Driving Age | Teen Ink

Driving Age

May 16, 2016
By broderick SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
broderick SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

There’s 53 million kids from 5-17 years old in the USA around 24 million of them can drive. If the driving age would be raised to 18 that would mean those 24 million drivers would be taken off the road according to the US census. Everyone pushing for a higher age limit for driving is saying that crashes are caused by age but your age doesn’t make decisions experience does. Crashes are caused from inexperience. In this article i’m discussing four major reasons to leave the driving age at 16.

 

9.6 million teenagers work said by CNN if none of them could drive many would not be able to work which would be a hard hit on small businesses. Most small businesses count on teenagers to work for them. Some teenagers would still be able to but others would not have a ride to work.  Pizza companies and other delivery companies could not hire teenagers because they would be of no use to them. Then teenagers would not be able to make money for college. Experience comes with age but how would kids get experience if the driving age is raised?
If the driving age gets raised to 18 that would mean they would get their permit at 17 that’s still only one year of experience. The only thing that would change is the age the most crashes would happen between 17-18. According to the article “Drinking in College” by Villanova college counseling center, 80 percent of college students drink. Most students enroll for college when they’re 18. That would mean college students would have to juggle drinking, driving, and going to college isn't that dangerous? Having a kid that can drive takes a lot of stress off parents.
When kids start to drive it takes a lot of stress off their parents. The parents don’t have to pick their kids up from school and sports practices. The kids finally have some freedom to do what they want and that actually gives the parents some more freedom as well  because they don’t always have to worry about picking their kids up. When kids start to drive it’s a big responsibility and parents should be there to help. When students are in college parents would not be able to do that.


My last point i’m going to talk about is the penalty for driving without a license. As of now the penalty for driving without a license is no license until 18 but if it was raised how would the law stop teenagers from driving, They get their license at 18 anyway so why not drive? Maybe they would raise it to 21 but that means then they're adults that can't drive. Then they probably wouldn't be able to do anything or work until they're 21 unless they're city had public transportation. Many rural towns do not, what would those kids do?


Driving is a big privilege one that should not be taken from 16yr olds. I have stated three reasons why it should not be raised to 18. Small business would lose workers and profits. Learning to drive in college would be too hard on students. A kid that can drive takes a lot parents stress off parents. Those three reasons clearly show why the driving age should stay at 16.



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