Lauren Cole

ENG 1101

Casey Flores

5 December 2019

The Driving Age: Should or Shouldn’t be Raised

Driving. Something that seems like everyone wants to do. Just to have freedom. At an

early age, people are so desperate to get their temps and go through all the training that it takes to

become a driver. But just because you go through all the training, classes, and hours that are

required doesn't automatically make you a good drive. It takes years to get good at it. Many

teenage drivers think that they are the greatest driver in the world, but, they're not. The brain is

still developing and they’re immature. This doesn’t make you a bad driver, but there are still

many risk factors that encounter having people drive at such a young age. Through extensive

research, you can tell that the current driving age (16) should be raised, because many teens are

too immature, and they are inexperienced. While some would say that the driving age is good,

because it makes the teens learn responsibility and how to control their behavior, this is not the

case for some people, as they can cause problems on the road.

In the essay titled, The Driving Age Should be Increased, by Robert Davis, it clearly

states that “New findings from brain researchers at the National Institutes of Health [NIH]

explain for the first time why efforts to protect the youngest drivers usually fail. The weak link:

what's called "the executive branch" of the teen brain—the part that weighs risks, makes

judgments and controls impulsive behavior.” (Davis) This article talks about how the teenage

brain hasn’t fully formed yet and so that’s why they should protect it by not driving. The brain

has a signal that weighs the risks and what they can do versus what the rational thing to do is.
The brain hasn’t fully developed until around 26 and so by not have developed, the brain hasn’t

accepted the whole “driving” thing yet and they think it is a simple activity they get to do.

(Robert)

In early December of 2004, Robert made a poll asking the public’s opinion on the driving

age. He discovers that 53% of the people he asked have thought to have the teens wait until 18 or

older to receive their licenses. 61% say that 16 is way too young to get their license, while 37%

say that it is okay. IN 1995 50% had thought that the current driving age is okay the way it is.

(Robert) There are many reasons as to why this percentage has gone up in recent years. One of

these is the teens being more reckless and less caring than before. There have been more

accidents in recent years than in the past years. Some states have been acting in doing something

about this. “limiting the number of passengers they can carry or barring late-night driving.”

(Robert) By doing this, there are fewer teen-related driving accidents and fewer teens staying off

the roads at certain times.

There are many different reals as to what the driving age is in a certain state and that

takes to get one. For example, if someone wanted to get their licenses in Ohio, you have to go

through driving school, go with an instructor and complete 8 hours of driving in the city and

country, drive over 50 hours with your parents, and then take your final test. All of this seems

like a lot, but once they complete everything, they will be happy that it is over and done with. All

of these measures are something that somebody would need to do to get their licenses. The

article written by Adrian Lund and Alex Koroknay-Palizc, who is a writer for the New York

Times, talks about all the measures that some of the states have gone through to help drivers be

more caution on the road for less teen-related accidents. Many states have set their driving age to

be a little high than the average one. For example, “Only New Jersey holds off until 17.” (Lund,

Koroknay-Palizc)
 In the early spring of August in 2019, there was an article published comparing the risky

and aggressive driving behaviors from 2008 to 2019. This article only has statistics, but they are

very useful to the overall topic. In 2008, it was noted that there was less risky behavior then

there was in 2019. (Gale) Phones, distractions or aggressive, are all risk factors when it comes to

driving, but the most significant reason happens to be unknown. The second most reason when it

comes to risky driving is having to drive too fast. In 2008, the highest percentage in risky driving

behavior was not staying in the correct lane. A lot of these stats age-ranged from anywhere to 15

to 80.

Now many people would differ with this statement and say that the driving age is fine or

should be lowered. People say that the lower it is, the more experience you can have. The news

article entitles, Teenager seeks lower driving age to beef up job prospects, by Adam Carey, says

that a high school student, Khalid Iss, has tried to lower his states driving age to focus on his job.

By driving to and from his job, he gets to have an opportunity at a real-life job experience. He

currently lives in Victoria, Australia and desires the driving age to be reduced; it would help

many people, including himself, go from place to place without having to ask someone to

constantly drive. (Carey) This isn’t an incorrect reason to decrease the driving age, but in recent

years, Australia hasn’t had near as many teen crash reports as the United States. This is because

the human mind has matured so much more in those two years and by doing so, teens become

less immature and safer.

To sum it all up, through extensive research, the most harmless decision in everyone's

being is to understand why the current driving age should not be kept the same or even lowered.

It heals the brain if you let it grow a little more until you can become more mature and take less

hazardous behaviors. Every teen should recognize that when it comes to driving, it is okay to

wait a few years and got more informed with driving before going on the road.
 Works Cited

Carey, Adam. “Teenager Seeks Lower Driving Age to Beef up Job Prospects.” Sinclair College

Off-Campus Authentication Form, 14 Feb. 2015, go-gale-

 com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=News&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&se

archResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%

7CA401391500&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAY-

MOD1&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CA401391500&searchId=R14&userGroup

Name=dayt30401&inPS=true.

Davis, Robert. “The Driving Age Should Be Increased.” Sinclair College Off-Campus

Authentication Form, Greenhaven Press, 1 Jan. 2008, go-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Viewpoints&resultListType=RESULT_LIS

T&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GA

LE%7CEJ3010521211&docType=Viewpoint%2Bessay&sort=Relevance&contentSegmen

t=ZXAY-

MOD1&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CEJ3010521211&searchId=R2&userGroup

Name=dayt30401&inPS=true.

Lund, Adrian, and Alex Koroknay-Palicz. “Should the Driving Age Be Raised? More than 5,000

Teenagers Die Each Year in Car Accidents. Some Say They're Getting behind the Wheel

Too Early Citation Metadata.” Sinclair College Off-Campus Authentication Form,

Scholastic, Inc., 4 May 2009, go-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Magazines&resultListType=RESULT_LIS

T&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GA

LE%7CA199683359&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAY-

MOD1&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CA199683359&searchId=R3&userGroupN

ame=dayt30401&inPS=true.
“Perceptions of Risky or Aggressive Driving among US Adults, by Age and Gender, 2018.”

Sinclair College Off-Campus Authentication Form, Gale, a Cengage Company, 16 Aug.

2019, go-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Statistics&resultListType=RESULT_LIST

&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GAL

E%7CZAHMKY901923201&docType=Interactive%2Binfogram&sort=Relevance&conte

ntSegment=ZXAY-

MOD1&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CZAHMKY901923201&searchId=R4&use

rGroupName=dayt30401&inPS=true.