By Dallas Bordon
dallasb32@yahoo.com
Should the age requirement for teens to obtain a driver’s license be changed from 16 to 18 years old?
This argument has been a hot topic for some time now. I find myself straddling the fence on this subject. I understand the pros and cons of both sides of the argument, but some of the stats that support a change can be alarming. More than 5,000 U.S. teens die each year in car wrecks. The rate of wrecks, fatal or nonfatal, per mile driven for 16 year old teens is almost 10 times the rate for drivers ages 30 to 59 according to the National Highway Safety Administration. However, we live in a society where driving is essential for teens as young as 16 to drive to school or work.
As in most families, both parents hold jobs and are unable to taxi their teens to various functions like jobs and extracurricular activities. With teens being able to drive, allowing them a license to do so at 16 takes the burden off the parents.
At age 15, you are allowed to obtain a learner’s permit to drive in the company of an adult. Then at age 16 and after a few other requirements are met, you can test and receive a license to drive alone. For me at age 16, I remember the excitement of being able to drive without someone in the car, but then again, I can remember how scared I was behind the wheel. So frightened that I would sink my fingernails into the steering wheel and would sit stiff as a board from being nervous. Being too nervous was a bad thing and the fact that I drove at such a slow pace for the first few months was equally as bad; both of which could have easily caused an accident.
My nervousness stemmed from the fact that my inexperience and maturity levels were well short of where they needed to be to operate a vehicle alone. Two years of driving with a learner’s permit only, would have better prepared me to steer the ship without supervision.
I wasn’t a teen who counted down the days until I turned 16 and was able to obtain a license; it just wasn’t a big deal for me. For my parents however, my ability to drive myself to practice, school and other functions in my stylish 1974 blue four-door Nova eliminated their services of having to chauffeur me around town. It was a blessing for them, but still the questions remain today: is 16 too young to drive? Would raising the age to 17 or 18 allow a teen much needed time to gain more experience before getting on the roads unsupervised? Does someone who is 16 possess enough maturity to understand the dangers and consequences of such a huge responsibility of driving alone?
I still ride the fence on the subject and still toss around in my mind the pros and cons of the age limits. Would changing the age requirement to 18 do anything to reduce the number of teenage car accidents? If the age requirement changed to 18, would 16 and 17 be good ages for teens to have a learner’s permit allowing them two years of supervised training behind the wheel? Receiving a learner’s permit at 15 would not be an option.
Regardless of what the law states, each parent has the responsibility of deciding if their teen is capable of driving solo at the age of 16. By law the age is set at 16 as a minimum age; however, we as parents should make the final decision if our kids are ready or if they need a longer training period. After all, driving should be viewed as a privilege not a right.
According to drivesteady.com there are two statistics that are very alarming. Teens have the highest chance of having a fatal crash within the first six months of getting their driver’s license. Also, teen drivers are more likely to be involved in a crash during their first year of driving.
So the question remains; is 16 too young to drive? As a dad, I’m still deciding.
As in most families, both parents hold jobs and are unable to taxi their teens to various functions like jobs and extracurricular activities. With teens being able to drive, allowing them a license to do so at 16 takes the burden off the parents.
At age 15, you are allowed to obtain a learner’s permit to drive in the company of an adult. Then at age 16 and after a few other requirements are met, you can test and receive a license to drive alone. For me at age 16, I remember the excitement of being able to drive without someone in the car, but then again, I can remember how scared I was behind the wheel. So frightened that I would sink my fingernails into the steering wheel and would sit stiff as a board from being nervous. Being too nervous was a bad thing and the fact that I drove at such a slow pace for the first few months was equally as bad; both of which could have easily caused an accident.
My nervousness stemmed from the fact that my inexperience and maturity levels were well short of where they needed to be to operate a vehicle alone. Two years of driving with a learner’s permit only, would have better prepared me to steer the ship without supervision.
I wasn’t a teen who counted down the days until I turned 16 and was able to obtain a license; it just wasn’t a big deal for me. For my parents however, my ability to drive myself to practice, school and other functions in my stylish 1974 blue four-door Nova eliminated their services of having to chauffeur me around town. It was a blessing for them, but still the questions remain today: is 16 too young to drive? Would raising the age to 17 or 18 allow a teen much needed time to gain more experience before getting on the roads unsupervised? Does someone who is 16 possess enough maturity to understand the dangers and consequences of such a huge responsibility of driving alone?
I still ride the fence on the subject and still toss around in my mind the pros and cons of the age limits. Would changing the age requirement to 18 do anything to reduce the number of teenage car accidents? If the age requirement changed to 18, would 16 and 17 be good ages for teens to have a learner’s permit allowing them two years of supervised training behind the wheel? Receiving a learner’s permit at 15 would not be an option.
Regardless of what the law states, each parent has the responsibility of deciding if their teen is capable of driving solo at the age of 16. By law the age is set at 16 as a minimum age; however, we as parents should make the final decision if our kids are ready or if they need a longer training period. After all, driving should be viewed as a privilege not a right.
According to drivesteady.com there are two statistics that are very alarming. Teens have the highest chance of having a fatal crash within the first six months of getting their driver’s license. Also, teen drivers are more likely to be involved in a crash during their first year of driving.
So the question remains; is 16 too young to drive? As a dad, I’m still deciding.
