Preview

16 Year Olds and Driving Permits Essay Example

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2550 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
16 Year Olds and Driving Permits Essay Example
16 Year Olds and Driving Permits
Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of death among teenagers in the United States. A question among many debaters is if teens should be allowed to drive at the age of 16, what about if it affects the driver to drive with other teens, also if it affects the driver to be driving at night. I will list the positives and negatives of these the questions, and you, the reader, may choose your side.
In 1998, 38% of deaths from all causes among teens 15 to 19 years of age resulted from motor vehicle crashes.(1) At age 16, a driver is 2.7 times more like to get in a crash than a driver at age 18, and is 3.9 times more likely than 19 year olds.(2) The question greatly debated among many people is whether or not the driving age should be raised from 16 to 18.
Many polls and statistics show that American favor raising the driving age. A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll has found that nearly two-thirds (61%) say they think a 16-year-old is too young to have a driver's license. Only 37% of those who polled thought it was okay to license 16 year olds. The same poll was done in 1995 and the result was that 50% of Americans thought it was okay to license 16 year olds. This means that many Americans have lost respect of teen drivers. A poll of 1,002 adults, conducted December 17-19, 2004, stated that 53% of adults favor raising the minimum driving age to 18. Most people state that there are a lot of immature drivers out on the road, but there are also many mature drivers who are capable of handling the task of driving at the age of 16.
In the early 1900’s America began to mass produce the new invention called the car. There were no laws about the minimum age of driving until 1939 when the government required that the minimum age to drive be 18. In 1957, America began to run a license system that allowed for a person to require a learner’s permit at the age of 15. The student was required to wait one year to obtain his driving permit. So

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1 cause of death among 15 to 20-year olds in this country”. When I turned 16 I knew that I wasn't ready to start driving yet, and waited till I was 17 to get my permit. Teenagers should drive when they feel ready to be behind the wheel, which should be around the 17 age range. I also agree with Quindlen's point that in New Jersey we have among the strictest laws but are rarely enforced. With the laws being more enforced it shows that if you're driving recklessly there will be…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The legal driving age has been a constant debate and every few years another log is thrown onto the fire. Should we really raise the legal age to drive? Would it save lives? Today the driving age is 17 or ever younger . In my opinion is should be raise at least to 21 it could be a good idea to rise the driving age because young driver are the main cause of road death and injuries. Also young drivers drink and drive at the same time. If the driving age is 21 deaths would happen and roads would be safer. What do you think should it be raised in this essay I would tell you why it should be raised to age 21.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In a research studied done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety the research group is trying to push the age of teen drivers to 17 or 18 due more than 5,000 teens dying in the U.S. alone because the rate of fatal and nonfatal crashes per mile for teen drivers is 10 times the amount for drivers between the age of 30 to 59 this according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    If someone's friend steals something, does the innocent friend go to jail? No. If a teen gets into a fatal accident, does another teen not involved get their license suspended? Of course not, but those who think the driving age should be raised are wanting this to happen. They are labeling all teens before they got into an accident or even before they got behind the wheel. They believe that because of someone's birth date, they are by definition dangerous (“Lund”). The minimum driving age should stay at 16 of age because if it is raised, it will delay the experience of driving and it will cause an inconvenience for parents.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The appropriate age for a teenager to obtain a driving permit is 16 years old, however I believe it should be raised to 17 since there is a high rate of teenagers causing accidents. There might be some exceptions why they should keep it at 16 but due to the high rate of teen crashes they should raise the age to 17. Statistics have shown that teenagers have a higher chance of accidents. Teenagers from the ages of 15 to 17 are more likely to cause a car crash for many reasons. While teenagers go out at night and drive around with friends and only have their permit, they are putting other’s people life at risk. The three main reasons why teenagers should be at least the age of 17 to be able to get their permit is because they drive and text,…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my response the driving age should not be raised. This concern has been a problem then and still is today. The Driving age should not be raised , one reason is 16 or 17 year olds drive everywhere in case of emergencies , for work , school and we shouldn’t take that away from them. If the 16 year old or 17 year old are trying to drive they at least should have a permit and should require it so that if they get stopped by a patrolling officer they know if they have the privilege to drive or not and should get fine if they are caught without a permit. It’s important to learn how to drive at an early age because it can really help if their is some type of emergency throughout the family and they need to drive to the hospital or a parent can’t drive anymore and needs to be driven.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Driving to the Funeral

