Im doing and essay and i need to know if there is more car accidents in winter or summer. ....................?

The Padre

I'm not sure how the summer/winter accident stats will help you, given that people turn 16 or 18 year round, but... accident rates are lower in the winter, including in Minnesota. This is in large part because people are more likely to be on vacation in the summer, and thus have more time to spend on the road. [The argument could be made that it would be a good idea to raise the licensing age to 18 or higher, since it is particularly high school students who have the summers off-- other people still have to work-- so the increase in accidents could be blamed on the number of 16 to 18 year olds let out of school during the summer months. Of course, to actually show that, you'd have to further break down the accidents by month and by age, which I haven't seen done.]

The argument in favor of raising the driving age has largely to do with the fact that drivers between 16 and 18 have a higher percentage of car accidents than other age groups. Some of that is due to maturity (and I'm sorry, but it's true that 16 year olds aren't yet fully mature-- that's standard Cognitive Development Theory)... but it is also largely because 16 year olds don;t have the experience to be good drivers-- they haven't done it long enough. On average, 18 year old are better drivers because they've driven two years longer.

If you raise the licensing age to 18, then 18 year old will be the ones with insufficient experience, and their accident rates will go up. ANY new driver is worse than an experienced one, at whatever age... so that argument for raising the age doesn't fly.

An argument you could make is that, while it is true that 18 year old are more cognitively mature than 16 year olds, that added maturity is offset by their added access to alcohol in university or military settings (despite the 21 year old drinking age). Having brand new drivers also be brand new drinkers could be a really bad idea...

A second argument is economic. In many vacation areas (beach communities, theme parks, etc.) the primary business is done during the summer, and much of the work force is 16-18 year old seasonal labor, working while school is out. What would the economic damage be to communities dependent on summer recreation (an example is Myrtle Beach, SC, that actually lobbied the SC state legislature to change school holiday dates to keep their high school employees), if those high school employees didn't have transportation and were unable to get to their jobs? We're not talking about kids without spending money-- we're talking about seriously damaging the economies of entire communities, at a time of economic crisis in America.

[That's an argument your teacher probably won't see coming! You can google the Myrtle Beach case-- it was in the Charleston 'Post and Courier' newspaper extensively, 2-3 years ago...]

Good luck!

tonyr0110

Summer because more people drive in the summer, inflation and gas prices are usually at all time high...supply and demand.....more people demand in the summer then winter, therefore there are more accidents

CASEY F

As far as accident statistics you might be able to talk to someone at your local police department. They keep accident reports and they might give you some statistics if you tell them what you need them for.

vballer4muhlyfe

idk but you should add that if people get their license at 18 many of them would be going off to collage where they would barely drive (if at all). So they would have there license and be able to drive for pretty much the first time at about 22 years old..... not good if you throw alcohol into the mix

Also you should say that it is more the inexperience of driving that leads to the increase in accident rates (which is if you are 18 or 16), not the age level of the driver

Lastly you could add how at 18 no one is making sure you drive saftly where at 16 your parents are checking up on you

Good luck

UCANTCME

Try this site it is very helpful.........

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Crashes/CrashesTime.aspx

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