Is the driving age where it should be or should it be higher?
By megamatt
@megamatt (14292)
United States
December 21, 2010 10:51am CST
In the United States at least the driving age is sixteen, although it might vary around the world. I heard a statistic that one out of every three drives that get into an accident do so between the age of sixteen and twenty one. That just really might tell you that the driving age might need to be raised a little bit. For some people, sixteen is too young to be on the road, because they are not properly mature. I think that it should be raised until at least eighteen years old. I think that there will be less accidents and less potential fatalities. What do you think?
1 person likes this
12 responses
@Renhard (3471)
• Jamaica
22 Dec 10
I can bet most people are going to say it is best to higher the age because the rate of which accidents or occuring. i agree with this. but still i will have to be bias on this situation instead because of my reason. I have waiting for so long to drive. I am now 17 years old and in my country i can only have a learners at this age. now i am going to have to wait until about another year before i can try applying for drivers license. i really need it to drive go to school because taking bus is so inefficient. If i miss a certain bus i cant reach home back or i cant go to school. The thing about it is that 17 year old can still get there license but they have to do it by buying it. the illegal way. i know that is possible because my friend father bought it for him. my father would never think of doing that for me because he wants me to go the right way. I have no problem with that though. I just really want that one year to run off quickly so i can try applying for it. I really need it.
@Renhard (3471)
• Jamaica
22 Dec 10
but then again its not all about age. Like i said I am 17 years old and i can already drive my father truck perfectly and the manual car( i hate automatic). The thing is that the period in which you could get your learners license and your drivers license is too short. So keep in mind somebody who has never went around the steering of a car. They would have only a year after they got their learners license before they can drive. now that is inexperience still. what you find is that most people just study a driving book but can never put it into practice. They know the information in their head but cant apply it. I remember seeing a man reversing without looking behind him and the time when he actually start to look behind is when he heard someone scream out. But I am going to be honest and i think this is for most teenagers, when I am driving a car i tend to cant realize that i am going fast, atleast i use to do that. When i actually stop is when i actually dropin a pot hole and d side of the car bounce up high nearly flipping over just from that simple pothole that i think i could dodge with speed. Anyway because of that i tend to always remember my speed. But not all teenage drivers experience something significant in driving so they wont know how to deal with a big situation when it arise. There are only going to get scared and panic.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
22 Dec 10
I think that when you look at this through a twenty two year old set of eyes, as opposed to a seventeen year old set of eyes, then it is a different thing. Still that one more year of learning could save from a potential accident, so who is to say. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
@ashwinanand (582)
• India
21 Dec 10
Its 16 in US but in India its 18 it does not matter about the age its the skills and the reposibility that matters if i have to say something i am driving from the age of
12-13 i am driving and till date i have never even made a scratch on my car its the way you drive that matters and one more thing in US you follow the rules but here in India there are rules but never followed.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
21 Dec 10
Yes, responsibility, that is the key? Of course, if the parents actually drill that into the head of their children from a young age, then their will be fewer problems. Of course, teenagers will be teenagers and that could also be part of it, but the biggest part is the responsibility or lack there of. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
@ANIME123 (2466)
• United States
22 Dec 10
Well yeah it's usually us people like that me that our young and we have a ways to learn when we barely start out because we really don't know much, but hey everybody starts off somewhere and everybody learns from their mistakes even so I am a bit scared of getting into an accident, but I am always careful so I think that I will be good with each drive I just get better and better, but even the ones that drive for a long time still get into accidents. It happens to almost everybody one time in their life so it's always a good idea to be careful and to have insurance because one never wants to be driving with out insurance that is just a bad move right there.
So far though I only have a driving permit and I am really nervous because I will have to take my test soon and that's why I have to keep practicing I mean if it was just me in the car than I wouldn't be so nervous, but now their is going to be a person next to me pretty much scoring me on how I do because that's their job, but it's just so nerve wracking I am such a nervous person.
So far though I only have a driving permit and I am really nervous because I will have to take my test soon and that's why I have to keep practicing I mean if it was just me in the car than I wouldn't be so nervous, but now their is going to be a person next to me pretty much scoring me on how I do because that's their job, but it's just so nerve wracking I am such a nervous person.@megamatt (14292)
• United States
22 Dec 10
Indeed, you could be driving for years and years. Accidents still happen. But they do seem to happen a lot more with inexperienced drivers. Or maybe because that's what we tend to hear about a lot of the time. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
@kukueye (1759)
• Malaysia
22 Dec 10
in my location sixteen is license to drive motorcycle, 18 for car and 21 for voting , personally i think 16 years old is little young for driving anything , it is the age where the phallus rules drive my emotion etc. However, thinking about it even older people sometime drive like that.Maybe a point deduction system can be incorporated into driving license, which any accident will deduct the points if too many accident then penalty is inposted.
@spencari (265)
• Indonesia
22 Dec 10
the simply reason for sixteen years old driver is careless to drive a car !!. they never know the impact if they disobey the regulation will caused danger for other people and for themselves. driving with high speed without notice the sign, driving with drunk or talking with their friend may be personality test must included in driving test as requirement to get driving license..
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
22 Dec 10
Indeed, it is really something hard for many teenagers to really fully understand. Especially drinking and driving are a very lethal mixture. Just use your brains people. They were not put in your head just to fill the space in between your ears. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
@zeroflashx2 (2491)
• Philippines
24 Jan 11
Here in the Philippines, you can start as early as 16. One could already carry a student driver's license and when he/she turns 17, a non-professional driver's license can be acquired. Well, I really can't say if it should be higher or not. It's really difficult to gauge a person's ability to drive and how he/she handles his/her emotions and different situations on the road.
I think it would be best to polish new driver's license application processes in order to really sort out who are fit to drive or not. Administer stricter road tests and written exams should do the trick. I personally have seen some who cheat on driving exams.
Maturity depends on person to person and some are already mature even at the young age of 15. It's probably an experience that made them that way. They may already be working at a young age therefore they are exposed to responsibility which could result in responsible driving. But then, it may help if it is raised to the legal age which is 18. More experience, the higher the chances a person is matured.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
22 Dec 10
I do think it should be lifted to higher as driving really is about defensive driving more so these days and at 16 here in the US it surely is not enough experience yet. Especially when the weather gets so bad they really have no clue as to how to take some control.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
22 Dec 10
The weather can lead to some hazardous situations with experienced drivers on the road. Add in the unexperienced drivers to the mix and things can get quite ugly. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
@nikelaz (33)
• Bulgaria
22 Dec 10
In many countries the driving age is not sixteen. In my country - Bulgaria its 18. I think in all countries in Europe its 18. Yes, I think that it should be raised. For example in Canada the driving age is 21. In other side I think its not bad because:
1.Its a good audition for the teenagers to have a car... you know you start to think about girls when you are sixteen and.. the car is not a bad think and..
2. If a sixteen year old wanna drive a car (in Bulgaria for example, where the driving age is 18) he drives without a driver profile... and that's worst because he don't even know how to drive the car!
So.. finally i think that the driving age is fine in the U.S.
@titchy1231 (732)
•
22 Dec 10
it used to be 18 here then it changed to 17, but i think the drinking age should change to 21
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
22 Dec 10
Yep that seems like a good happy medium. Young enough where it is not too much longer of a wait(really two years goes by pretty quickly all things considered). But at least a bit more mature. Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated and it contributed to the topic well. Have a nice day and thanks.
