If a friend asked them to race there is a 50/50 chance that they would say yes and that is extremely dangerous. For one they could crash or hit someone and that is terrifying that one choice can influence so much they could go to jail for public endangerment of even get charged with manslaughter. Studies prove that statistically 16-17 year olds are twice as likely to get in to car crashes verses 18-19 year olds. 16 year old drivers are simply too young to be allowed to drive, 18 is the legal age for almost everything else. The driving age should be raised.
As a result, the problem of alcohol abuse and drinking deaths become graver among college students. Aside from lack of education, Mindy Sink seems to neglect the problem of peer pressure in her article. The influence of peer pressure is strong especially when people are still in their adolescence. Influences of peers may worsen the problem of alcohol abuse. Erik Erikson is a psychoanalyst whose eight developmental stages are very famous.
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)”.
I believe the typical 16 year old doesn’t have the maturity level that is needed to be behind the wheel of a car unsupervised. The amount of deaths that are caused by teenage drivers are very high, and are still increasing because no changes have been made. There are about 15 deaths per day from car accidents between the ages of 15-20. ( Teen Driving). Teens also account for 14% of all driving fatalities that occur.
Drunk driving is the leading cause of death for people from the age of six to thirty-three years old (Curran, 1). One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime (MADD, 1). Everyday thirty-six people in the United States die due to the crashes and approximately 700 more are injured in car crashes that involve alcohol-impaired drivers. This year, 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes; one every fifty minutes (MADD, 1). “Cracking down on those who take drugs or drink and then drive is a year round commitment for Warwickshire and West Mercia.”- West Mercia Police.
and then they will drive to their home afterwards. More intoxicated drivers cause the highways and roads to be dangerous for others to drive on. Another way how the roads will be more dangerous if the drinking age is lowered is because it will cause more car accidents. Lowering the age limit to eighteen years of age creates a sixteen percent increase in car crashes. ("Mothers against drunk," 2011) Before the legal age was made twenty-one years of age, there was more than twice as many fatal traffic crashes as today.
Many parents do not have the time to escort their children everywhere they need to go. They have jobs and activities of their own to attend. At the age of sixteen, students get involved in more after school activities and with a license, they can drive themselves back and forth places without being an inconvenience to their parents. There is no reason to raise the minimum driving age, but there are plenty of reasons not to. No matter how old the kids getting licenses are, there will be car accidents ending in death.
We all know that kids go around our back to parties and have a few drinks with friends but not many parents will stop this. This is not good, this is what is encouraging them to be worse later on. Firstly they are testing there boundaries, which if there are none, will make them believe they can do anything and get away with it, these habits would carry on into their later years when it comes to driving and they will become reckless because they believe that they can get away with anything. Secondly we shouldn’t be encouraging underage drinking because it will inflict an addiction onto our children that is close to impossible to shake off, if the kids are getting drunk every weekend at the age of 15 or 16 imagine what would happen to those same kids at 19 or 20? Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research institute has done a study where 1520 teenagers drinking habits have been tracked for 10 years.
The more practice and advice you can give a teenager before they are allowed out on the road ways can increase the chances of saving a few lives from driver’s without the same amount of practice. Also, we need to get rid of all the distractions in the car for these teenage driver’s. Along with requiring that you have a permit for a full year before getting a personal license, no one would be allowed to ride in the vehicle under the age of 21 and can only have one other
We cannot legally purchase a handgun, gamble in a casino, or adopt a child until the age of twenty one. These are a high level of responsibility and our leaders and patrons feel they are at equal levels. Our Minimum Legal Drinking Age has reduced traffic accidents and fatalities. 100 of 102 analyses inquired in a 202 meta-study found that a higher legal drinking age associates with lower rates of automobile accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated a 13% decrease in car fatalities in 1975-2008 saving approximately 27,052 lives since then.