Lincoln Douglas Debate Case Outline

Affirmative
Driving accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 18. More than
3,000 teens die in car crashes every year. Teens crash four times more often than members of
any other age group.
It is because I agree with Allstate (a car insurance company) in the position that teenagers are
given the huge responsibility of driving before being properly prepared, that I feel compelled to
affirm todays resolution: Teenage driving requirements should be changed.
For clarification of todays round, I offer the following definitions:
Word: Novice - a person who has just started learning or doing something.
Source: Merriam Webster online
Word: Peer passenger A passenger in the same age group or social group as the driver.
Source: The Washington Post and Merriam Webster online
The highest value within todays round is sanctity of life. This is defined as the belief that
human life is sacred in and of itself.
Source: Angelfire.com
Sanctity of life is most important in todays round because these teenage drivers are
irresponsibly risking their inexperienced lives by believing they are invincible when in reality
teenage accident death rates are very real.
The best criterion for evaluating this resolution is empiricism. This is defined as the practice of
basing ideas and theories on testing and experience.
Source: Merriam Webster online
This criterion best achieves my value of sanctity of life because in order to assume the
enormous responsibility of operating a vehicle, one must have much practice and maturity.
Maturity and experience both come with age.
In affirming the resolution, I offer the following contentions:

Contention 1: Teenagers do not have developed enough brains to handle the responsibility of
driving.
Warrant 1: The brain signals essential for motor skills and emotional maturity are the last to
extend to the brains frontal lobe which is responsible for many of the skills necessary for
driving. Emotional immaturity is the primary reason that teenage drivers are responsible for far
more car accidents than any other age demographic. Car rental companies do not rent vehicles
to people under 25 due to studies proving that brain development is not complete until
between the ages of 25-30. New Jersey is the only state with a minimum drivers license age at
17. This state has shown a significant drop in teen fatalities since this law was enacted. Among
the states 17 year old drivers, the percentage dropped 33%.
Impact 1: By changing driving requirements and raising the minimum age of licensing, we
would allow the brain more needed time for maturity and expand the practice time for new
drivers. This would provide more experience and training to new drivers before they are out on
their own.
Contention 2: Thousands of teens are injured or killed in car crashes every year.
Warrant 2: Yearly around 2,650 teens in the U.S. aged 16-19 are killed and almost 292,000 are
treated for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. Young people ages 15-24 represent only
14% of the U.S. population however, they account for 30% of the total cost of motor vehicle
injuries among males and 28% of the total cost of these injuries among females. Per mile
driven, teen drivers ages 16-19 are nearly 3 times more likely than drivers aged 20 and over to
be in a fatal crash.
Impact 2: By raising the age of new drivers we would reduce the number of fatal teen crashes
and number of injuries caused by automobile accidents.
Contention 3: Teenagers, when driving with peer passengers are at an increased risk of being
killed or critically injured in a car accident.
Warrant 3: Studies show that 15-17 year old drivers are almost eight times as likely to get into
a fatal accident when they are carrying 2 or more teen passengers. From 2002 to 2011, the
percentage of fatalities that occurred when other teens were in the vehicle increased each
year. Among the teens who said they were distracted by something inside the vehicle before
crashing, 71% of males and 47% of females said they were distracted directly by the actions of
their passengers.
Impact 3: By limiting or eliminating peer passengers, the number of fatal teen accidents would
decrease.

Conclusion Option 1: I have shown you that teenagers do not have developed enough brains to
handle the responsibility of driving. Thousands of teens are injured or killed in car crashes each
year, and teenagers, when driving with peer passengers, are at an increased risk of being killed
or critically injured in a car accident. For these reasons, we can clearly conclude that sanctity of
life should be upheld and the teenage driving requirements should be changed.
Conclusion Option 2: DMV.org Government agency responsible for driving rules and
regulations and for collecting statistics states that Theres no substitute for driving experience
and the wisdom that age brings, but by applying safe driving tips youll enhance the odds that
you wont become a teenage driver accident statistic.
Clearly, we must affirm the resolution.

Citations

Knox, R. (2010, March 1). The teen brain: it's just not grown up yet. In NPR. Retrieved November 26, 2014, from
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124119468

Teen drivers: get the facts. (2014, October 7). In Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 26, 2014,
from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html

Halsey III, A. (2013, September 26). Teenage drivers with peer passengers at higher risk for fatal crashes, study finds. In The
Washington Post. Retrieved November 26, 2014, from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/teenage-drivers-with-teen-passengers-more-likely-to-die-inaccidents-study-shows/2013/09/26/eff0cb22-2612-11e3-ad0d-b7c8d2a594b9_story.html