Teen Drivers

"Teens think they can text message, carry on a conversation, listen to music and drive to school," said Penny Wells, executive director of Students Against Destructive Decisions. "This can frequently be a recipe for disaster." Recently, the liberty that teens have for driving turned out into dead bodies in flaming cars. Only after six hours of driving, we allow a teen to control an expensive car that can take the life of innocent citizens and even themselves. Also, we allow teens that can easily make non-intellectual decisions when with friends with their lives. If we had a chance to prevent death in teen driving accidents, why won't we do it?

First of all, almost eighty percent of crashes happen because of a distraction from multitasking. Even though most drivers know that multitasking can increase chances of a car accident, many drivers still multitask. Also, teen drivers multitask even more since teens think nothing can happen to them. Almost ninety-three percent of teens do outrageously illogical things behind the wheel, and studies shown that forty-eight percent reported their peers drive after drinking, while fifty-three percent use hand-held games and listening devices or send text messages, and seventy-nine percent sing and dance. Allowing teens behind the wheel is like allowing a five-year old child who has Attention Deficit Disorder to drive.

In addition to multitasking while driving, teens only get about six hours on the road before getting one's license. The necessary amount of time in driving school is not enough, and this can cause more accidents. One may not know how to parallel park correctly, or one may not know how to merge into traffic. Also, many driving instructors believe that it takes about thirty-fifty hours just to perform well in a basic traffic situation. Six hours of driving school is nowhere enough time to prepare one for the dangers of the driving on the road.

Finally, teens act differently while with friends. Even though teens have the restricted license, one still has one or more friends in one's car. Friends normally have a detrimental effect on one's behavior because friends apply peer pressure to one. When the driver has a friend in the car, the driver will try to impress or entertain his friends by speeding, playing music, or talking to them. This will distract the driver and it will increase the chances of an accident. Statistics have shown that if one friend is in the car, the chance of an accident doubles. If two or more friends are in the car, the chance of an accident increases by four or five times! Also, teens will do non-intelligent actions with one's friends because one may think one is "immortal". Because teens cannot think straightly with one's friends, we should not allow them to drive on the road.

In conclusion, teens are not responsible enough to drive at their age. Teens multitask in their cars, causing the chance for accident to increase. One also does not have enough time to practice driving before one goes onto the road. Teens cannot handle a car correctly while friends are in the car. Even though only seven percent of the drivers on the road are teens, teens are responsible for fourteen percent of the fatal crashes.

Sources:
Wikipedia.org