Should the legal Driving age be lowered to 14?

Question

please be specific about explaining your reason

Answer 1

YES i am 13 and i drove this old car we had down the street it was so fun i got everything right  also why should anybody say that 18yr olds are better than 14yr olds because learning to drive a car is the same it doesnt matter what age you are also i need freedom  and i dont get it not being able to drive !!!

Answer 2

Heck no!!! 14 is way too young to be driving. In fact 16 is not much better. I think teens should get learners at 16 and make them wait until their 18 to get the license so they will have more driving experience.

Answer 3

No...Driving takes maybe 5-10% physical effort...I mean, come on...A hand on the wheel, foot on the pedal...Anybody can learn how to do that, right?..But driving demands 100% mental focus...The driver is the onboard computer that controls this machine that can weigh between 2000 and 6000 lbs or more and have an engine with between 100 and 300+ horsepower under the hood and is capable of speeds in excess of 100 mph...The key mental ingredients are experience, judgment, discipline and situation awareness. They are a driver's best bet for being able to die of natural causes at a very old age at home in bed.

Answer 4

No because at 14 people are still too immature to drive a car. In fact 16 is quite young in America.

Over in Britain we have seen tighter laws on people driving ranging raising the legal age to 18  (17 originally) to having police men sit in back if you're seen as incompetent (e.g. crashed your car under a month after passing).Oh and by the way that whole thing in America about it being your right to drive a car is c**p.

Answer 5

No....................

MARCH 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 (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 6

Driving is a privilege, not a right. That's the first point. You have to earn that privilege.

Just being able to turn the key, push that pedal and steer does not make you a driver - any fool can do that. It's why they invented Dodgems and Bumper cars.

I dare say that some kids can drive sensibly. But it is a known fact that life teaches hard lessons and as you get older, you get wiser and you can make better decisions - like NOT to drive 100 miles an hour just because the dial says it can go that fast.....

Even 18 is still young - but you have to make a decision at some point because people need transportation. Someone else has already pointed out that one of the major causes of teenage death is by car accident.

Its not that a younger person can't drive sensibly, its just that they don't. Its that simple. For whatever reason - peer pressure or just plain old showing-off in Dad's Camaro, kids forget that they are in charge of a one ton killing machine and the slightest mistake can have them and others dead in a second.

I used to drive like a looney at times - How fast can this car go? Can I do a hand-brake turn like on the movies? What if I take this hump-back bridge at speed? I'm fine, I've only had 2 beers..... I was stupid, I'll admit it. But I was also very lucky. Don't always count on luck being with you. The statistics prove that usually, Luck is with someone else and they are across town.

As you get older and have more to lose, you tend to think more about what the consequences may be. Drive like a fool, and paralize some poor kid in the process and you could be facing jail time, protracted legal battles and huge settlements. That can ruin your life - you can lose your job, your house and your family. That makes you think.....

What are the consequences to a 14 year old? They might have their XBox taken away for a month. Big whoop-di-doo! No consquences makes for poor decisions.

One other thing that scares me about this is that the insurance for a 14 year old would be extortionate. Not many 14 year olds can afford insurance rates which, I expect, would be into the $1000 of dollars per year. So either Mom and Dad pick up the bill (and responsible parents should not be letting their 14 year old drive, period) or the kid will drive without insurance - which means those of us who are sensible and DO pay insurance will have to fork out more for un-insured motorist coverage because of all the 14 year old idiots out there.

Answer 7

If that happens, I'll never drive again.

No way...that is far too young and kids that age cannot possibly accept all the responsibility that comes with driving. I think age 16 is too young. I would support a law that raises the driving age to 18.

EMT

Answer 8

I don't even think 16 year olds should be driving. They are too busy showing off rather than paying attention to the road and what they are doing. A 14 year old on the road would be a hazard to other drivers.

Answer 9

absoloutely not! I have two 14 year olds....one is very responsible and dependable.....the other is very carefree and has had more accidents than I can mention just on his bike .The responsible child already has too much pressure with grades and just being a teen....no need to rush this when you are still learning how to balance all these responsibilities.Besides , read the car accident statistics....more accidents are caused buy senior citizens and teen drivers.Call any insurance company and they can confirm all this.

Answer 10

Absolutely not. 14 year-olds lack the maturity to operate a vehicle. I think they would be too concerned with the radio and putting on lip gloss to focus on the road and others. Insurance companies would have a huge beef with this, as well.

Answer 11

h**l no. if anything i think they should raise it to 18.

I am 19 and didn't get my license until i was 17. After graduating high school i realized, after seeing all the younger kids driving and how they acted, that 16 was to young.

getting your permit when your 17 and license when you are 18 is a good idea.

i forecast a bunch of negative's from all the kids who are under 17, and a bunch of positives from the adults. lets see who wins

A 14yo should never be left to drive alone, half of 14yo's are barley hitting puberty yet, so you think they can handle a responsibility of driving.

Only down side of raising the age would be that parents would have to shuttle their kids around longer.

Answer 12

No

Answer 13

They still have a job to find their way to school/college at 14,let alone negotiate a killing machine.

Answer 14

No.  That's too young to have such a responsibility.

Answer 15

No! Most fatalities are caused by 16-20 year olds! Most 16 year olds are immature and nearly ALL are inexperienced! It's a well know fact that kids think they're invincible! ;-)=

Answer 16

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 17

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! they will try to turn interstates into their own video game, then wonder why they die in real life but not when they tried it on a video game

Answer 18

No!!....simply put...kids that age don't have the capacity..or the maturity level for that kind of responsibility.....you may think I'm full of it......but..that's the truth.

I don't particularly think a lot of 16 year olds do either..but that's the age the law decided someone was old enough.

Answer 19

Driving at fourteen?? Oh no. I am sixteen turning seventeen in June and I know for a fact if someone let be behind the wheel when I was that young it would have been bad. I personally dont think that most kids would be focused and mature enough to drive safely then.

Answer 20

at the age of 14 you are immature and not fully aware of the dangers posed by driving....and you are just the same when you are 16....you are easily impressionable and you think you're the king of the road.....and of course YOU ARE NOT! the legal age for driving should be the same as the legal age for drinking and smoking!

Answer 21

No... thats way to young. I believe the driving age should be raised to the age of 18. I believe if your not old enough to by cigarettes your not old enough to be behind the wheel of motor vehicle.

Answer 22

absolutely NO...

i think 14 too young..

some of them are not mature enough..

will cause a lot of accident..

Answer 23

definitely not.