Teens and Discrimination Essay Example

Teenagers are discriminated against due to their ages. It seems that laws and privileges are changed each time a teen or a small group of teens does some irresponsible or immature act. All teenagers are then put into the same category—all teens are pigeonholed into a stereotypical class of immature, irresponsible and careless group and that isn’t right. The age for driving unrestricted and with full privileges has been changed from 17 to 18. This is due to the statistics showing teens are more likely to engage in reckless behavior causing death. The state of New Jersey has decided to put UAL decals on our cars so that we can be easily identified. This is nothing more than discrimination. Senior citizens rank second most likely to create a car crash—however they do not have a tag identifying them on the roads. Research also shows that in the next twenty years the number of elderly drivers (over 70) is predicted to triple in the USA. Those drivers over age 65 face-increased risk of being in an auto accident. At the age of 75, drivers fatality risk increases dramatically caused by three specific behaviors of elderly—poor judgment in making left hand turns, drifting within traffic lanes and decreased ability to change behaving in response to unexpected or rapidly changing situations. Seems that the elderly fit into a stereotypical group as well? They could also be called reckless and dangerous drivers as a whole group.

Drunk drivers are statistically male aged 21-34 (about 59%) and usually involved in weekend accidents. One study showed that 12% of intoxicated drivers involved in fatal crashes had at least 1 DWI conviction within the past 3 years. So, statistically there are other age groups that show an increased propensity to be involved in fatal car crashes but they still have full use of their driving privileges and no tags pointing them out to the police.

Another area where age discrimination against teens is evident is the legal drinking age.