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)”.
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
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.
In fact, the likelihood that the driver will get into an automobile accident is just the same as someone who has a blood alcohol level of .08 percent, which is when a person is legally intoxicated. Ten states have already banned the use of hand-held phones and 35 states have banned texting while driving. Experts have always compared distracted driving while drunk driving but they are saying a better comparison is smoking, because Americans have an addiction and feel the need to be connected at all times (Matt
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.
“More than 1,700 college students in the U.S. are killed each year—about 4.65 a day—as a result of alcohol-related injuries” (The Marin Institute). With a number as high as this, lowering the drinking age would only increase this ongoing problem of underage drinking. It has even been proven by the Marin Institute to be the leading cause of death among teenagers. Many adults feel as if the 18 to 21 age groups cannot handle drinking responsibly, then they should not be permitted to use it. Alcohol is a very serious depressant and one of the leading problems for death (Hanson, 2007).
Research shows that starting at age sixty-five, elderly drivers are more likely to be involved in deadly, multicar accidents. Although seniors understandably value the independence that comes with having a driver’s license, some people should not be behind the wheel. Should one license last forever, or should elderly drivers be required to undergo periodic reevaluation?” We want to decrease in deadly car accidents, so we should start these evaluations, because there might be many elderly who still have the capabilities to drive but there’re many who aren’t capable. About a month ago I tuned in a local news channel and they were talking about a deadly car accident, two survived but 2 others died and one of the drivers was a 63 year old man, who
Raising the Driving Age Aside from suicide, teenage car crashes are the number one reason for teenage fatalities. The problem that causes this is because we are not preparing our teenagers enough before they are let out on the road. We are expecting too much responsibility from these teenagers that only have one thing one their mind, having fun and being careless. Driving is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly and I feel if we raise the driving age and prepare these kids more we can help in the number of kids that we are losing in car crashes. Each state has their own set age and guidelines for driving.
Drinking- What Age? Assignment: : Write a paragraph in which you argue or persuade your reader that the legal age for driving a car should be lowered or raised or that there should be a maximum age at which a person is allowed to drive. Do sixteen year olds have a higher rate of accidents? Yes, it is true that sixteen year olds have a higher rate of accidents in their first year of driving than any other age group; however changing the driving age will only change the statistics against eighteen year olds. If the law is changed, eighteen year olds will substitute the first year driving statistics for sixteen year olds.
“Incidents of “road rage” were up 51% in the first half of the decade, according to a report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,” writes Andrew Ferguson in Road Rage (553). It’s sad that due to road rage many innocent commuters suffer the consequences. It has also happened to me while driving; because I’m driving to slow, the person behind me starts to blow the horn. And, it makes thing worse because then I will get mad and drive even slower. 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).