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When a teenager at the early age of 15-years-old eagerly wants to drive, they are more at risk of losing their lives than a 17-year-old. Adding alcohol to the mix and the numbers of deaths increases rapidly. More teenagers today are driving cars at this young age, without their parents having a clue what there are getting into; (Thesis) According to Quindlen’s article, “Driving to the Funeral” argues this vital point to its government; That car crashes are the “No. 1 cause of death among 15 to 20 year olds in the country.” Intensely agreeing with these vital points shared: raising the drinking age have saved thousands of lives, 17-year-old drives most likely have fewer accidents, and speeding-the-leading factor in teenage fatal crashes.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many have disagreed that the minimum driving age should be raised from 16 to 18. It should stay at 16. There are many advantages to driving at an age younger than 18. Various teenagers are unable to participate in extracurricular activities due to no available way to get to and from the activity, teens are able to get jobs and need a way of transportation without depending so much on their parents, and numerous high school graduates are younger than 18 or just turned 18.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Teen drivers ages 15 to 20 are 1.6 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, compared to adult drivers between the ages of 35 and 40" ("Teen"). About a month ago there was a teen girl driving to school, the roads were bad and she should not have taken a back road. She ended up losing control of her vehicle, causing the vehicle to roll over. If she was not wearing her seatbelt the accident could have been fatal. She is very lucky that nothing more than a totaled vehicle came from the horrific incident. There are many reasons why students should not drive to school. It is dangerous, there is a trouble with parking, and students could have illegal things in their vehicles.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a recent study, about 50% of teens have admitted they have fallen asleep while driving. This leads people to believe teens are unsafe behind the wheel. Teens are only 8% of the driving population, but they account for 20% of accidents involving cars (Collins and Cortez). Also, parents who are concerned about their child’s safety will argue and say that 3,500 teens were killed in 2008 alone, and car crashes are the number cause of teen death (Painter). They will also argue that fewer and fewer 16-17 year olds are getting their licenses, so we should just push up the age, right…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some argue that teens 16-19 cause most of the accident on the road but it’s not only teens raw figures show that ages 17-25 and 40-59 have about the same amount of accident casualties as each other. Although those in the 40-59 age group have more casualties than teens. Adults are equally involved in accidents as teens are. Raising the minimum age will make it so less teens will be behind the wheel during an accident but more adult will be the cause of the accident. Changing the minimum age from 16 to 18 will just change the age group of people who gets in the most car accidents.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Driving Age Argument Essay

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over the past few years, however, the issue of the age at which one can learn to drive legally in the United States has been under debate; currently, at least at the time this paper was written, most states allow for drivers who are a minimum 15 years and 6 months of age to apply for a drivers permit; some argue that this is far too young and that the legal driving age should be raised to 18, while others argue that raising the driving age would only do more harm than good and that the current driving age should remain unchanged.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is proven that 16-year-olds get into more accidents than any other drivers of any other ages. In “11 Facts About Teen Driving”, the number two fact states “16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age.” In fact, not only are…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Statistics of Driving

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Driving is a very dangerous and often hazardous thing to do. This is especially true for people ages fifteen to nineteen. There are so many crashes each year for teen drivers that it’s a miracle anyone makes it past twenty years old unharmed. In 2009 alone three hundred and fifty teens were treated for a car related accident.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One major piece of evidence answers this question, which is that car accidents are “the number one cause of death in teens”(Gregory). This shows that teenage driving is a big problem which is why something needs to change. Due to car accidents being the number one cause of death in teenagers, the age to obtain a driver’s license should be increased to 18 years old. Some may say that teens from 16 to 18 years old need to drive to be able to get places however there are other means of transportation that are much safer. Other means of transportation include…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays