Raising Legal Driving Age
Essay by 24 • March 21, 2011 • 890 Words (4 Pages) • 1,770 Views
Turning the age of sixteen is an important part of your life, you get to have that huge birthday party, your parents start giving more respect and responsibility, and of course, you get your drivers license. This might all change if congress pass a bill the was recently proposed. This bill will raise the driving age from sixteen years of age to eighteen years of age. This bill was proposed because teenagers make up 7 percent of Licensed drivers, while they are involved in upwards of 20% of accidents. I do not believe that passing this bill will change any of these statistics because the longer the teenage driver has to wait, the more anxious they will be to drive. They will inexperienced regardless of age, and they also wont be able to travel to jobs or to college. More strict drivers education classes could be used to better prepare younger drivers for the responsibilities of operating a motor vehicle, but raising the driving age to eighteen is uncalled for and ridiculous.
From the time you turn fifteen years old, the only thing that you can think about is getting your license in the year to come, I know I've never felt so anxious for anything in my life before, and I know we've all experienced this. But wait the anxiousness gets worse, because then you get your white slip, and every chance that you get to drive, with your parents of course, you drive. Now just imagine that it is your fifteenth year, just dreaming of getting your license and you come to find out that you now have to wait until your eighteenth year to obtain them. I myself would be very upset, as would any other fifteen year old would. But when they do get their license, two years longer than anticipated, they will have so many places that they want to go and things that they want to do, and would most likely drive rather carelessly. With all of these movies about car racing out they would have developed a large collection of thoughts of stunts and tricks to try out on the pavement and are not likely to see the danger in these stunts since they are new drivers. It takes a few close calls, and their first ticket or two for a traffic violation before they begin to calm down with the crazy driving like everyone else on the road drives.
People say that it's "the younger drivers that you have to watch out for". This is not necessarily true, it is the inexperienced drivers that you need to watch out for. It doesn't matter if you're twelve or forty-five years old, if you do not have any previous experience then you are a major risk on the roadway. The more that you drive, the more aware you are of your surroundings, and the more likely you are to be able to avoid an accident.
Raising the driving age to eighteen would make it very difficult for someone sixteen years old to hold a job because they can't travel to work. This would make it very difficult for an eighteen year old that is living on his or her own
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