The Driving Age Should Be Raised - Report Example

The Driving Age Should Be Raised As to whether the driving age should be raised or not is a questionyet to be answered, it is a sensitive subject and the views vary from one person to the other. There has been a rise in number of teenage deaths and casualties that are motor related and therefore it is of great importance that this issue is tackled and dealt with as fast as possible so that we can curb this problem. A lot of research has been done to try to explain what the possible cause is but as we will see, combination of factors has led to the question of teenage driving to be viewed as a subject of worry. Being able to drive a car is a great thing and very useful, entertaining and at times relaxing to the person to the person doing it but to the teenagers, it can be called a double-edged sword. It is said that a sixteen-year-old teenager is not mature enough to be allowed to drive and while some people might think it sounds unfair, it has been biologically proven. The frontal cortex in the human brain is responsible for motor skills, risk taking, problem solving and emotional maturity. While lack of experience might be blamed as a cause of road accidents by teenage drivers, emotional maturity is the major reason why teenagers make bad drivers. There is a process called the spreading of white matter from the back to the front of the brain which helps in effective communication between brain cells, a process that usually takes place when one attains the age of twenty and continues until one is around thirty years of age (Gillin). It is clearly visible from this fact that a teenager’s brain does not have the capacity needed to make urgent and important decisions when driving. An adult’s brain can be able to switch on fast when an emergency occurs on the road while he is driving, for example, when a kid decided to rush to the road, thus saving a life. Teenagers are also more of risk takers, which become a problem when they are on the road, combined with emotional immaturity being a risk taker serves as a big problem as they will want to put themselves in situations that will be difficult to handle. While I am not advocating that the driving age be changed to mid 20’s to allow for maturity, a middle ground can be reached by raising the age from sixteen to eighteen to reduce the cases of teenage motor accidents (Bjorklund and Blasi 473). Statistics show that car crashes are the number one cause of death among teenagers in the U.S and those between sixteen and nineteen years of age were more likely to be involved in serious and fatal accidents than those aged twenty years and above. The former age had an estimated 2700 deaths and 282,000 casualties in the year 2010. It is also interesting to note that death was recorded more among male drivers of the said age group as compared to female drivers. There were also increased chances when the passenger was a teenager and in the first six months of being given a driving license. Moreover, 56% of interviewed teenagers admitted to answering mobile phones and 13% said that they are used to sending and responding to text messages while driving and a further 17% admitted that speeding was fun while driving (“Teen Drivers Facts…”). Some of the reasons noted as to why teens were more likely to be at risk, most of those involved in accidents at the time had been drinking and or speeding therefore resulting in fatal accidents and even death. In addition, most of the teenagers are unable to recognize dangerous situations and therefore end up taking risks that are life threatening and for those who already find themselves in such situations are not able to act fast as to prevent any forthcoming accidents. Some teenagers do not follow the rules of the road, one very important rule is to give enough space or headway between your car and the one in front of you therefore ensuring that you can see the road well and reduce chances of a crash in case the car ahead of you gets involved in one or brakes suddenly. The group that has the lowest number when it comes to using seatbelts is the teens, meaning that if they were to be involved in accident, chances of survival would be very slim. In 2010, it was recorded that 56% of the teenagers that had been drinking and not wearing seatbelts had been killed in car crashes (“Injury Prevention & Control…”) It is clear even by law that teenagers are too young to handle certain responsibilities such as marriage, having sex, taking care of children, working and even drinking, why then should driving be an exception? Driving is a huge responsibility; one is responsible for the lives he is carrying in his car, a duty that should not be taken lightly. When you entrust such a heavy responsibility on an individual who is unanimously known to be careless with almost every aspect of his life it has far-reaching consequences. Teenagers are known to be careless with their property, be it books, assignments, sex, clothing, drugs and alcohol, how then can you entrust them with a life? Teenagers crave independence and social status as a way to increase their self-esteem and have a sense of identity, once he has been given a car he is then the envy of his age mates and with this, he can draw to himself all the attention he was craving for in the first place. He hardly seems to recognize the responsibility that comes with it since for most of them; they did not have to work for a dime to get one and for those who are lucky, maintenance of the car and payments are left to the parents. Until when a person is deemed old enough, mature and responsible that he should be allowed on the roads as a driver. While some parents take their children to driving schools and give them cars at sixteen so that they can learn to be responsible or as a gift or they might have earned it in one way or another, some do this so that they can delegate some tasks to their children. For example, some parents might want to relieve themselves of the task of driving their kids to school, shopping for foodstuff and handling other minor errands, so they leave these duties to their children. It is a good thing to teach children responsibility at an early age but this should not come at the expense of endangering their lives, if teenagers should be driving at the age of sixteen, and then it should be supervised driving. Rising the driving age by two years from sixteen to eighteen is not a very long time and parents can afford to wait and therefore ensuring that their children are safe In retrospect, teenage driving can also be used to bring some positive changes in teenagers like teaching them responsibility while at the same time giving them experience in driving, so that they can make good drivers in a couple of years to come. Once a teenager understands that driving comes with responsibilities, he will be better placed and will take care when he is on the road. Parents can give their children more roles to play in the house for example driving to school and picking their siblings or grocery. This will help in keeping the teenager occupied most of the time during the day and therefore reducing the amount of time he has for mischief. He can also be made to understand that maintenance of the car is his responsibility, meaning that he will have to earn the right to own that car. Getting minor jobs that can help in reducing some expenses for example gas, is one way to start (Mani and Ramdas). In conclusion, the decision whether to raise the driving age is still a point of debate. It has clear benefits and disadvantages that cannot be refuted which makes it a bit of a gray area. Teenagers are mentally and emotionally immature to handle such an obligation and we have seen the consequences of this. The rise in teenage death due to road accidents is a point of concern, while the teenagers seem to be taking the matter of their life and death lightly. From the statistics above we have learnt that regardless of the classes they are given which not only involve practical and theoretical teaching, they are also taught on how to behave on the road, the dos’ and do not’s, how to relate with other drivers, pedestrians and their passengers as well as roads courtesy and etiquette. The benefit early responsibility and experience also cannot be ignored; however, some of these responsibilities and the driving experience can wait until the individual is able to handle them Works Cited Gillin, Andy et al. “Teen Brain Development and Impact on Safe Driving”. GJEL. n.d. Web. 10 April 2013 Bjorklund, David. F and Blasi, Carlos Hernández. Child and Adolescent Development: An Integrated Approach, Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print “Injury Prevention & Control: Motor Vehicle Safety”. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2012. Web. 10 April 2013 “Teen Drivers Facts & Drivers Statistics”. Allstate. n.d. Web. 10 April 2013 Mani Subramani and Rameysh Ramdas. Should the Minimum Driving Age be Raised? Teen Driver Source. June 7, 2012. Web. 10 April 2013 Read More