This also influences their social lives and restricts their participation in school and the community activities. The overall period of adolescence is generally characterized by instability, uncertainty and challenge. (Craig & Dunn, 257) Teen drivers are at very high risk for all crash types which involves the composition of distinct factors like the attributes and behaviors of the drivers, period in the day or week and the context of the vehicle. From general study, teens are seen to be high-risk takers, which shows in their driving inexperience, underdeveloped skills and immaturity. This shows in other words novelty seeking behavior of the teen.
The amount of lives that can be saved by raising the driving age to 18 would be very large. Teens are just not responsible enough to have this responsibility. “ There is evidence to suggest that the part of the brain that assesses risk and controls impulsive behavior is not fully developed until the age 25 (23 for females), providing a physical reason why restrictions such as night curfews and limiting peer passengers is so important”. ( Professor Cass) One of the leading causes of teenage accidents is inexperience. Teenage drivers don’t have the experience of driving a car.
Is 16 Too Young To Drive? The question about increasing the minimum age for a driver’s license has been pushed to the headlines because of the growing amount of car accidents. Whether it would reduce or even prevent accidents of this sort or will simply do no good is the heart of this argument. The reason for wanting to raise the driving age is because it has been proven that teenagers have caused most accidents (Koroknay-Palicz). The argument is a big decision for whether it should be raised or shouldn't it be raised because of the consequences of both sides.
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)”.
Another concern in many different communities around the United States is the distracted teen driver, not just the adult. A 2009 report says with the way teens use media the text messaging trend is increasing dramatically, in two years the amount of text messages sent has increased by 566%. A majority of the teens on the road understand the risk of texting while driving, but the eagerness to stay connected is so strong for teenagers and parents the communication becomes more of a concern than safety sometimes. Distracted driving is very dangerous and it includes more than just
The new approaches to this problem of teen driving will be an essential tool in curbing the problems associated with it. This is because the data from recent statistics about teen driving has shown that teen deaths from driving cannot change unless effective measures are considered .For most of the programs suggested by the state, data has shown that the root causes associated with teen behaviors have not been addressed effectively. Teen Drivers Section 1. Introduction Over the last few years, many cases of death have been reported related to teen drivers. Many car accidents reported about teen
And the result can be just as deadly” .Most cases, accidents are caused by children under the age 16 driving, drinking while driving, or taking on the phone and text messaging while driving. These are very dangerous to life and others. A driver's license for a teenager is a milestone and one of the biggest events in young lives. Of course the independence it gives teens is wonderful, but it can be quite frightening to a parent when one’s child drives a car. Teens will have to handle a lot of instructions and rules of the road, and they must be ready for this responsibility, so teens must take driving lessons.
One can argue that teenagers would gain more experience with time if the driving age were to be increased. “The risk of being involved in a car accident is the highest for drivers aged 16- to 19-year-olds than it is for any other age group. For each mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are about four times more likely than other drivers to crash.” (Brown) With these statistics it is interesting that drivers’ education is not made mandatory for new drivers. Teens are known as greater risk takers relative to adults. Another possible issue is that teenagers do not fully understand the rules of the road; some may say teenagers are too young to grasp the consequences of irresponsible driving, or some may feel that the rules do not apply to them.
Speeding, texting while driving and other distractions played a part in the deaths. The article goes on to state that because teens are immature and have inexperience there is potential for disaster. The main idea of the article focuses on different ways and steps that will prevent crashes and save lives of teenage drivers and others on the road. It's pointed out that because teens' prefrontal cortex is not fully formed, teens have a hard time not acting on impulse. Another problem they have is some don't see the risks or don't care.
In sum, teens are the worst drivers due to immaturity and inexperience. Graduated driver’s licensing programs are offered throughout the United States and are the best methods to teach young teens how to drive safely. A graduated driver’s license is used to phase in full driving privileges by providing a significant learning period and limiting “high-risk driving in an initial license phase.” (Children, Teens, Motor Vehicles and the Law). Because teens are risky drivers, a three-stage graduated driver’s license should be required to prevent casualties. A three-stage graduated driver’s license would first provide a supervised learner’s permit.