (17yrs of age) but it is only temporary until they reach an older age and receive adequate training. (These already drivers will probably be grandfathered in anyway and their privilege not revoked) If the up and coming teenagers never knew about the driving age being 16 then guess what? They wouldn't expect to drive until they were 18. Prolonging a teenager’s life and giving them a chance to live and experience life is key figure. Have you ever heard of public transportation? It is designed to get you pretty close to where you need to go; it saves on gas, cuts down on pollution, wear and tear on a vehicle and cheaper than driving. If by raising the driving age can save lives across the board then why not do it. Are you saying that it is an inconvenience to save a humans life. Look at the statistics and erase everything from the age of 18 on down that had anything to do with teenage driving accidents or deaths. Those are big numbers in terms of saving our young children and giving them an opportunity to make something of their lives instead of having it cut short because they wanted to show off and be cool and drive a car. If you took out the radio, DVD and CD player then probably none of the teenagers would want to drive anyway so why not have them wait until 18 and put them through vigorous training to prepare them for what is out there on the roadways. Several times I had to save my own life avoiding collisions because of other drivers not paying attention to what they were doing (driving a vehicle) Nothing should be so important to where we are risking the lives of an innocent child because of an inconvenience. You're saying that you would rather take a chance (gambling with your child's life) and have your child possibly die as opposed to having them take a bus to band practice or sports practice. (Car pooling works wonders too) Raising the driving age is preserving life not taking away a privilege. By only allowing women to drive is taking away a privilege from male drivers. Raising the driving age is only TEMPORILY keeping teenagers from getting behind the wheel before they are ready. Getting lucky at parallel parking during a driving exam and knowing how to use your hand signals is not preparing you for the open road. It is not only raising the driving age but also making sure that teen’s are properly trained to handle many situations that may arise while driving a vehicle and being on a cell phone involved in a conversation while operating a vehicle is not a good driving habit to have. After having been behind the wheel for almost 30 years I have seen and been in many driving situations that I can tell you from experience as a one time commercial driver if you are not 100% focused on driving and watching the road ahead of you then you are an accident waiting to happen. From your writing and the topics that you expressed concerns about makes me want to ask how old you are and do you have teenage children around the age of 15 or 16?
You seem to be closed minded about the concerns and safety of teenage drivers placing convenience above the life of a human being. My brother was killed less than a quarter mile from our house and he was only 18 years old. If the legal driving age were at least 18 then he would have not been in the position to die and might be still alive today. Is band practice that important? My daughter is turning 18 soon and I am concerned for her ability to handle a vehicle. In today’s day and age people are too quick to jump into a car and think that they are safe from harm just because they are inside of a vehicle. The statistics not only show that the number of deaths and accidents from teenagers 18 and under are very high but it also shows that for some reason teenagers in this age category are either not competent enough to handle a motor vehicle or either they are not mature and responsible enough to operate a vehicle. Why does someone have to be 18 in order to be considered an adult? Are they more mature and responsible as opposed to a 16 year old? Here is what is on the scale, one side means having to wait another two years until you can drive a car and the other side is possibly death. If you did not implement tougher driving and training examinations and only raised the driving age that alone would save so many lives, now add the graduated driving licenses the tougher training and overall preparing teens for the roadways and those numbers will decrease even more so why is it looked upon as taking something away from teens? If you view raising the driving age as taking away or preventing or just plain interpret it as a negative aspect then you can only be a teen driver faced with the possibility of having your driving (PRIVILEGE not a RIGHT) affected by these changes. In closing I have read all of the entries after your assertion and all of them support raising the driving age and these are from what appeared to be young bright intelligent teenagers that have not all reached the driving age. I love it! Kudos to you!
Aviation pilots have to complete many hours in a simulator why don’t automobile drivers have to do something similar? Being out on the open road is not the time and place to find out that you are not prepared. An automobile simulator would take the risk out of this and produce far greater results as opposed to learning on the open roadways.
(Stay alive and wait to drive)
(18)
SAVES LIVES !!!
Kaleb Dylan Milkovich (Member): driving age should not be raiseds to 18, should stay at 16 9/21/2010 12:46 PM
i am a 16 year old teenage guy and i dont think that the driving age should be raised to 18 becouse i am a really good driver and i have a few friends at age 16 with their licences. A 16 year old should have the privilage to drive just like everyone else since a 16 year old like me and my friends can drive better than most 18 or 21 year old with less experience. So i say to keep the driving age at 16 on not raise it becouse it is not lack of maturity but a lack of experience, raising the age to 18 will not make a diforence becouse they still wont have any experience when they start driving.
Vanessa =) (Member): Please leave it be! 1/13/2011 12:02 AM
Would it really save lives? Aldults are also capable of being in fatal car accidents. Have you taken into account drunk driver accidents? You get the privlege to drink when your 18 and I've heard of way more accidents by people that are intoxicated rather than young drivers. My friends mom almost got killed by a drunk driver that was well over 16, even over 20. Also I would say my parents are worse drivers than my brother, who is practically pro. Sure there are some teens that make stupid descisions and just back into cars but also aldults do that to and they've been driving for countless years. My mom has been in tons of accidents and my dad's gotten tickets but my brother at 16 has never gotten either. That's generalizing people by age. This is like judging people by their looks or ethnics. Do we want to go back to giving people that have brains, hearts, and souls lesser privleges?
less...
|
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion