Politicians in Washington could soon agree to a law that prevents teens from having full driving ability until they are 21. The STANDUP Act, or the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act would make states enforce the minimum Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) requirements in order to receive full transportation funding. It would require teens to go through a 3-stage licensing process and obey many other new laws.
Why would a teen driver want this law? Teens have a whole new level of independence when getting a license. Restricting teen drivers to all these new laws is just the government being vigilant about drivers’ safety on roadways. The STANDUP Act could make all roadways safer, however, it will have a negative impact on teens’ lives with athletics, academics, and jobs.
A permanent ban like the STANDUP Act will have a drastically negative impact on all teen drivers. Teens not having the ability to drive during nighttime will cause them to lose job because they would have no way of getting there and back. Also, they would have trouble being totally focused on athletics and academics because they would be stressed trying to figure out how to get another job and make money without having the ability to drive during the nighttime.
On the other hand, not allowing teens to drive freely could get them more focused on school and academics. Also, it would save thousands of lives on the roadways because more teens would be better drivers because of the STANDUP Act.
The STANDUP Act overall will have more of a negative impact on teens because then they lose their freedom of being behind the wheel along with losing independence teens receive when earning their license. The STANDUP Act should be tabled immediately so that teens can keep their driving freedom.