Raising driving age from 16 to 18 in america term

Vehicle accident, South America, Transportation, Americas

Research from Term Paper:

Americans happen to be in love with their very own automobiles. In a country in which every household averages two cars, the availability of personal, power-driven vehicle can be not a high-class, but rather absolutely essential. We often take for granted the options afforded simply by our power-driven society. Rather than relying on mass transit, those with automobiles have luxury and convenience of journeying on their own time, and of their particular means (ofcourse not to mention the certain facet of privacy also associated with cars).

The automobile, nevertheless , has a dark side. Pollution and traffic congestion are concerns, nevertheless the greatest problems associated with cars are their very own safety, or perhaps lack thereof. Car accidents are one of the main killers in the country each year, accounting for about forty, 000 deaths in the year 2001 alone (DriveHomeSafe website). In fact , it has been approximated by the Nationwide Highway Vehicles Safety Operations (NHTSA) that 1 out of every 5 drivers will be involved in an accident during their lifetimes (“Beginning Teenage Drivers”). Of course , not every accident leads to a fatality, but fairly minor incidents can cause substantive injury.

It has been a goal in the NHTSA, the legislators in Washington, and local and point out governments for a long time to improve safety on Many roads (“Beginning Teenage Drivers”). These attempts have typically come in the proper execution of procedures taken to enhance the safety from the cars themselves, for example , mandatory seatbelt laws pertaining to vehicle manufacturers were passed almost 50 years ago. Recently, a few states have passed mandatory seatbelt rules pertaining to motorists. Also implemented was a national guideline concerning blood alcoholic beverages levels intended for drivers. While these initiatives have helped increase the basic safety on Many roads, they have not carried out enough to curb the large amounts of injuries that take place each year.

I believe that lawmakers are ignoring one of the main issues pertaining to street safety, which can be, teenage generating. According into a 2001 issue of the Record of Trauma Nursing, car crashes account for 6, 000 deaths annually of American teens, however this age bracket constitutes just 6. 7% of the total driving population (Direnfeld). The author of the document, Gary Direnfeld, goes on to believe the fact that teenagers are the cause of 14% of all of the fatal accidents in the country justifies attention by lawmakers and policymakers. This individual writes, “Given that automobile crashes will be the leading reason behind injury and death in teens, you can pretty much admit teens drive themselves to trauma centers. And, they do this in record numbers” (Direnfeld).

The issue of young drivers has been addressed before, but obviously, the actions taken to improve their safety have done little to curb the number of accidents teenagers are involved in. To be able to address the challenge effectively, we should first check out the reasons why young adults are more susceptible to accidents then a rest of the driving population.

Based on the DriveHomeSafe website, there are a number of things more identifiable with teenagers than other age groups. Firstly, the teenage life-style is more favorable to drowsiness on the road than any other lifestyles. It is just a known reality teenagers use later hours out at night, often making them to drive past midnight (a period when our systems naturally happen to be drowsy). A write-up within the site titled “Teens Human Elements Harmfully Influence Their Driving, ” emphasizes the correlation between teen drivers and drowsiness, “Teen drivers really are a higher risk to push when drowsy than older drivers. Teenagers do not get all the sleep as it should. Drowsiness impairs judgement and is also likely to be a factor when teens drive through the night. ” Other factors affecting the crash rate with teenagers are more related to using the driving abilities of the persons. The same site lists a pair of the most important types: teens start as new drivers with very little teaching, and, young adults are more vulnerable to distractions than any other age group.

In summarizing the main reasons for the improved accidents of teenagers, it might be inferred that a lack of knowledge is the major culprit. Therefore , in order to properly address this issue, lawmakers ought to find approaches to legally need more training and highway experience before licensing teens. My pitch is that the government pass a law (similar in range to the one particular passed pertaining to blood alcohol) requiring almost all drivers to become minimum associated with 18. Because the law stands today, there is not any federal mandate regarding guard licensing and training age minimum. In fact , a number of states simply need individuals to reach the age of 15 to obtain a license (DriveHomeSafe website). Some claims, in planning to provide even more experience, use a “graduated” way of licensing. This method licenses persons as youthful as sixteen, but needs certain mandates before full driver benefits are naturally (DriveHomeSafe website). These mandates can include: the necessity for a licensed driver within the car at all times, only two friends allowed, and so forth (DriveHomeSafe website).

The managed to graduate licensing system is without a doubt one step in the right direction, yet I continue to think that it misses the real key. Mandates or no mandates, each time a 16-year-old is positioned behind the wheel of an automobile, she or he is in direct control of that. It is not like the qualified passenger will make up for the newly licensed driver’s lack of experience. Whilst these courses have been proved to be effective in the us they are used, the scope of their efficiency is still not what it must be. Accidents involving teenagers within just these says are still the highest among age groups.

Again, this challenge needs to be put in the context of inexperience, which I think relates more to age than anything else does. Andrew Dys, a writer pertaining to the Sc Herald, reported on the outcry from family members around the express urging lawmakers to raise the driving age group. The reason this individual cites deficiency of experience on the highway, mostly as a result of a lack of maturity (Dys). Many of those in which he interviewed declared that fifteen and sixteen-year-olds are simply too youthful to be when driving (Dys). They may be not even halfway through high school, and they are quickly allowed immediate access to the active roads of America.

Collectively policy or regulation, you will discover going to be opponents. The main argument against raising the driving era to 18 is based around regarding individual liberty (Direnfeld). The fact that our lifestyle has allowed teenagers to drive independently at the fresh ages of 15 and 16 to get so long causes it to be very hard to quickly step up the regulation of this activity. Teenagers want their particular independence, and it is often the case, father and mother want to offer that self-reliance. Often , the ability of vehicles allows college students to perform their own organization with much larger ease, such as: driving to varsity, sports, chores, work, and so forth The discussion has been manufactured that getting rid of car liberties would make decrease of many of these activities. Lessening these activities, opponents claim, often causes drug employ and delinquency in teenagers.

When the task of raising the driving age was introduced in Kansas, it absolutely was immediately attacked by the Kansas Farm Bureau, which claimed that kid drivers were essential for the operation of family facilities. John Lechliter, a writer pertaining to the Garden Metropolis Telegram summed it up, “Our region includes a wealth of friends and family farms, and an independent mother nature that innately resists state and federal commandments. It can long been a tradition around these kinds of parts that will put kids driving as soon as they’re big enough to reach the throtle. “

A few critics likewise contend which the focus of policymaking should be within the design of just, rather than those that operate them. They point to car accident data, which shows that injuries continual were as a result of what they consider “faulty” design and style. In their publication, The Have difficulty for Car Safety, Jerry Mashaw and David Harfst write, “The epidemiologist is usually led practically inexorably, when ever asked to spell out the cause of the injury, certainly not the cause of the accident. Using this perspective avoiding the incident is only one of many strategies for stopping or ameliorating the injury” (3).

The opponents’ discussion certainly has some merit – it would certainly be more challenging for teenagers to find means of vehicles, and in some cases, teens need the ability to operate vehicles for economical reasons (as for the argument about design flaw – I do believe the responsibility of drivers can never be underestimated). Nevertheless, regardless of policymaking, one has to balance the pros with the downsides, and in the case, it is convenience vs . protection. If it was only a number of teenagers that died annually, then maybe the convenience of millions of other folks might take priority, but this is simply not the case. Half a dozen thousand young adults die annually due to car accidents, and the significant cause can be not medication related, liquor related, and even solely owing to drowsiness. The true reason this number is indeed high is basically because teenagers