Should the legal driving age be raised?

[Kuya]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26612538

CHICAGO - Taking aim at a longstanding rite of passage for 16-year-olds, an influential auto safety group is calling on states to raise the age for getting a driver's license to 17 or even 18.

Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the auto insurance industry, acknowledged the idea is "a tough sell," but noted that car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers.

"The bottom line is that when we look at the research, raising the driving age saves lives," Lund said. He plans to present the proposal Tuesday at the annual conference of the Governors Highway Safety Association in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Not surprisingly, a lot of teens hate the idea.

"I would really be upset because I've waited so long to drive," said Diamante White, a 16-year-old in Reading, Pa., who got her permit in July. She said learning to drive is a "growing-up experience."

On one hand, and don't kill me just yet, i always thought it made more sense to lower the drinking age to 18 and raise the driving age to 20 or 21. I conclude this seeing as how, even with harsh punishment for drunk driving, and the fact that drinking for anyone below 21 is illegal they still manage to do it anyway, so i thought "Why not go for what makes the accidents possible in the first place?". The car. On the other hand, people who are not of legal age get abused a lot in terms of rights and i find it somewhat unfeasible to raise the driving age without creating an inconvenience for a lot of people (adults) or negatively affecting something, let's not even think of what happens when you raise to to 21.

I should think if people were that concerned about kids below 21 drinking, and it leading to accidents, they should be just as considerate of the idea of raising the legal driving age. There's moral indignation when people discuss the lowering of the drinking age, saying it would lead to more accidents, yet a nonchalant attitude towards raising the driving age when it would in fact lower accidents, but anyway, the debate is really about the legal driving age, so what do you guys think?

[Correction]

16 year olds should be allowed to drive.

[Headspace]

25-64 year olds should drive.

[Obev]

I still don't have a driving license at the age of 22.

[Tyche]

lower the drinking age and adjust the driving age. Lower the permit requirement to 15 and require teens to keep their permits for at least a year. As of now, In KY, you get a permit at 16 and keep it just 6 months I think. I think kids just need more permit time with an adult.

[Avanarius]

I honestly didn't start driving up until recently (20) because I didn't trust myself lol....

[Correction]

I still don't have a driving license at the age of 22.

Your insurance rates are going to suck.

Get the license now, even if you don't want to drive. Waiting makes it worse.

[thebearofscience]

17 min, 65 max.

my sophomore year was only three years ago, and most of the people (specifically girls, no offense) were not mature enough at sixteen to drive. handful of them got in crashes the first six months. not saying my graduating class of 1,500 was all immature, because you do have those kids that aren't the stereotypical high school student (football dewds et cetera), but like i said, the majority just wasn't mature.

16 permit, 17 license.

edit: and 65 max because i fucking hate old people.

[Kuya]

16-19 is the group with the highest rate of car accidents, the highest cause is speeding, if the statistics are reputable.

[Foof]

Driving age to 20+, the hell? How do you expect someone to hold a job during HS without a license?

I wouldn't mind adjusting the permit time to a year. It's 6 months here too (and I think extended another 6 months if you get a ticket in that time or get caught with no adult/friends).

[BadKarma]

I had my permit for all of 1 month lol
I was the only one in my driving class to pass the road test

[Katlan]

Shouldn't be able to get your drivers license till at least 18 (idk about permit). By then I'd hope most are mature enough to know how to drive... most (not all) 16 year olds are just stupid fuckin drivers.

That, or they need to make the driving test a LOT harder and less predictable... because doing the same route everytime is just a joke.

[Ksandra]

Some states already have it where you get a permit at 16 and license at 18. Sounds like a good idea to me.

[Correction]

Driving age to 20+, the hell? How do you expect someone to hold a job during HS without a license?

This.

[Chips]

I think Ontario has a pretty good system. You can get your G1 class license at the age of 16 (but to drive you must have someone who has their class G [G1 -> G2 -> G] and at least four years with with G sitting in the front seat with you). The G1 class does not let you drive on the highway. The G2 can be attained a year after having your G1 (shortened to eight months if you take a driving course). The G2 lets you drive on the highway, nobody in the front seat, but absolutely no blood alcohol level and no driving with passengers between the times of 2 and 5 AM. The G is the full class.

[BRP]

I think even stricter punishments against teens would be better. Not everyone is a fuckup who needs another 4 years to mature.

[Sqwunk]

up here in NH you don't even need a permit. As soon as you turn 16 you can take drivers ed. and get your license.

I'm 20 now, and got my license when i was 16 but. In this past year, my towns high school had 2 kids die in car accidents. Like, 3 months apart, you would think kids would learn...well no..actually i don't teenagers are pretty retarded

[Korietsu]

Yeah, raising the driving age does nothing. Those who are still too dumb to drive will still have car accidents. Something that also has quite an impact is if the teenagers driving the car had to pay for it to have it. I bet if they had surveyed on who owns the car, they would find that most of those accidents would have been from people who did not pay or own their cars. I have seen two highway related deaths in my high school, and one was due to a girl dropping her phone and picking up, and veering into oncoming traffic. The other was due to drinking, and both accidents were DOA. Both students now have memorial scholarship funds in their honor >_>. To be honest, its a parental responsibility to decide when their children are old enough to drive without them.

[Exoduso]

It won't really make a difference, but yes.

[Mayareira]

Definitely, 18 sounds good. 16? Just no.