Should 14 Year Olds be Allowed To Drive? (Only Who Say They Shouldn't Be Allowed To Drive)?

Question

I Have A Debate Team Thing And We Had To Answer This Question Why SHOULDN'T They Be Allowed To Drive.

Answer 1

In Alberta Canada, a 14 yr old can obtain a Learner's Licence.

Alberta has a lot of rural area and farms and ranches and this allows younger rural farm/ranch people to drive grain trucks and equipment between fields. This also allows younger people to drive with a legally licenced driver for two years at a younger age, in order to develop proper skills and confidence over a longer period of time. The idea is that by the time these drivers are 16 and pass their Driver's Test, they will have some experience.

I also agree with the other information posted regarding "maturity" and "decision making skills" (frontal brain lobe development governing judgement and decision making isn't done until a person is approximately 18). Personally  I am very saddened at the loss of so many young drivers' lives in crashes, and would prefer the legal driving age to be raised to 18.

Answer 2

Is that a question or are you being redundant. 14 year olds are irresponsible and dangerous.

Answer 3

Who would pay the ridiculously high insurance for you.

Answer 4

ok because it is only their 2nd year being a teenager and their sorta used to the whole teen thing. their emotions are still running high and they have too many raging hormones

Answer 5

Simple...Self control, maturity, discipline and experience...All the mental aspects.

Answer 6

going through puberty, emotional, still children, most are too short.

Answer 7

I am now over age 60.  I got my first legal driver license when I was age 13.  This was in Ohio.  The license restricted me to a 2 wheeler below 5 horsepower.

There was stiff competition to sell mopeds and motor scooters with horsepower like 4.97 4.98 etc.

I believe that if youngster's driving permits strictly keep them to relatively unbusy streets, daylight hours, low speeds, etc. they learn good driving habits, so that a few years later when they allowed to have a more advanced driving permit, they are not totally incompetent at it.

Biggest problem for me back then was commuting to school on the scooter ... many kids not yet old enough, or did not have parent's permission, but they sure wanted to joy ride the vehicles of those who did have permission.

Because we as a society have totally failed at teaching the next generation how to drive responsibly, we keep raising the age limit at which someone is to be allowed to drive.  We have also failed at teaching not do get high on illegal drugs & a bunch of other things.

Answer 8

No. A fourteen year old lacks the self control and mature judgment necessary to make split-second decisions while driving. Most sixteen year olds shouldn't be driving, either.

Answer 9

No because the below would increase.

JANUARY 2008

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.

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

Answer 10

I do not believe that most 14 year olds would have the maturity level to make very responsible drivers...

There was a time in our countries history when children were driving the back country roads at very early ages...when licenses were beginning to be issued it was determined that the age requirements should be a minimum of 16 in order to obtain a license...

The rate of insurance would be so high that no parent would be willing to pay the premiums...

A 14 year old child is not even old enough to hold a job with the exception of babysitting or mowing lawns...that I know of...

I have raised 3 children into their late 20's, early 30's and 2 of them were allowed to get their licenses at age 16....one of them was forced to wait until the age of 18; simply because they were not responsible enough for this type of responsibility...

So to sum this up: I would say; responsibility, cost, danger/risks would be my primary reasons for now wanting to see 14 year olds with a potential to obtain a driver's license.

Answer 11

There are already way too many crappy drivers out there... We don't need more.  We need better driving schools is what we really need.  Ones that last longer than a couple of months.