Age Limitations on Driving by Shelby Meaders

Let me be honest with you, I am not the best driver in the world. As a seventeen year old girl in this society-quite frankly I am probably not the worst one out there. Most teenagers are reckless drivers, as a matter of fact. Take into consideration that teenagers usually LOVE to and tend to text, talk, eat, and do whatever the hell they wish to while driving. I am not saying that adults don’t do this also-but teenagers are more likely to commit to such actions. Nevertheless, teenagers also believe that everything is “A OK” if they participate in underage drinking and then eventually drive home. To put this pretty bluntly- teenagers aren’t so responsible. I am not saying that it is every 13-19 year old that is irresponsible, but the percentage is increasing significantly.  In the United States during 2005, 4,544 teens ages 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes. In the same year, nearly 400,000 motor vehicle occupants in this age group sustained nonfatal injuries that required treatment in an emergency department. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Now what does this tell you about the youth in this generation? That we tend to involve ourselves in frequent car accidents? Correct. Our ability to have a relatively low attention span combined with our keyboard Blackberries will without a doubt-make us wreck. Moreover, compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use. In 2005, 10% of high school students reported they rarely or never wear seat belts when riding with someone else. (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)

To promote safer driving- and to reduce the number of accidents/deaths per year in America- I believe the driving age should be increased. Every state is relatively different. Some states have a standard of 14 years-some are 15, 16, or even 17. In Florida, the age to obtain your learner’s permit is 15 years of age and you can receive your license at sixteen after passing a driver’s test or completing Driver’s Ed. All fifty states should agree on one standard age to obtain one’s learner’s permit and then reach a conclusion on just one age to obtain one’s actual license. Increasing the driving age would save lives.  

This entry was posted on 17. June 2009 at 21:16 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.