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 problem they have is some don't see the risks or don't care. The authors then emphasized how limits and risk could decrease death, along with parents’ involvement. They suggest restrictions like prohibiting driving between 10 p.m and 5 a.m, limiting passengers to one and not lifting restrictions until the age of 18. They say with these laws imposed death could be decreased among teenage deaths by 38%. In fact in the state of Georgia, Vetter and Lostys say teen driving death were decreased by 37% because of their teen driving laws.
No matter how old the kids getting licenses are, there will be car accidents ending in death. The only way to stop that is more experience, so it’s better to start driving as early as age 16. In most areas, public transportation is not a viable option on weekends or evenings—this means that older teens would need to be driven to work, and/or school by parents or older siblings. Raising the driving age would just cause undue hardship on families and
In Road Rage, Ferguson points out that in a recent survey that the Coalition for Consumer Health and Safety did, 64% of the people mentioned that they are driving less mannerly and more recklessly than they did about five years ago (553). We all know that road rage can be cause due to many reasons like stress at work and problems at home. Ferguson also points out that road rage could be solve if we had more police and tougher punishments (556), but we all know that won’t really help. I don’t even think that therapy for those road rage individuals would help. We all just have to pray every time we get into a car and just have patience.
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.
I feel that elderly people should not be allowed to drive under certain circumstances. If a person loses the ability to properly operate a motor vehicle based on the functions of their reflexes, memory, visual acuity, flexibility and the ability to focus that person should not be allowed to drive on the open road; putting innocent lives at risk. Having a license to drive would be considered a privilege; and it should not be taken advantage of or abused. I believe its commonly recognized in drivers that turns 70, risk increases greatly and grows higher after turning 85. Elderly drivers are at higher risk of injury and death when involved in a crash because they are least likely to withstand trauma.
Before adolescence, these circadian rhythms direct most children to naturally fall asleep around 8 or 9 p.m. But puberty changes a teen's internal clock, delaying the time he or she starts feeling sleepy — often until 11 p.m. or later. Staying up late to study or socialize can disrupt a teen's internal clock even more. Too little sleep Most teens need about nine hours of sleep a night — and sometimes more — to maintain optimal daytime alertness. But few teens actually get that much sleep regularly, thanks to factors such as part-time jobs, early-morning classes, homework, extracurricular activities, social demands, and use of computers and other electronic gadgets.
The clamour heightened in recent weeks following a series of reports on road fatalities and fatal crashes involving motorists in this age group. Accident statistics released by the authorities have also indicated that motorists below the age of 25 years are the group most prone to mishaps. While car accident statistics involving young drivers are quite alarming, it can be argued that such statistics are at best telling only half the story. In their simplistic form, certain statistics on road crashes can even be misleading. For example, when we were told not too long ago that only three out of 10 road accidents in the country involved female motorists, it still did not mean that men were worse drivers than women.
20 December 2011 Teen Driving Video Although the number has decreased since 1986, “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, auto accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in America.” (Driving Teens Crazy.) On a yearly average, six thousand teens die in car-related accidents. That is more than 15 people a day! Teens simply lack driving experience and do not have the ability to predict and handle many traffic situations. (Graduated Driver Licensing).
AK MALIK 26, March 2014 Pushing Back School Times Every teen has waken up in the morning wanting to go straight back to sleep. As children develop into their teenage years their sleep cycle is disrupted. Studies have shown that teenagers are awake later than children and adults because of how a teens body releases melatonin, a hormone that concerns the humans body's sleep cycle. Changing schools beginning times may have some benefits, but the department has to consider all drawbacks. The board of education should push back school times an hour because students will improve academically and they will improve their physical health.