Preview

Raising the Legal Driving Age Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
722 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Raising the Legal Driving Age Essay Example
Raising the Legal Driving Age from 16 to 18 years old

There is currently a debate occurring in Illinois and several other states regarding the legal age for obtaining a driver’s license. Changing the legal driving age from 16 to 18 years old, following a series of mandated courses, tests, and experience behind the wheel. Some of the primary arguments for doing so revolve around driver and public safety while the arguments for keeping the legal age at its current 16 years of age center on drivers’ rights and the increasing demands within society placed upon teenagers. While the debate is an important one and certainly should be discussed, the argument often turns into a series of statistical debates, supporting each viewpoint without much being achieved. However, it is my belief that the legal age for obtaining a driver’s license in the state of Illinois does not need to be raised. The fact is that there are sufficient existing rules and regulations involving obtaining a driver’s license. Raising the legal age would only cause more discomfort and difficulty for an age group that is, everyday, being given more responsibilities in terms of work, education, and extra-curricular activities. The parties that are pushing for an increase to the legal age limit for obtaining a driver’s license have some important observations and concerns.They cite statistics that indicate teen drivers are on average an at risk age group as far as driving accidents are concerned. These parties state that by elevating the minimum age from 16 to18, would directly decrease the incidence of accidents in this age group. These are certainly valid points that can and should be addressed, however, there are other avenues to impact the teen accident rates without an over aggressive regulatory change to the legal age limit. Many options exist that can impact positive change on the number and incidence rate of teen accidents and unsafe driving habits. Currently, teen drivers in Illinois

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    For sixteen years, teenagers look forward to the day they get the ultimate freedom: driving, but with this freedom there comes risks. Every day another life is lost to teen driving. Along with risking their lives, teenagers are also not mentally prepared to handle the consequences that could come with driving. They are not only putting their life at risk, but the lives of others. No mother or father wants to bury their child, and this would be less likely if the driving age was raised. The legal driving age should be raised to save lives and have more mature drivers on the road.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Did you know that 20% of crashes involve teen drivers? Well, they do and something needs to be done about it. A couple of suggested ideas are that the driving age should be changed to 18, or to have graduated licenses (GDL’s). Instead of waiting until teenagers turn 18, it would be better to have GDL’s so that they have more driving experience, they would have a shorter waiting period than waiting until they are 18, and there would be more checkpoints to see how capable they are to drive. These are all reasons there should be GDL’s.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a recent study, about 50% of teens have admitted they have fallen asleep while driving. This leads people to believe teens are unsafe behind the wheel. Teens are only 8% of the driving population, but they account for 20% of accidents involving cars (Collins and Cortez). Also, parents who are concerned about their child’s safety will argue and say that 3,500 teens were killed in 2008 alone, and car crashes are the number cause of teen death (Painter). They will also argue that fewer and fewer 16-17 year olds are getting their licenses, so we should just push up the age, right…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I have been driving since the age of 16 and so have some of my friends. This time had allowed us to gain experience while under the supervision of our parents. Most of us had never faced an accident, for the exception of one. So now most of us have the privilege of being able to drive confidently while alone and capable of driving safely. Becoming these competent drivers didn’t come from being over 18 but from practice. So raising the legal driving age would be a mistake, all it would do is exchange one set of amateurs at the age of 16 that are under the care and supervision of their parents to amateurs at the age of 18 that are legally adults who are under no supervision but their own and make their own…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The appropriate age for a teenager to obtain a driving permit is 16 years old, however I believe it should be raised to 17 since there is a high rate of teenagers causing accidents. There might be some exceptions why they should keep it at 16 but due to the high rate of teen crashes they should raise the age to 17. Statistics have shown that teenagers have a higher chance of accidents. Teenagers from the ages of 15 to 17 are more likely to cause a car crash for many reasons. While teenagers go out at night and drive around with friends and only have their permit, they are putting other’s people life at risk. The three main reasons why teenagers should be at least the age of 17 to be able to get their permit is because they drive and text,…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raising Driving Age to 18

