Legal Driving Age

In recent years, many laws have been proposed in favor of delaying the legal driving age to eighteen years old. The legal driving age in the United States is currently 16 years of age. There are several reasons why the legal driving age should remain at sixteen years old. Some of these reasons the majority of sixteen year olds are mature enough to handle the responsibility of driving, important to have several years of experience for driving at home prior to them going off to college, and many laws have already been passed to help sixteen year olds learn how to drive responsibly and safely. The legal driving age in the United States needs to stay at the age of sixteen years old.

Supporters of postponing the driving age to eighteen years old argue that "teenage drivers are four times more likely to experience a motor vehicle collision than their older driving counterparts" ("Teenage Drunk Driving). It is true that sixteen year olds have a much higher rate of accidents in their first year of driving than any other age group; however changing the driving age will only change the statistics against eighteen year olds. If the law is changed, eighteen year olds will simply substitute the first year driving statistics for sixteen year olds. The same amount of crashes will still occur, only the age will differ. All first year drivers need time to practice driving skills or there will never be time to learn.

Teenagers are often blamed for many of the drinking and driving incidences that occur on the road. However, this is invalid information. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took note that only "[23%] of teenage drivers in fatal car wrecks possessed a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of .08" ("Teenage Drunk Driving"). Out of the number of teenage car wrecks, only a fraction of the teenagers were actually drinking. Teenage drinking and driving is over exaggerated because the media sometimes blames teenagers for the accidents that occur on the road. The media also fails to note that from 2005-2007, there has been a decrease in deaths of about 1000 drivers in both the total amount of fatalities and the fatalities caused by drinking and driving ("Drunk Driving Statistics"). It is proven that changes in driving are already being made, for the better.

Attending school on a daily basis would be significantly more difficult if the legal driving age was delayed to eighteen years of age. There are several other inadequate ways to attend school. An example of transportation to school would be, walking or riding a bicycle. However, only a fraction of students are located within walking distance of their schools. Another mean of transportation to attend school is the bus, but it is not the safest way to get to school and riding the bus everyday can cost a fortune. The most reliable and safest way to attend school is driving. More than half the students attending Franklin High School, in Elk Grove, California, are at least sixteen years old, which is the legal driving age in California. Parents sometimes rely on their teenagers to drive their siblings to and from school. If the legal driving age is changed to eighteen years old, teenagers will not be the only ones who will be angry. Parents will be displeased, because they will have to continue to "chauffer" their teenagers for an extra two years ("Raising the Driving Age"). Parents with active students who are involved with sports, or who love to hang out with friends on a daily basis, grow tired of driving their children everywhere. Barbara Blevins, a mother of two children is "tired of driving my teenagers everywhere" she also stated "I cannot wait for my children to receive their driver's license. . . I have been driving them around for too long already" (Blevins).

Withholding the legal driving age will not solve anything as how many accidents will occur in teenage drivers. In order to make a statement on the topic, contact teenage driving organizations through e-mail, or other means of communication. Postponing the driving age is postponing a part of a teenager's life in growing up.

Blevins, Barbara. Personal interview. 25 Apr. 2009. Interview.

"California Teen Driver and the Provisional Permit." Driving Laws. 26 Apr 2009 http://www.drivinglaws.org/teen/calteen.php.

"Drunk Driving Statistics." Alcohol Alert. 26 Apr 2009 http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html.

House, Brad. "Raise Legal Driving Age to 18." Petition Online. 26 Apr 2009 http://www.petitiononline.com/182drive/petition.html.

Oztalay, Melih. "Raising the Driving Age to 18." Search Warp. 25 Sept. 2005. 25 Apr 2009 http://searchwarp.com/swa18549.htm.

"Teenage Drunk Driving Statistics." Accident Attorney. 25 Apr 2009 http://www.accidentattorneys.com/teenage-dui-stats.cfm.