Running head: DRIVER LICENSE LEGAL AGE

Should the Driver License Legal Age Raised Up

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DRIVER LICENSE LEGAL AGE

Raising the legal driving age has been a controversial debate in different states all over
the world for a long time. Various parties base their arguments on; immature driving, over
speeding and reckless driving associated with teenagers. Every year a new log is thrown into the
fire on the controversial teen driving debate, whether to raise the legal driving age or not?
Among the many questions that are asked are whether the changes will save lives? And how
much it should be raised. Currently, most countries allow for teen drivers to apply for a driver's
permit six months after their 15th birthday (Rogers, 2015). It is, unfortunately, true that
automobile accidents are the major cause of death of teenagers in most developed countries such
as the United States of America (Rogers, 2015). According to Mike Rogers, a 16-year-old
teenager is likely to die in a road accident than a thirty-year-old. Most of the things that lead to
such high accident rates related to teenagers are cell phone driving and texting while driving
which is a cause of distraction. For this reasons, it is important to discuss this issue and remove
dangerous drivers from the roads. One of the ways to achieve that is by raising the legal driving
age to above 18 years to allow teen drivers attain equitable driving experience while on the road.
Road safety is essential and, therefore, important in assessing the drivers' ability and
mastery of the subject. 15-year-old teenagers are not plagued by diseases compared to their old
counterparts. The cause of their death remains accidental in nature (Rogers, 2015). Specifically,
car crashes are the most contributor to such accidents with a higher percentage caused at night. It
is right to address this issue starting with the recommended driving age. There is absolutely
nothing wrong in increasing the legal driving age from 16 to above 18 years. Doing this will not
mean that anybody below 18 years should not drive but rather be under the supervision of an
experienced driver who is above 21 years old and has at least three years of experience. By so

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doing, the trainee will have more time driving under supervision and hence get to learn the
importance of taking action while on the road.
It is argued that age may not be the biggest course of accidents but rather blame it on
experience, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Most accidents are caused by
drivers who have attained less than two years of driving experience. Therefore others have stated
that, raising the age will just shift the problem to another age instead of solving it. However
raising the legal driving age should not be seen literally as it seems, but the following points
should be noted. In states where the legal age is 16 years, they will not change the application
time for the license but rather change the age at which the license should be issued to the
applicant. Lengthening the time in between gives room for extensive mastery of paperwork and
practical skills on the road. By so doing the government and the respective legal authorities will
be saving the young generation from fatal accidents.
Different children develop differently and reach maturity age at slightly different ages.
Therefore, apart from raising the legal driving age, there is an extra task that should be
undertaken by the parents, (Insurance Information Institute, 2015). They should be able to decide
when their sons and daughters should drive. It is understood that parents and guardians are the
people in a better position to make such decisions on behalf of their child. Parents can determine
that age at which their child has acquired the ability to make his/her decisions and when they can
undertake the driving task with caution and the ethics it deserves. According to Rogers (2015),
actions such as limiting distracted driving among teen drivers should be taken. Some states have
developed a graduated rider program where one is supposed to undergo certain precautionary
conditions before graduation and to receive their licenses. For instance, at first no passengers are
allowed unless it's an adult. After the driver has gained some experience, they can now bring

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more passengers on board. Strict rules such as zero telephone tolerance should be enhanced to
fasten the fight against teenager caused road accidents.
According to Pettinger (2007), there are four economic benefits of increasing the legal
driving age to 18 years. First is to reduce the number of deaths. He argues that the age bracket of
17-24 being the most involved in car accidents, increasing the age will lead to reduced accidents
within that age and will be beneficial to the economy. Secondly is to cut off congestion. He says
that by increasing the legal driving age will reduce the number of drivers on the road hence
reducing congestion, therefore, an advantage in reducing costs for firms, (Pettinger, 2007). The
third benefit is on maintaining good health and reducing the chances of being obese. Driving
encourages laziness and unwillingness to exercise via walking. Therefore increasing the legal
driving age somehow will increase the walking and cycling population hence reducing obese
cases that in turn will lessen the strain on national health services. The fourth is that young
drivers overestimate their skill. Especially male drivers are most likely to overestimate their
ability to high speed driving and being influenced by peer pressure at school and when in the
company of young passengers, (Pettinger, 2007).
In Dubai, a senior traffic officer argues that the minimum age for obtaining a driving
license should be reduced to 16 years. This is due increased cases whereby young drivers drive
their parents' cars without their consent hence putting their lives in danger. But this argument was
not well accepted by most of the stakeholders. Parents, consultants and driving instructors
opposed the idea stating that there isn't any prove that the 16-year-old have the maturity,
judgement and the level of social responsibility that is necessary to enable them interact safely
on public roads. Simon Labbet, who is a regional director of the British Transport Research

