The legal driving age should not be raised to 18. As someone who drives several lessons and exercises every week, a car is an incredible asset. I think the age of drivers should not be raised to 18. Tanis Herwig agrees that it should not be increased to 18, saying: “Students must be able to learn to drive and have their driver`s license when they graduate so that they do not depend on their parents.” Michele Fochtman also agrees, saying, “Students need driving experience.” Although their claim is true and teenagers are irresponsible when driving for the first time, even at the age of 18, they will still be irresponsible because they are new drivers and do not understand the dangers of the road. When they start at 16, they have time to mature and become responsible drivers who can understand the dangers of the road when they graduate from high school. Help your teen learn to recognize potential safety issues while driving. Whether you are in favour of raising the driving age or think that the current structure of society should remain the same, we can all agree that training is first and foremost necessary. When an untrained driver of any age gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, this action increases the risk to everyone else on the road. The problem is often a lack of experience rather than a problem of maturity or awareness. Let`s go back to the idea of raising the age: does an 18-year-old drive better than a 16-year-old? Sure, you can say they`re more mature, but is that really related to their ability to drive? Yes, a big part of driving is about being aware of your own safety and the safety of other drivers, but it`s also about getting used to how a vehicle works. And who says most 16-year-olds can`t be careful anyway? And would two more years to mature make a big difference for those who aren`t so careful? The age at which teens can get their apprenticeship permits and multi-level licensing laws vary from state to state. Be sure to check your local laws to find out when your teen can start driving. But Angelica Johnston disagrees, saying: “Young people over 16 are very irresponsible when driving.” 4.
This would prevent them from learning the responsibilities of owning a vehicle. The idea of getting behind the wheel is very exciting for most new drivers, but the responsibility of owning a vehicle is a necessary part of the experience. Raising the driving age would prevent some young people from learning the responsibility of budgeting fuel costs on their way to school and work. You would also miss the experience of applying for an insurance policy or being added to the parent/guardian. There are even lessons on vehicle maintenance to consider, which would not always be taken as seriously because there is less independence. Eighteen is the official driving age in Georgia. Then you are entitled to your full licence (as long as you have not committed any major traffic violations in the last 12 months). 4. This could reduce the cost of auto insurance for families. When teenage drivers are added to their parents` auto insurance, the price of a policy usually skyrockets. The average annual rate for a teen driver in the U.S.
is $2,267 as of 2017. Even adding a driver to an existing policy increases the cost of covering your vehicles by more than $600. By increasing the driving age, parents could demonstrate that their child is a safe driver and get additional discounts to reduce this financial impact. Whether or not the legal driving age should be raised is certainly a useful debate. It`s hard to say for sure, but my position would be that age should be left alone. While there are several benefits to a family if another driver can run errands, teenage drivers also have a higher risk of crash or injury than any other demographic. There are particular challenges that young people face behind the wheel because they usually have no driving experience either. 7. This would still leave a patchwork of confusing driving laws.
U.S. states have the power to regulate the age of driving within their borders. Even if every legislature decided to add requirements that prevent 16-year-olds from getting behind the wheel, there would still be differences in state laws that teenage drivers would encounter that could get them in trouble if they weren`t aware of the change. The only wish to really see the full benefits of this idea would be for the federal government to initiate some form of change on a national scale. Given that the structure of government makes this outcome difficult, we may never see all the vital benefits we could achieve by implementing this idea. 7. It would mature the physiology of a teenager. Science shows us that the human brain tends to be underdeveloped and volatile in adolescence. This is one of the reasons why children this age tend to be impulsively and emotionally unstable and not predict the consequences of their actions.
Since all of these skills are essential to the driving process, increasing the driving age would allow young people to mature physically enough to eventually become better drivers. Essentially, driving teaches you the important lesson that with increasing freedom comes more responsibility. But many people think that this approach to baptism of fire comes at a price that is simply too high. Because let`s face it, none of us were so responsible when we were 16 or 17. The Teen and Adult Driver Liability Act introduced a tiered driver`s license program in the state of Georgia. As a result, younger drivers gain freedom as they get older and become more experienced behind the wheel. Here`s a look at the driving age in Georgia. In my case, in retrospect, it was a beautiful experience that my father taught me how to drive, even though I wanted nothing more than to tear the sidewalk by myself. But aside from the sentimental value of these experiences, I think having a parent present in the first few months of driving can lead to much safer driving habits. Shults R, Williams A.
Graduate Driver`s License Night driving ban and drivers aged 16 or 17 involved in fatal nighttime accidents – United States, 2009-2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65(29):725–730. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6529a1 Whether or not you think the legal driving age should be changed, you have to admit that this is a difficult subject.
