Teenage Driving Essay

Why Driving age should be raised from 16 to 18 years old

It is my strong believe that the age at which a person should start driving must be raised form 16 to 18 years old. This has a meaning that for anyone to earn their driving license, they must be eighteen years and above. It gets very hard when I remember of two of my best friends who died to car accident three years ago. Both of them were sixteen years old. According to investigations, they were speeding down the country road before falling into a fatal accident. They were ejected through the windshield (Johnston, 40 ). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that the leading causes of teenage fatalities are teenage driver accidents. To be precise on the age, the range was found to be between the 15 and 19. To make the situation worse, even at the age of 19, they are still careless, what of 16?

Johnston (50) observes that the most frequent causes of teenage car accidents are: unsafe passing methods, driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless fast driving. Most of the teenagers regardless of their sex, at the age of 16 are normally careless. There is a notion that it is only boys who are reckless while driving. It is true that at times boys may become more aggressive but many girls are ignorant as to what is happening while driving. You find a lot of girls at that age texting, making phone calls or even wearing make-ups while driving. Talking of boys, they make arrogant drivers; they play around while speeding. The teenage car accidents are very independent of gender but heavily dependent on the attitudes of the teenagers.

Some teenagers present arguments that waiting until they get eighteen will put restrictions on weekends and after school activities. This is a vague argument just to act a defense mechanism. Obtaining a license at eighteen can not limit anyone from carrying on with their chores. There are many students who get dropped and picked by parents or some other people, like friends, other relatives and team mates who are mature and responsible enough to drive. Many colleges also provide transportation for students which could also help those who enroll under the age of eighteen (Johnston, 36). This could be a far much cheaper option serving as an added advantage over the high fluctuating fuel prices. The need to prevent those under the age of 18 from driving has even seen efforts made by many universities to prohibit all freshmen from having their vehicles on campus.

Still there are those who are of the opinion that however how long you wait to get your driving license, you will still be new on the road when you first get it. There are many reliable studies that have clearly demonstrated that ones reflexes improve as they age. Hence at eighteen one will have better rates of reaction to vehicles slamming on the brakes as compared to any age lower than that.

The young people have increasingly exhibited that they are too irresponsible to drive cars (Trapp, 79). A lot of money is spent annually cleaning up accident scenes caused by reckless teenagers and drunkards. To me this many is wasted since could have been used to provide constructive services to the citizens in the absence of this accident. Everybody will however agree with me that the only way we can ensure that such avoid accidents become permanent absentees of our roads and save money and time is by rising the age at which youngsters can be issued with driving licenses and be allowed to drive on our roads. Such an issue youngsters shouldn’t be issued with driving licensees as if it is their right. Procession of a driving license is a privilege dangerous to this young people. Therefore, it will be wise to rise the age at which they are issued with these licenses so that only mature people are allowed to drive on our roads

Also the young people are too immature to drive on our roads. The young minds of the youngster are incapable of linking consequences and their causes. For example, an accident may be caused by over speeding or poor concentration during driving, but such teenager may look at it as just another accident that was inevitable. It is common knowledge that youngsters are arrogant and recognize no boundaries to their thrill seeking tendencies, a product of poor or immature world view. Actually, it can be concluded that young stars are incapable of consistent sound though concerning their safety and that of other (Trapp, 79). The reduction in the number of accident caused by young adults compared to that caused by teenagers can attest to this. This phenomenon can also be blamed on the quick training given to those seeking to gain driving licensees and the increased incidences of young people owning cars.

Teenagers have high confidence greater than their common sense. They strive for opportunities in which they can take advantage of something. They feel that the take a bull by its horns -in this case the road by it horns. Young boy can easily decide to react like they are very experienced, or create and impression of experience to please pears and girls with out take into consideration the probable out come of their actions (Trapp, 79). Their activities results it fatal accidents costing some of them lives and lives of friends and other motorists, cyclists or pedestrians.