Should the legal driving age be raised to 18?

Cheyne

No. Then a lot of teenagers wouldn't be able to maintain jobs, and it would put more pressure on the parents.
The school buses would become SO crowded and it would overall anger the youth of our country to the point of riots.

alita

I don't think so, but I like the new restricted license they have for new drivers here in Michigan. New drivers can't have other young people in the car, can't drive at night.

Nibs

If you dont know why it should change why do you support it?

T-Bear

well if i was under 18 i would say no, but i didn't get my license until i was 18 and i had my permit since i was 16. therefor i had 2 years to practice driving and i have not yet been in an accident and i am 19 now. I think the driving age should be raised to 18 but i think that kids should still be able to get their permit at 16 so they have plenty of time to practice driving with their parents.

Erin

No. Many kids of that age are at college. I did most of my early driving at 17 AT college and that was bad enough. If you forced all early drivers to learn in the first year or two they are away from home, you'd be encouraging them all to learn from their buddies who have little experience themselves, often in cities or on campus with other new drivers (rather than suburbs) - it's a bad situation to be thrown into. They're not going to be perfect at first. Let them make their mistakes at home so they are okay once they've moved out.

Edward Sockethands

I have found that, most times, the maturity of the average driver doesn't get much better. I see 40, 50, 60 year old drivers speeding, tailgating, not letting people in, showing impatience ALL the time.

So if it's not a maturity issue, then it becomes an experience issue. And in that case, no matter what the age group is, the first-time driver is going to be the most accident prone no matter how high that age is.

Ellie

Yes.
In Australia we have L plates, green P's and red P's. Plates are just a sticker you put on your car, and you have certain probations.

In Ausralia, the driving age is 18, but you can get your Learners' permit when you are 16, but you must always be driving with someone who has a full license. There are way less road fatalities in Australia compared to America.
The Australian government also bought in new laws that every learner driver has to do 120 hours of driving before they can get their P plates.

Alice

No, 16 is fine age. Waiting until your 18 is just so inconvenient!

shamoose

It depends on statistics, how many accidents involving our youth !

Sarah <33

NO,

person

yes because teenagers are getting into and causing accidents. they are not mature enough

Trevor

It shouldn't.

One character representative of the American dream is the carefree high schooler with the freedom and independence of his own car. Raising the driving age to 18 would probably reduce the number of traffic collisions involving young drivers (if not only because there would be fewer young drivers on the road) but it would almost entirely remove cars from the quintessential high school experience thereby changing for the worse a precious piece of our culture.

flryan4

I would argue no but I do think young drivers should have a curfew as well as be required to have a test at 16 ,17 and 18 to make sure they aren't developing bad habits. The important thing is that they learn that driving is a privilege and a responsibility not a right. That being said making them wait will only hamper their learning.

Lew

About 40% of car accident fatalities occur because of a drunken driver. About 30% of the car accident fatalities can be attributed to driving above the speed limits and 33% and above because of reckless driving that causes the car to go off the road and result in an accident

According to this article Almost half of all fatal accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Maybe we should raise the drinking age up a little. Or maybe we should just make it illegal to drink and drive.
According to this article 30 percent of fatal accidents are from driving over the speed limit. Maybe we oughta make it illegal to speed.
You know what i've got it. Lets ban all 18 year olds from driving. Lets let there parents take them to football practice every morning at 4am. Lets let there parents drive them into prom in the cool muscle car. Lets let there parents take them out on a date with there bf/gf. It's either that or they can walk over and pick up there bf/gf.

Alaskan Man;D

that's so stupid. it should be raised to how ever old you are + some.

every age group is going to have some bad drivers.

oh, and your right teen's do have the highest accident rates, because they don't have experience. if you wait till 18 then it'll just have more accidents then.

Bonnie S

If you think it will change accidents than yes but the truth is the accidents by younger driver is mostly due to inexperience and that will just mean the age limit for accidents would increase as they would be just learning later. This also would mean no after school jobs because most of those kids have to drive to their work. The job market would change so that the after school activities would also change. No car, no mall, no money and less revenue for stores. But, less problems with teens acting out in malls as they couldn't drive themselves.
Good luck with your debate but it is hard to convince as most will say no way.

Katrina D

No, I think it is fine the way it is.

Bud

no it shouldn't because you would piss of every teenage kid who has been looking forward to getting their license.

Stephen T

Yes, because 16-21 year olds have the highest accident rates in the country.

CCL

No, it should be on how mature you are not how old you are

I'd support it. Raising it to 20 wouldn't be a problem, either.