The Minimum Driving Age Should Stay at 16 | Teen Ink

The Minimum Driving Age Should Stay at 16

May 28, 2019
By VasilijeN GOLD, Tirana, Other
VasilijeN GOLD, Tirana, Other
12 articles 0 photos 4 comments

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In the United States the minimum legal driving age is going around 14 and 16, it has been that way since the 1920s. And it makes sense to keep it that way since it has proven to be useful for teens to realize responsibility and learn how to drive at a young age, since the way we work, travel, and life is powered by cars.

South Carolina has adopted graduated driving privileges, which is a sensible way to reduce the risk. In South Carolina teens can get a beginner's permit with a written test at age 15. They are required to have an adult over age 21 with them at all times when they drive. This is a good way to ensure safety when driving. Many teens also have part-time jobs that require trips across town, or from one community into another - areas not served 24/7 by public transportation, if at all. Working parents also often depend on children to drive younger siblings to their various activities. Drivers licenses for teens downstate are often major conveniences for families. This will conveniently make it easier for everyone ("No Need To Increase Minimum Driving Age").

Teens are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities at school, activities that often don't mesh with the hours of working parents. So they need independent transportation. I think that this will also ensure that they are seen as responsible and independent adults, not some irresponsible children.

Although that age group is the most accident predominant, we need to find ways to ensure that they know the true responsibility of driving, and do yearly tests until the age of 21, this might seem a little extreme, but a lot of accidents happen, and we need to make sure that we don’t have anymore accidents. This system has proven very useful in the state of South Carolina, where they need to take a psychiatric exam at the age of 15 to see if they are fit to drive a vehicle, or if they can handle the responsibility. And the prospects for accidents in the future have shown that accidents will drop significantly in the state of South Carolina, and if other states apply this accidents will drop by a lot.

In conclusion it is not a bad choice to keep the legal driving age to 16, unsupervised, but some alterations need to be made like the tests that South Carolina has for 15 year olds, where they test their thoughts and see if they are ready for the road. The future for safety of drivers would be way better if all states adopted this program, and although it is the most accident-prone age group it is a big step down to just raise it and remove all sense of responsibility and independence from these teens.



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