Imagine a regular day just stopping at a gas station to grab a piece of gum, not expecting anything extreme to happen. Suddenly, a car smashes through the window right in front of you. Luckily no one is hurt, but in other similar scenarios others are not as lucky. In addition to irresponsible teenagers, senior citizens are also a large threat to road safety. The only solution to this ongoing problem is to modify the driving test, and create a second driving test.

The average driving age, 18, in America poses many threats to our society. 18 year olds who just began the freedom of independently driving on the roads are far more likely to get in an accident. According to Teen Driving Statistics, teenagers are responsible for an average of 8 percent of crash deaths. Drunk Driving and texting while driving is also far more likely to happen with a teenager at the wheel. The solution is not to raise the driving age, but to strengthen the difficulty of the test. In addition, some drivers come into the test completely unprepared, creating a dangerous scenario for the test supervisor, according to DrivingTests.org . Later in the article, the author explains that 93% of drivers who do not pass the first test and come to take test for the second time will pass. They question whether this is from practicing before the second test, or if the test officials are not paying close enough attention. If 93% of the drives who take the test again pass, this means that only 7% of the drivers that were unprepared for the first test will not pass the second. If it is true that officers are not paying close enough attention, then the idea of raising the driving age will not work. The best solution is to recreate a driving test that will be more challenging, and will keep the best drivers on the road.

The most dangerous drivers on the road are surprisingly senior citizens. Studies show that drivers over 85 get into fatal accidents almost 4 times as often as teens do. Further, Carnegie Mellon study pointed out that accident fatality rates climb after age 65. According to Julie Lee, a vice president of AARP Driver Safety, “Many older drivers haven’t had any kind of refresher course since they took driver’s education when they were 16. Many things have changed since then, roads, vehicles, and themselves as drivers.” The way me must fix this problem is by generating a second driving test around the age of 70. If that is too harsh or inconvenient, you could make the test at that age only apply to drivers at the age of 70 who previously have been in an accident. Another question to this idea is, if these drivers do not pass the senior citizen driving test, then how will they get around? Luckily, there are multiple solutions to this problem as well. In a few years there will be self-driving cars that do not even require you to be awake at the wheel. Another transportation unit that is available is inexpensive taxi services. With second driving test, we can prevent more dangerous drivers from being on the road.

Modifying the standard driving test will lead to much stronger road safety. In addition, creating a second drivers at the age of 70 will prevent recently dangerous drivers from being on the road which will also lead to road safety. These two options alone will strongly benefit our society, and improve a growing problem on our roads.