Do you think the driving age should be rasied to 18? Why?

Question

Im doing an essay..

I am planning on tieing in drunk driving into this essay is that a good idea?

Answer 1

Absolutely NOT

You'll hear the line of how "Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds."  That's a skewed statistic, what else is more likely to cause death in a teenager?  Most 16 year olds don't get cancer, or die from a heart attack.  The argument is used to try and deny teens the privilege of driving.  Most 15 - 20 year olds drive safely and never have any problems.  There is no legitimate argument that raising the driving age will do anything.  Sure the numbers will go down, only because you've changed the input.  Statistically the number of deaths will probably stay the same.

How are you planning on tieing drunk driving into this?  If it's illegal to drink at 16 and you make it illegal to drive at 16, what's to stop the 16 year old from breaking 3 laws; it's still illegal to drink and drive.  All you are doing is punishing the 16 year old that has to drive to his after-school job so he can put food in his families mouth.

No, there is no legitimate reason to punish the teens who follow all the rules, because a few can't or a few get hurt.  You need to ask yourself; what would raising the driving age do to those that aren't getting hurt or dead, the millions of people it would affect?  So, affect thousands or MILLIONS.  Which is better.  

Think of something you enjoy doing, let's say skateboarding.  What would you do if it was decided that skateboarding was to unsafe to play and that no one under 25 could skate.  I mean, after all, there are allot of kids injured riding skateboards every year, think of how many injury free kids we would have.  That's the same argument used to raise the driving age.

So, instead of going at the problem thinking: I'm going to save 4000 teen lives; go at it thinking how are the other million teens going to get to work so they can eat.

Answer 2

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,490 drivers in this age group died in motor vehicle crashes in 2006 and an additional 272,000 were injured.

Drivers age 15- to 20-years old accounted for 12.9 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported crashes.

Twenty-five percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated. In 2002 (latest data available) the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes involving drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 was $40.8 billion, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov ).

Among licensed drivers, young people between the ages of 15 and 20 have the highest rate of fatal crashes relative to other age groups, including the elderly. In fact, the risk of being involved in a fatal crash for teens is three times greater than for drivers age 65 to 69.

Immaturity and lack of driving experience are the two main factors leading to the high crash rate among teens

Answer 3

nope,it should be raised to 21.kids simply dont pay attention when driving,period,and they drive like freakin idiots to boot.

Answer 4

No, if you can go fight for your country at 18 then you should be able to drive an automobile at 16. Plus many areas do not have enough public transportation to move the work force around. I know in NY the working age starts at 14.

Answer 5

No

Answer 6

If the age is raised, they will simply drive without one, and therefore without insurance. This will in turn raise everyone elses expenses to cover uninsured drivers. I think the requirements should be raised..classes mandatory..but the age raised..no.