The Issue of Increasing the Minimum Age for a Driving License - Essay Example

The Argument In most countries, the driver’s license is issued by an individual and not the federal government (Jacobs 23). This is because of the inception of one of the political concepts known as federalism. Therefore, drivers usually obtain their license from their residential states whereby the issuance of the license is subject to the age requirements. However, a state has the ability to suspend the driving privilege of individuals who violate the traffic regulations. This paper will discuss the issue of increasing the minimum age for a driving license from 16 to 17 in all states. On the one hand, it is rather necessary to consider increasing the minimum age of a driving license holder from 16 to 17. This is because this action can significantly reduce the number of accidents in the roads. According to various researchers, numerous accidents are attributed by the young drivers on the roads. This is a clear indication that raising the minimum age of obtaining a driving license to 17 years would immensely lead to a reduction of the road accidents (Jacobs 29). In fact, the young drivers are usually inexperienced and under-developed cognitively hence, as teenagers they have a higher probability of being involved in automobile accidents. These young drivers should also be involved in more hours of practice with the licensed drivers in order to prevent the countless deaths that are caused by accidents. From a mathematical perspective, the raise in the minimum age would amount to less road users. This clearly asserts that the numerous road accidents will also be decreased substantially. According to various psychologists, the mindset of most young drivers is not fully mature until when the individual hits the 20’s. Thus, increasing the minimum age of the drivers can be considered as a vast step in improving road safety. Statistics assert that most of the road users in numerous countries are approximately ages 16 to 24 (Jacobs 32). The lack of experience and responsibility in this age group has led to a radical change in road transportation. This is because most of these individuals are faced with the dangers of reckless driving, drinking under the influence of drugs among other conditions. Most of the individuals in this age group are victims of drug abuse, which affects road safety. For example, when such individuals drive under the influence of drugs, there is a high probability that they can cause accidents. This endangers the lives of other innocent road users including the pedestrians and other motorists who also use road transport. Therefore, an increase in the minimum age of legally obtaining a driving license is the best solution in resolving the high number of road accidents (Jacobs 42). The young drivers are usually involved in irresponsible driving since they are not concerned about the road safety of under individuals. In addition, the radical change in the bodies of the teenagers results into distractions whereby the teenager finds it rather difficult to concentrate on one task (Jacobs 43). Apart from the issue of multi-tasking, drug-abuse, physical growth, inexperience and irresponsibility there are several other factors that may lead to accidents. Therefore, individual states should take a step forward in increasing the minimum driving age from 16 to 17. On the other hand, the topic of increasing the minimum legal driving license age is also contentious (Triplea 22). In most cases, the teenagers eagerly wait for their driving licenses. This is because they sometimes have to run errands for their families and also address their personal issues. Therefore, most of them use their parent’s automobiles to run minor errands. Studies conclude that the best gift to the teenagers is the issuance of the driving license alongside a car. Most researchers also claim that when the age is kept at 16 years, most kids would learn the lesson of refraining from drug abuse (Jacobs 43). This is because they will be concerned with their livelihood; hence, they can possibly refrain from drunk-driving and the use of other harmful drugs. Based on another perspective, the experience of the drivers at age 16 is similar when they are 17 years. This is because the difference between these ages is quite minimal; therefore, they still possess the same amount of experience and responsibility. In addition, most of the 16- year old individuals are more responsible compared to the 17 and 18-year old individuals. The 17 and 18-year olds are less responsible and immature, and most of them are engaged in drug abuse. In fact, there is no precise reason which concludes that increasing the legal driving age can have an effect on the number of accidents on the road. This is because as the word suggests an accident is an un-intentional occurrence of event that is not predicted. These road accidents are usually unpredictable and can happen to any road user. Therefore, the issue of maturity and responsibility does not apply on a broad sense (Triplea 18). Unless the aspect of proving that a preponderant sum of these accidents are attributed by faulty drivers of 16 years of age, then, there is no value of increasing the age of issuing driving license. This is because this cannot decrease the number of road accidents. In fact, it is evident that increasing the minimum legal driving age cannot reduce the number of road accidents (Jacobs 67). On the contrary, this action would only shift the number of accidents to a higher age group. In addition, this action would not reduce the number of accident because a high number of these accidents are usually accredited to inexperienced drivers. Various analyses that have been carried out indicate that, the number of these accidents can considerably increase because; the older drivers are usually engaged in drinking and driving. This is evident since most of the older individuals have a stable capital to fund their lavish lifestyle. On the other side, the young individuals mostly rely on their parents and friends to get money on order to purchase the drugs. In this case, the most reliable technique is the implementation of driving education that should be conducted on a regular basis especially for the older drivers. This is because the traffic rules are gradually changed and most of the older drivers do not have any knowledge regarding these laws (Vitez 12). Works Cited Jacobs, James. Drunk driving: An American Dilemma (Studies in Crime and Justice). Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1992. Print. Triplea. Responsible Driving. New York: McGraw Hill Press, 1992. Print. Vitez, Michael. The Road Back. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012.Print. Read More