Name Instructor English 2 3 November 2013 Maturity Behind the Wheel Most fatal car accidents that occur each year are caused by teenage drivers. In many states the driving age is usually around fifteen or sixteen. What many do not realize is that allowing adolescents to drive at such an early age can be fatal. These young drivers tend to make bad decisions behind the wheel. Many teenage drivers are not as responsible as they should be out on the road which is why the driving age should be raised to 18 years old.
Alcohol is very dangerous. If alcohol is abused, it could hurt others unintentionally. With the drinking age at 21, it’s a safer environment. Research shows that with the drinking age raised, there are 1,000 lives saved a year. Statistics show that if the law is moved down to 18, there will be a 10% increase in deaths due to alcohol.
The drinking age should not be lowered to 18. Lowering the drinking age from 21 years old to 18 years old could lead to an increase in dangerous behavior such as drunken driving and car accidents, risk of developing alcoholism and people under the age of 21 do not fully understand the dangers of alcohol. A teenage driver and alcohol is a dangerous combination. Drinking and driving accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers. “Traffic deaths from drunken driving have fallen steadily, with those involving teenagers 16 to 19 declining by 39.1 percent from 1982 to 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)”.
Teens who have jobs wont be able to drive to work, they will have to rely public transportation and their family and friends. Teens who go to college would have to do the same thing. For a female teen it can be very dangerous using public transportation at night, and even for a male, and it isn’t even available everywhere. I think this solution will do nothing but cause more problems than it will solve. Some people may even suggest that students just need better driver’s education classes, or maybe just more classes, or more time behind the wheel.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s when many states had lowered the MLDA, besides the rise in drunk-driving deaths, studies showed that people raised from childhood in under-21 states were involved in higher rates of alcohol and drug use as adults, and had a higher rate of homicides and suicides. (Moses, 2011) This in turn convinced federal law makers to raise the MLDA again to 21. However, in order to encourage states to comply, the federal government would tighten their purse strings and states would receive little or no funding towards highways. So while there are those who do not necessarily care one way or the other about the actual age limit on alcohol consumption, they do prefer having the federal
About 1,900 people under 21 die every year from car crashes involving underage drinking. i) Young people are more susceptible to alcohol-induced impairment of their driving skills. ii) Drinking drivers aged 16 to 20 are twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as drinking drivers who are 21 or older. iii) For every 100,000 Americans under the age of 21, 1.4 people were killed in drunk driving fatalities in 2010 iv) The rate of fewer than 21 drunk driving fatalities per 100,000 populations has declined 48% over the past decade. v) In 2009, 11 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes were young drivers 15- to 20- years old.
Teenager’s brains can be complicated in many ways. Teenagers are trying to figure out who they are so their brain is lost and confused; teenagers do not have a mental illness. Everyone has gone through this stage in life, but yet, not everyone has a mental illness in the
Finally, the lack of respect for the law, police, and emergency vehicle contributes to dangerous situations on the roadways. For instance, drivers who fail to pull over when emergency vehicles are passing can cause a delay for a person’s treatment or worse, an accident. Even with the recent banning of cell phone use while driving, people continue their bad and illegal habits. They talk, text, use face book, and even skype without regards to others. Clearly, a lack of respect for other drivers, pedestrians, and the law is a major problem in our society.
That is not to mention the number of crimes/deaths that are prevented because the age is so high. Alcohol-related incidents are still the number one cause of death among teenagers. 38% are caused by car accidents, 32% are caused by homicides, and 6% are the result of suicides (Schwartz 4). Research also states that the brain doesn’t fully develop until the mid-twenty’s. The lobes in the brain that go through the most development are the frontal lobes, which are essential for decision making, impulse control, and language (4).
Cell Phones and Driving is a huge distraction among teenagers and many adults. “FACT #28: Distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens. Alcohol-related accidents among teens have dropped, but teenage traffic fatalities have remained unchanged because distracted driving is on the rise. . .” The age group with the highest number of distracted drivers is between the ages of 16-20 years old; this