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Laboratory also added to the argument. He said that, young drivers are at a high collision risk
and the risks of granting them a driver's license outweighs the benefits. (Issa 2009).
In the United, Kingdom research has been done and put together some reservations for
the government, (Westcott 2013). In their study, the recommendations included that young
drivers shouldn't be able to qualify for a full driving license until they are 19. In order to effect
the recommendations it proposes that, at the age of 17 the learners should spend at least one year
learning how to drive and improve their skills before taking their test, (Westcott 2013). After this
period, they are also required to spend another one year on probation under some restrictions
some of which are discussed below. For instance, they should not be allowed to drive beyond
2200 hours and earlier than 0500 hours unless accompanied by an elderly person aged over 30
years. The reason given for this restriction is that elderly people are more sensible and can
control the young drivers in cases of over speeding and deliberate ignorance of the road safety
rules and regulations. On the other hand, they will not be allowed to carry on board passengers
who are below 30 years of age. This law is aimed at overcoming incitement by fellow teens that
lead to over speeding and road safety compromise.
According to statistics in Britain, driving is one of the biggest killers of young people.
Accidents caused by young drivers account for 20% of the fatal accidents and yet they drive
about 5% of all the driven miles, (Escobales, 2013). There are other things that should be put in
place alongside raising the legal driving age. Road skills should be thought in schools as part of
the national curriculum, (Westcott 2013). It is important to allow the learners drive for a
minimum of 20 supervised hours at night and 100 hours of the daytime to master the skill. As
indicated on Debate .org (online discussion), 75% of those who support lowering of the legal
driving age are the vulnerable young people who feel that they have been denied their rights.

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25% say no to the lowering of the legal driving age because they care for their young ones and
may have been victims of such circumstances to reach to an understanding that issuance of
driving licenses can bring more negative effects that the positive.
In conclusion, road accidents have been the major cause of deaths among young people.
Any responsible government should put in place measures to take care of it most resourceful
young generation who are the determinants of the future generations. In that case measures such
as lowering the legal driving age should not be compromised as long as it takes care of the rapid
increase in fatal accidents caused by young drivers. The legal authorities should suspend licenses
or an equivalent punishment for those who do not follow the road safety regulations. Youth
drivers are conspired with circumstances in their youth and a mix with lack of experience create
a nasty outcome whereby one in every five youths will cause an accident within their first 6
months of driving, (Escobales 2013). Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the
collective measures that will help the world save its young generation from being lost to
accidents that can be avoided.

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7
References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
2013 YRBS Data Users Guide. National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD,
and TB Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_2013_National_User_Guide.pdf
Debate.org. Should the driving age be lowered? Retrieved from
http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-the-driving-age-be-lowered
Escobales, R. (2013, October 11). Driving age increase to 18 and curfew for new drivers mooted.
The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/11/raisedriving-age-to-18-government-commissioned-report
Insurance Information Institute. (2015). Teen Drivers. Retrieved from http://www.iii.org/issueupdate/teen-drivers
Issa, W. (2009, October 25). Cut driving age to 16, traffic chief says. The national/UAE.
Retrieved from http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/transport/cut-driving-age-to16-traffic-chief-says
Pettinger, T. (2007, December 4). Should Legal Driving Age be Increased to 21?.
Economics.help. Retrieved from
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/95/transport/should-legal-driving-age-be-increasedto-21/
Rogers, M. (2000). Should we Raise the Legal Driving Age? Drive-safely.net. retrieved from
http://www.drive-safely.net/driving-age/
Westcott, R. (2013, October 10). No driving licence until 19?. BBC News. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.com/news/24481574