Small Changes for a Safer Future

I am a 17 year old student who can not vote, who can not drink, and is still considered a dependent. Yet, I am allowed the privilege of legally obtaining my license as young as 16 years old. Why is driving considered a responsibility among 16 year olds? Some of whom can’t even pass their highschool math class. They become not only responsible for their own safety and vehicle, but also others’ safety and vehicles. But when it comes to buying liquid medication such as dayquil or nightquil when they are sick or buying it for someone else who is sick, they need a guardian of at least 18 years of age or older present. The point is: 16 year olds are kids. Most do not have the motivation to attend highschool, so why would they want to follow speed limits? Both are required by law, yet they are careless. The government also does not trust 16 or 17 year olds to be responsible enough to vote, drink, or purchase cold medicine. Why would the government trust them to be safe on the roads? They could put their own life, or someone else’s life in danger. In order to reduce the number of deaths related to driving and create safer driving habits, the legal age to obtain your driver’s license should be raised to 18 years old and driver’s education and the steps to obtain your license should be modified.

With all of the laws the government has in place for 18 years of age being the minimum age requirement for many rights, and it being the age that you are considered an adult and independent, the legal age for driving should match that requirement. According to the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, “the crash rate per mile driven is 1.5 times higher for 16-year-olds than it is for 18-19 year-olds.” With age comes maturity and a greater sense of responsibility, therefore 18 year olds who are given more rights, have more responsibilities. According to Killackey Law Offices, “ approximately 20 percent of 16 year-olds will be involved in an accident in their first year of driving.” This percentage can be decreased, if not avoided, if 16 year olds were not allowed to drive.

However, accidents are called accidents for a reason. The only way to help prevent an accident is to be aware and cautious on the road, which comes with age and responsibility. Everything else is out of your control. When I was about 7 years old, I experienced a car accident. My mom was driving with my siblings and I in the backseats of our Nissan Armada, when a truck made a wide turn and drifted into our lane. My mom was going too fast to stop in time so she swerved off of the road instead of hitting the truck, and our car’s tire hit a pothole and our car barrel rolled 6 times. Thankfully, we were all not severely hurt. Accidents can happen for many reasons, in this case, the truck driver did not know how to make a right turn and was completely in our lane. This is a clear example of a lack of training on his part and lack of requirements that allowed him to obtain a truck license.

There are not enough restrictions on obtaining a license, therefore there are dangerous drivers on the road. In order to obtain your permit, you must pass a written test. The written test I took was actually on a computer, and was completely multiple choice. I was told that I could miss 7 questions and that if I failed, I had 3 more attempts within a certain time period. I also found that the test questions do not change, they are simply in a different order so eventually you can just memorize what the correct answers are as opposed to actually knowing the rules of the road. My actual driving test was only 11 minutes long. 11 minutes to evaluate if I am a safe and responsible driver. I also didn’t even have to park, which explains why there are so many drivers that can not park between the lines and can not parallel park. This is exactly why there are so many irresponsible drivers. By increasing regulations on the steps to obtain a driver’s license, there can be further evaluation of a potential driver’s skills.

Some regulations that can be implemented include a longer driving test with added requirements of what the driver must show that they can execute, like parking, or making a U-turn. The written test should also be changed, with new test formats and a lower number of questions that you can miss, especially with questions emphasizing on how to yield because so many drivers believe yielding means to stop. With 2 roundabouts in my town, it can get quite frustrating when a driver stops instead of yielding when there are no cars. I’ve had friends tell me that they passed the written test without even reading the driver’s education handbook, which means two things: the test is too easy and now there are new driver’s on the road that don’t know specific things, such as where their low beams are when driving in fog because they didn’t read the handbook. These small adjustments to the written test and driving test can be made, which will greatly improve driver’s education and promote safer driving. It is important to consider the benefits of these adjustments, and if raising the legal age to obtain a license to 18 years old will ultimately reduce the number of deaths as a result of driving, since 16-17 year olds seem to have the greatest impact on those percentages of accidents and deaths.