The Driving Age Should Be Raised to 18

The Driving age should be raised to 18

Since people have changed, some driving laws ought to change as well. The Department of Motor Vehicles must Observe and Acclimate unto the Motor Vehicle’s Operators with Revisions. While observing, DMV will find that many drivers treat their vehicles like mini living rooms and have mocked the customs and values of driving and they ought not to tempt children to do the same. Many drivers observe people driving while eating, text messaging and watching videos. “10 percent of drivers aged 14 to 24 years old are on their phone at any time.” (NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) To adapt unto this grave temptation of drivers is to mandate the legal age to 18 years old. I have been driving for 33 years and I was 16 years old when I was given a legal permit to drive a motor vehicle. Nevertheless, in 1979 the phones were in the living rooms, kitchen walls and the bedrooms of our houses. We as “Baby Boomers” did extremely well, while driving with the customs and values of being “An Motor Operator.” There weren’t many distractions of our own. It was a practice of being attentive with other motorists which made it immeasurably easier to drive safer. It was also and always a predictable effect as well when we smiled at the other motorists. We had conceived a good sense of motivation and inspiration, not road rage. I can recall the time when I was driving and had an a pair of encounters with the parents of two of my friends while crossing each other at an intersection upon separate occasions when in both instances, the parents conceived inspiration from my attentiveness, smile and a kindly wave. Months later, I was a passenger in both of my friend’s new car. With this calling to mind, underage drivers were adequately allowed to drive, because people were adequate drivers. People were not treating their cars like mini living rooms. DMV should take the stand upon this issue, because many parents feel proud and dedicated to allowing their children to drive. Many will allow them because they themselves starting driving at the tender age of 16. Consequently, with today’s unprincipled driving practices of unsafe drivers, DMV should adhere unto the fact that “The number one source of driver inattention is use of a wireless device.” (Virginia Tech/NHTSA) Just a week ago, I took interest to observe closely my associated-by-default-drivers coming home from work in the rush hours of the day and noticed 6 out of 10 motorists were unsafely driving while eating, texting or video watching. Who would want their child to drive like them or drive besides them? Only proud parents I presume. Another case in point, is that under-aged drivers do drive with heavy duty vehicles, such as Tractor-trailers weighing over 80,000 + pounds and from my encounters from 2007 through 2008, when I was driving a heavy loaded cab-over tractor double trailer tomato truck. I was generally in the right lane most of the time and had numerous encounters with young drivers entering the on-ramp driving like Mickey and Minnie Mouse scurrying casually upon the ramp. On one occasion, a young teen was text messaging or perhaps dialing a number. Another occasion, I remember a car load of teens were excitingly viewing a video of interest. And another occasion, I’d encountered a young boy reclining in his car seat like he was in a concert listening unto his stereo. On all occasions, I had to rapidly down shift gears and with gear in neutral, I revved up the accelerator in order to create a loud sound effect to get their attention. Every time, they either dropped their cell phone, stopped watching their video or sat up straight from their reclining seat and accelerated like they should’ve done with a 55 mph heavy truck. Each of those times, I exhaled a great sign of relief. Not because of my wrong doing, I was rightfully in my lane, but because I will have to take out my fire extinguisher and assist with their calamity. A child’s at that. My heart is heavy with concern from this recollection. Some driving laws ought to change. A lot of drivers have changed dramatically over the years. There are drastically too many unethical driving practices for the young and innocent to be exposed to. Therefore, the driving age should be raised to 18. Children ought to be exposed unto the wonders and the beauty of the world, not to be imperiled by the vulnerabilities of them, by driving in this age and time. I shall not speak a thousand words to convey that a lot of drivers have changed for the worst and a revised law will surely help change the minds of proud and dedicated parents by raising the age limit to 18 years of age to operate a motor vehicle.