Should the Driving Age Be Raised? | Teen Ink

Should the Driving Age Be Raised?

April 26, 2014
By Caitibug SILVER, Powell, Tennessee
Caitibug SILVER, Powell, Tennessee
7 articles 0 photos 10 comments

As we all know, in the United States of America, the legal driving age is sixteen. However, sixteen may be too young to receive your driver's license.


In your teenage years, you are still a minor, and therefore you can not do everything you want. But, by the time you turn sixteen, you can receive your driver's license. At sixteen, you are still young and irresponsible to drive a car.


Since teenagers generally aren't the greatest drivers in the world (not all—there are exceptions, of course), most of the car accidents are due to teenage drivers. Car wrecks are the number one cause of death for teenagers. The crash rate for drivers ages sixteen to nineteen is four times higher than for drivers ages twenty five to sixty nine.


Therefore people who are older and more experienced are generally better drivers. If the US increase the driving age a couple of more years, the US will actually be saving lives. However, not all agree.


Most teenagers, quite understandably, do not agree at all. They had waited “so long” to receive their driver's license at sixteen, and by the time they finally do, they want to jump on the road immediately. They wouldn't want to wait even longer.



Some parents disagree also. They say,”By the time they turn sixteen, they deserve to have their driver's license. We don't want to chauffeur them to school events, their friends' houses, soccer games, and so on as we have been for the past sixteen years. They should drive themselves to places now; we don't want them to be even more dependent.”


On the other hand, there are quite a few people who do agree. Certain people are often tired of sharing the road with irresponsible teenage drivers. Not only that, most of the car crashes are due to teenage drivers.


I personally think that the US should raise the driving age to eighteen. I think that just adding two more years of driving practice, they will be better, safer, more experienced drivers.


The author's comments:
As I looked around me and the world, I noticed that teenage drivers aren't all that great drivers. So, I decided to write to an article on my opinion on the teen driving age.

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