Raising the Driving Age

For at least the last ten historic period, the rejoinder of whether or not to open fire the hotheaded bestride to 18 years old has been a touchy subject on every take aim of the spectrum from State avenue Safety Association to young ripenrs and everybody in between. Although everyone has some st ripencoach of approval that raising the driving epoch would be a approximate idea no one has re solely(a)y put forth the labour to actually gift it come to pass. This has lead to the ongoing debate of whether it should crimson be a reflexion anymore.There be several reasons that establishing the driving progress at 18 is a legitimate idea. First, by having the driving grow moved to the minimum of 18 this fuck be both environmentally and economically commendable. Also, youngrs under the age of 18 are more mentally underdeveloped when it comes to making vocalise decisions on the road, which then leads teenagers to having one of the highest human death rates involving trav els. Global warming has become key issue all everywhere the gentlemans gentleman, especially in more over-crowded counties and cities, imputable to higher(prenominal) glitz of emissions being released into the air.In the year 2000, the Carbon Emissions that are released into the air by cars in the united States is 302 Million Metric tons (MMTc) (Environmental). In that equal year, in that location were 190 million licensed device drivers in the United States, and 9,743,000 were drivers under the age of 19 (U. S), thats five percent of the population. I know it doesnt seem like that much scarcely when when you take in consideration the total emissions being released into the air and multiply it by the good turn of teenage drivers, that will reduce the amount of emissions by 15. MMTc. People are frightening to help stop global warming one way we can do this is to reduce the amount of drivers on the roads and create a more accessible public transportation in rural areas. incr ease the age for driving would also be beneficial to parents of teen drivers due to the fact that insuring a teen driver is very expensive. A fresh study, in 2009-2010 for a one-car family to insure their teen-driver would raise their premium 42 percent, 58 percent for a two-car family and 62 percent for a three-car family (Schultz).An number of $620 dollars a year is what parents pay to add their child to their indemnity (Bradford). That is one child, I come from a family of five and eleven years ago, when I off sixteen my parents already had two teen drivers on their auto insurance and we were living off two teacher salaries. By the year 2000 the average teacher in Texas was making 37,576 (IES) that would leave them with a combined income of fair over 75 thousand a year.Paying an average of $620 dollars per teen driver wouldnt dumbfound gone over well with living expenses, so needless to say, I got my divers license merely I wasnt able to drive until I was 18. There are alwa ys two sides to an argument, Parents grow weary of driving their kids for one place to the next interrupting their bear busy schedules to drive their teen to their next social event. Bill forefront Tassel, AAAs case manager for driving training programs says We fill parents who are pretty much tired of chauffeuring their kids around, and further want them to be able to drive (Davis).This is completely understandable, with todays busy world no one has time for anything but does it really merit displace a population of underdeveloped minds so-and-so the wheel for our own gadget? Which brings me to my next point are teens mentally mature enough to be granted with the responsibility of driving a car? In 2005, impudent findings in flair research at the National Institutes of Health explicate why efforts to nurse teen drivers usually fail. The scientists at the NIH in Bethesda, Md. have found that a part of the brain that weighs risks, starts judgments and controls impulse beh avior which is referred to as the executive branch is still developing in teenage years and isnt fully matured until the age of 25 (Davis). These findings should be certainty alone that teens are too immature to handle the responsibilities that come with driving a car. Teens are already emotional and compulsive more so then most adults, giving them keys to a vehicle could be potentially one of the worse ideas in history.Teens gullt process consequences the same way adults do, they rely more on the emotional part of their brains to make their decisions. Which is why when a teen is driving 15 to 20 miles over the speed limit the part of their brain that processes thrill is working bright But the part that cautions of negative consequences, is all but useless, explains Jay Giedd, chief of brain imaging in the child psychiatric unit at the National Institute of Mental Health (Davis). Parents see their newly licensed teen river as additional help for running errands and taking younger siblings to events and practices, but when it comes to handling issues that may arise on the road to and from their destination teenagers fitting dont have the mental maturity to consider the consequences of unstable behavior. When I was still in high school two friends of exploit were bragging one morning of their reckless and very dangerous excursion across town in the pouring rain without their windshield wipers on, in effect(p) be vex they wanted to see how far they could go.I would advocate this as a true example, that teenagers are indeed too immature and reckless to be disposed the responsibilities of driving. Of course one would advocate that not all teenagers are as immature and ir amenable as most, in fact there are some parents that would make their teen a poster-child for safe driving but there are always exceptions to the rules. Adolescent drivers no yield how responsible they prove themselves to be dont have the mental cultivation to properly react to hazardo us situations that arise on the road.The research above leads to my next topic, Due to their inability to asses dangers that come up while driving, a teen driver is more likely to be involved in or the cause of an automobile solidus. In 2009, about 3,000 teens in the United States aged 1519 were killed andmore than 350,000 were treated in soupcon departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes (CDC). With this information, one would wonder why the driving age has to that extent to be raised.Yet, despite the increasing number of teens dying in automotive accidents, there has yet to be a successful bill passed to raise the driving age. In September of 2008, lawmakers in Delaware, Florida, Georgia and Massachusetts introduced a bill to raise their driving age to 17 they all failed (Rubin). around people are lead to believe that raising the driving age will not prevent teen deaths, rather just stick up them, because maturity has no weight on teen driving, its all down to experience It is this rational that is keeping teen drivers behind the wheel.Most states have a probationary period where teen must follow guidelines such as * Night driving is prohibited for the first six months unless he/ she are accompanied by a licensed driver. * A rider limitation of only one passenger under the age of 20 for the first six months unless a parent or guardian is present. * During the import six months only three passengers under 20 (Pabst) These restrictions have had only modest success, but with the judgment center of the teen brain not fully developed there remains a struggle to indoctrinate decision making skills in immature drivers (Davis).Most of these restrictions are left to the parents to utilize and these poorly enforced restrictions dont seem to be circumstances stop the high volume of deaths due to irresponsible teenagers being given the right to drive. In 2006, my beget was killed in accident involving a teenage driver, who neglected to follo w the speed limit, and disregarded the stop school bus with its lights on, and plowed right into the back of the vehicle behind my father causing it to hit my father on his motorcycle. I dont know what she was doing to completely miss the big yellow stop school bus, and the car right next to it, but it cost my father his life.The only argument against the high rate of death and injury cause by the sober mind of a teenager, are the high number of deaths caused by intoxicated driver. In 2003, 10 percent of the 16-year-old deaths in automobile accidents had a blood alcohol level of 0. 10 or higher compared to the 43 percent of 20- 49 year-olds drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (Davis). The government has made it illegal to drive intoxicated to protect the lives of their people, so why cant they raise the driving age to save even more lives?Raising the driving age is something that should be taken with the highest regard, but there are people who dont quit e understand the severity of this particular situation and would simply argue that driving there teen around is an inconvenience to them and a licking for their teen. In actuality by having the driving age moved to the minimum for 18 can be both environmentally and economically commendable. Also, teenagers under the age of 18 are more mentally immature when it comes to making sound decisions on the road, which then leads teenagers to having one of the highest fatality rates involving automobiles.Having an understanding of the matter is very important people shouldnt ignore this topic just because it doesnt fit into todays busy and ever maturement world.