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Driving Age Limit

Have you ever wanted to go somewhere, and you couldn’t get there because you can’t drive and your parents won’t take you? Or do you have to take the smelly bus where the old lady sitting beside you won’t stop crying? This is why we should be able to drive once we turn 14. We shouldn’t have to rely on others to take us everywhere, and we are not too young to drive. People at the age of 14 drive in some countries, yet in others you have to wait until you’re older. Anyways, isn’t a 14 year old driver safer on the road than a 70 year old that can barely see the difference between a table and a chair?

Many children in other countries can drive at the age of 14. In Ethiopia and France, they learn to drive at the age of 14, and in Alberta, Canada 14 is the minimum age to drive. In France, India and some other countries 14 year olds can’t drive real cars, but they can drive farm vehicles and mopeds. This is not a big issue, though, because farm vehicles and mopeds are all

Answer 1

It's not because teens aren't trusted, it's because their brains aren't fully developed.

Here's some interesting information:

Raise the driving age. That radical idea is gaining momentum in the fight to save the lives of teenage drivers - the most dangerous on the USA's roads - and their passengers.

Brain and auto safety experts fear that 16-year-olds, the youngest drivers licensed in most states, are too immature to handle today's cars and roadway risks.

New findings from brain researchers at the National Institutes of Health explain for the first time why efforts to protect the youngest drivers usually fail. The weak link: what's called "the executive branch" of the teen brain - the part that weighs risks, makes judgments and controls impulsive behavior.

Scientists at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., have found that this vital area develops through the teenage years and isn't fully mature until age 25. One 16-year-old's brain might be more developed than another 18-year-old's, just as a younger teen might be taller than an older one. But evidence is mounting that a 16-year-old's brain is generally far less developed than those of teens just a little older.

Answer 2

When I was growing up we did drive around at 14 years of age, not legally but we were trusted more and there was not as much pressure that younger people today are facing.

DECEMBER 2007

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.

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. Graduated licensing laws, which include a three-phase program that allows teen drivers to develop mature driving attitudes and gain experience behind the wheel, have been successful in reducing teen motor vehicle accidents.