Teen JM Driver Dead, this is a headline that we see all too much in newspapers today. So, why do we continue to let these situations happen? I didn't receive my license when I was 16, my parents made me wait until I turned seventeen. My parents made me wait, and I am happy they did. Though it was only one year I felt like I became a smarter and more mature driver because of that. It seemed like there were a lot of people I knew who got into accidents before they were even seventeen. Driving around as a passenger in friend's cars gave me the chance to learn from their mistakes. Today, I would like to persuade you that the legal driving age should be changed to 18 years old. By changing the legal driving age to 18, you will be able to control accident and death rates among teenage drivers. We need to identify these problems, and find the best solution for them. First, you will need to know what physical and mental process goes into driving. Due to less driving experience, it is impossible for sixteen year olds to read and react to situations faced on the road. A driving permit can be obtained after the age of fifteen. One year is given to practice the skills needed to operate motor vehicles. On average a student only gets in 20 to 65 hours of driving. Americans spend an average of 3 to 11 hours a day in a vehicle. This practice time is very miniscule to get the experience you need for everyday driving situations. Why does Tiger Woods drive the ball 350 yards, and why did Barry Bonds break the all time Home Run Record because of their perfect swing through thousands of repetitions to sharpen their muscle memory. Muscle memory is movements the body does automatically sometimes without thought. It can be used for brushing your teeth, riding a bike, playing sports, or tying your shoes. Muscle memory is also used for driving a vehicle. When faced with danger in a vehicle and your adrenaline kicks in, your muscle memory is what help you make split second decisions. Muscle
memory can only be formed through hundreds of thousands of repetitions. Practice makes perfect otherwise, without hundreds of repetitions driving, your muscle memory cannot be trained properly at such a young age from lack of practice. Now that you know the physical and mental demand that driving requires, let's see some facts on exactly how bad teen driving is.
The number of deaths and accidents among teens is a nationwide problem. According to the Insurance institute for highway safety. More than 5,000 teens die in motor vehicle accidents a year. Auto accidents cause more deaths per year then cancer and all other diseases combined, this is the leading cause of teenage death. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a 16 year old driver is more than 20 times likely to have a motor vehicle accident than any other licensed driver. The chance of an accident is high enough, is there any reason for it to be 20 times higher? Also from the AAP, teens are more likely than drivers were only a few years more experience to speed, run red lights, make illegal turns, drive or be with an intoxicated driver. This means we are not just fatal discussing accidents, but tickets and citations as well. Sixteen and seventeen year olds only make up 7% of the driving community, but account for more than 15% of accidents. A 16 year old is 3 times more likely to get in an accident than drivers of any other age. Almost 3500 people died in 2005, ages ranging from 16-20, and with each additional passenger in the car the number of deaths increases. You see the problems that have come from teen driving, what we can realistically do to fix them. We need to work towards having the legal age to receive a license to 18 years old. This may be a hardship for many families to transition to. Teens need rides to school and rides to work. Without driving privileges, teens would have a hard time finding jobs. A permit can be made available specifically for teens to go to and from work and school. A strict punishment has
to be put in place for non sanction trip. Parents feel that receiving their license at 18 will make them legal adults and they will not obey them. My answer to that is by then, your child should be mature enough to listen to you, or they are not mature enough to drive a car. Irving Slosberg, a Florida representative, lost his 14 year old daughter in a teen driving accident. When he proposed a law to higher the age he was laughed at by other law makers. I do not see what is so funny when a man sees a problem and has experienced the results of it, and is trying to do his job to protect citizen. The only way we can defend lives is by choosing responsible lawmakers to represent us not just in this case, but in every way. Find out who is for heightening the driving age, and support them, to help defend your teens, friends, or even yourself. Last off if parents are good drivers and set a good example, and then the kids should be able to follow that example and be good driver. Yes, parents can tell their teen no they have to wait, like my parents did, but not many parents want to do that. With the changing of the age it would be mandatory for those teens to wait the extra couple of years. In 32 states parents have the right to request that the Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the license of their minor child. But that clearly hasn't helped that much, so the only thing to do is change the age limit. Driving and all modes of transportation are very high risk as it is. We should strive towards doing the most to protect ourselves, families, and others. No doubt in my mind that there are many teen drivers that are safer on the road then adults, but as a whole the statistics do not lie. Though I feel 16 and 17 year olds should have some driving privileges, they should not be given a license until they are 18 years old. This will give the driver more time to practice their driving skills, and it will give them more time to learn the rules of the road. Also, it will give the drivers parents more time to practice with them. In conclusion, I hope that these statistics have opened your eyes to the way teens are driving. You should support the change of age for driver's
licenses. Changing the age could nothing but save time, money, and lives.