Increasing the Driving Age: Is It Helpful or More Harmful?
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Wbout the driving age and what would happen if it were to be increased.
I was reading the local newspaper and I came across an interesting article. The article was about increasing the driving age to 17 or 18 years old.
Some states allow teens to drive unsupervised at the age of 14 and a quarter. The majority of all our states require the driving age to be 15 to 16 years old. New Jersey is the only state that they are required to be 17.
What would happen if the states were to actually increase the age?
Sure they may be older and have more common sense, but will that really save lives? In my state if you are under 17 years old, you must complete the drivers education course and go through so many hours of supervised driving with at least 10 of the hours being at night. Then you must complete and pass both a written exam and a driving exam. However, here if the age were increased to 17 or 18, they would not be required to take the education course or go through the hours of supervised driving. At least here they can take the course at 14 and a quarter and gain some experience before getting behind the wheel unsupervised.
So, does increasing the driving age save lives?
Now, if they were still required to take the course before getting their license then increasing the age would definately be a good thing. Especially since at an older age they would take driving a little more seriously than if they were 15 years old.
There are some good points to the idea of increasing the driving age. However, unless they require those who are 17 or 18 to take a drivers education course prior to being lisenced to drive, they should keep the driving age the same as it is today.
Now with that all said, do you think they should change the driving age or keep it the same?
6 Comments
I honestly don’t care since im turning 18 in a day. haha
it just sucks for all of you who aren’t 17 or 18 yet.
I agree, that raising the age without drivers ed courses would be very foolish. I do not think anyone 14 should be driving. That is just not mature enough (in most cases) in my opinion. I think that 16 to 17 with at least a year of pre drivers ed courses would be suffice.
Pardon my outburst but…OMG here they go again!! First one can drive at age 16. Wait approximately 7 years and ‘they’ raise it to 17 years of age. Wait approximately 5 to 7 more years and they lower it back down. Then after a few more years, it’s back up. Then down. Then up. Then down again.
I’ve been watching this particular yoyo for the past fifty years…even the arguements are the same. The politicians might as well use a tape recorder (from the very first debate) and play it for everyone to hear…again. And again. And again.
Here’s the bottom line: I don’t care how old the driver is next to me on the road. I just want that driver to be educated in and knowledgeable about the rules of the road. I want that driver to have a sense of responsibility concerning his/her actions and how they can effect those nearby. If our driving education courses are not required for new drivers, then we have only ourselves to blame for the problems that follow. Age is not the problem…I’ve seen some very responsible 14 year olds and some very irresponsible sixty year olds.
Oops…by the way…your article was excellent and extremely informative. Great job!
what in the world im fifteen and i live in the state of virginia and you have to be 16 and 3 months for your license which is very reasonable they should make it like that everywhere but 14 is kinda young but come on i need to go to work i would like to make plans on myself and not my mom i just think obama should make it the age of 16 and 3 months with passing drivers ed and at least 45 hours of driving supervised 10 at night i mean come on 100 hours thats ridiculous but great article good job!!!!!!!!!!!
wth??????????????????????????????????this is a big no no we need to get back and forth from school work and much more obama is the enemy if he changes the driving age