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The April 22, 2005 newspaper article is headlined, Teenager Dies in Crash, in Knoxville, Tennessee: just another victim of inexperienced teenage driving who adds to the high statistics on casualties resulting from inefficient laws. According to the teen driving statistics that are provided by the insurance companies, 16 year-olds are three times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than individuals who fall within the range of the average age of all drivers. Therefore, I think the legal driving age should be raised to 18. One thing I've found is that it isn't necessarily the age, but that they are inexperienced. The driver's ed classes are also factors. The classes need to emphasis more on driving safely for the rest of your life. Although reckless teenage driving has recently resulted in couple tragic deaths, most teens are mature enough and knowledgeable of safety on the road. Safety and financial problems will get better by raising the legal driving age to 18.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In California and in almost every other state teens are eager to start driving and are excited to get their driver's license whether it’s to drive to the theaters or go to the store to buy some things, teens want the privilege to drive themselves anywhere at anytime they want, but with the freedom comes responsibility too. Each year they are hundreds of car related accidents which can result in death or serious injuries. Out of those hundreds of accidents most involve young drivers around the ages of 15 and 19, because of most accidents are caused or involve a teen or young driver many people believe and would strongly argue that the driving age should be raised but I would strongly argue back that it shouldn’t, it should be kept the way it is but with a little change in…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Driving Privileges

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It is known that the greatest risk of traffic crashes is among teenage drivers. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of deaths for teenagers across the United States. After doing some research on this subject, California Department of Motor Vehicles showed that the traffic accident rates for 16- to…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Insurance Businesses talk about rising the driving age will decrease the number of teenage deaths and crashes but doesn’t mean there won’t be accidents and crashes, besides if the law states that at the age 18 they are considered adults it’s not really teen accidents its considered just accidents. If the state increases the driving our then there will be more driving experience for the teen and hopefully less crashes and the road.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Should the minimum driving age be raised? 15-to-20-year-olds only make up 17% (13.2 million) of the total licensed drivers on the U.S. Teenagers have been involved in many car accidents since 1998. Car crashes among 15-to-20-year-olds have been recorded and studied by Mr. masten and his colleagues. car crashes involving teenagers were really high in 1998; however rules and programs have been applied to teach teens how to be responsible and know how to handle a car before driving by themselves on the streets.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of raising the driving age to prevent traffic accidents is quite the issue. Many different arguments can form when such an idea arises. Virginia laws have teens getting their permit at fifteen and nine months, holding the permit for a minimum of nine months, and not being able to get their licenses until they’re at least sixteen and three months. Raising the driving age from sixteen to eighteen is absolutely preposterous and makes no sense. Young teens need to be able to drive themselves to work, school, and numerous other functions when their parents are unavailable. New drivers and traffic incidents are inevitable; they will happen no matter the age or experience of the driver. College kids are just as much at risk as younger…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you heard about how high the rate of teen mortality has been rising over the last few decades? Indeed, it is a problematic issue that has been ignoring most of the young-drivers' parents. As Anna Quindlen expressed on her article, teen's crashes and deaths are highly common and ignored. Moreover, Quindlen's purpose is to highlight the seriousness of the teens driving issue and how states around the United States handle the issue.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the world today one of the most exciting parts of growing up is getting your driver’s license. Everyone counts on getting their sweet 16 car and license, but is that really the important part? Well yes as all teenagers would say. Even though it comes to losing their life because of inexperience, and immaturity on the road. There are lots of reasons why the driving age should be raised. ”All 50 states prohibit 16-year-olds from drinking alcohol, buying cigarettes, and purchasing handguns. Yet somehow most states are willing to put them in charge of a car, which could potentially be a deadly weapon.”(Amico). Driving is one of the leading causes of death for teenagers, their brain is not fully developed, and with more drivers on the road that is more pollution to the earth.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The consequence of irresponsible driving behavior can be devastating. In 2010, accidents caused by teenage drivers injured 282,000 young people and 2,700 died. Teenagers in the driver's…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    More than 5,000 young people die every year in car crashes and thousands more are injured. Drivers who are 16 years old are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash, as are other drivers. There are two main reasons why teens are at a higher for being in a car crash and lack of driving experience and their tendency to take risks while driving. Teens drive faster and do not control the car as well as more experienced drivers. Their judgment in traffic is often insufficient to avoid a crash. In addition, teens do most of their driving at night, which can be even more difficult. Standard driver's education classes include 30 hours of classroom teaching and 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training. This is not enough time to fully train a new driver. Teen drivers are more like to be influence by peers and other stresses and distractions. This can lead to reckless driving behaviors such as speeding, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and not wearing safety belts. There is no safe amount that you can drink and still drive. Even one drink can influence your driving offences. "Nowadays, drunk driving has become driving while intoxicated, driving while impaired, driving while under the influence, operating while under the influence (impaired, intoxicated, or whatever), and in many states, one can be convicted of DUI even though the police didn't even see you drive." (JMD) It is often too late by…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays