Driving Age, raise to 18: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

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Summary: Should the age at which you can legally drive be raised to 18?
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Created: Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 31, 2008

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Context
The age at which you can legally drive varies from country to country, but in many places it is lower than
18. In some American states it is 15 or younger. Usually you are allowed to take a driving test a year or
more before you can vote or drink alcohol. As young drivers are the ones most likely to have accidents,
from time to time there are calls to raise the driving age. In the past two years lawmakers in the US
states of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Massachusetts have debated raising their driving age,
although each attempt was defeated. The British government has also recently considered lifting the
driving age in the UK from 17 to 18, although it seems unlikely to go ahead with this change.
This topic assumes that the age should be raised to 18, but the arguments will still work for any number
higher than the present legal driving age in your state. Many European countries already have a driving
age of 18, so they might debate raising it to 21. Most of the arguments will also work for a debate on
limiting how young people can drive – for example, banning them from carrying passengers or from
driving age night.
Arguments
Pros Cons
Human life is precious and we must do everything Young drivers do have more accidents, but that is
reasonable to prevent deaths. Raising the driving age because they are not very experienced, not simply
will cut the number of accidents on the roads. because they are under 18. If we raise the driving age,
Teenage drivers are much more likely to have it will be 18-19 year old new drivers having more
accidents than older drivers. In the USA there were accidents instead of 16-17 year olds. After all, men
over 30 000 deaths in crashes involving 15-17 year are 77% more likely than women to kill someone while
old drivers between 1995 and 2004. Raising the at the wheel, so if we went just by statistics we would
driving age by a year or two will greatly reduce these ban all male drivers.
accidents and deaths.

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Few countries think 16 and 17 year olds are grown up
enough to vote, drink alcohol or smoke. Yet most
allow them to get behind the wheel of a car, even
though it is a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.
Society usually sees 18 as the age at which young
people become adults. Shouldn’t driving be one of the
privileges ad responsibilities of adulthood?
Teenage drivers are particularly dangerous, so
delaying when they get a license will make the roads
much safer for everyone. Young people (especially
boys) have a different attitude to driving compared to
older ones. For example, they can be fearless and
thrill-seeking, taking risks that older drivers would not
do. They see good driving as about being able to
control their car at high speeds. They are also more
influenced by peer pressure and more competitive,
both of which make risky behaviour more likely.
Many teens are safe and careful drivers, and almost
all adult drivers today started before they were 18. It
would be unfair to punish all 16 and 17 year olds for
the bad behaviour of a few. Instead of a blanket
measure like raising the driving age, there are other
steps we could take to make the roads safer. We
could make the driving test tougher. We could require
a retest after compulsory retraining for any new driver
caught driving badly. And we could make it so that
parents decide if their child is responsible enough to
take a driving test.
Studies of young drivers show that risky behaviour
affects men in their twenties as well as 16-17 year
olds. Should we ban all young men from driving before
they turn 25? No, because most young men do drive
safely already. The few who don’t are the ones who
are likely to break the law and drive underage without
a license anyway. So raising the age will punish
everyone apart from the troublemakers. For most
young people learning to drive is an important part of
learning responsibility and taking up adult values. If
we keep delaying when kids become adult, then young
people will never learn responsibility.

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Driving Age, raise to 18: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

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Raising the driving age will mean that fewer cars will
be driven. Having fewer vehicles on the road (maybe
2% less) will benefit society as a whole. Firstly, it will
reduce overcrowding on the roads, easing congestion
and allowing the remaining traffic to flow more freely.
Secondly cars are a major source of pollution and
especially pump out a lot of carbon which contributes
to climate change. Any measure which reduces car
use should therefore be supported.
In our modern society driving is essential – mobility
has to be regarded as a right you gain in your mid-
teens. 16 and 17 year olds need to drive to get to
school or work. Many live in areas with few buses or
trains, and you cannot expect parents to drive them
around for ever. Most of the activities that teach young
people about the world, like sport, school clubs,
bands, and part-time jobs, can only be done if teens
can drive themselves. All these things are about
gaining autonomy – making personal choices and
beginning to find your own way in life as you become
independent from Mom and Dad. Mobility is needed to
make those choices - this explains why parents are
just as opposed to raising the driving age as
teenagers are.

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Over the past ten years many countries and most US
states have already brought in graduated driver
licensing (GDL). This means that new drivers have to
go through two or more stages of restrictions before
they earn a full license. Figures show that GDL has
helped to reduce accidents and deaths, but these are
still too high. Where GDL works it is because young
drivers cannot go solo (without an older adult driver in
the car with them) for 12 months after they start. So in
effect, GDL is really raising the legal driving age by a
year already and that is why accident rates are down.
But adding another year or two to this actual solo
driving age would cut deaths even more. And GDL on
its own is weak because it is hard to check that its
rules about accompanied driving are being followed. It
would be best to have GDL and a higher driving age.
Rather than raise the driving age, states should
introduce graduated driver licensing (GDL). This
makes sure that new drivers gain experience under
the eye of an experienced older driver (usually a
parent) before they can take the wheel on their own.
Some schemes also limit new drivers to the hours of
daylight, or stop them going on the fastest roads. Only
once a new driver (of whatever age) has gained
experience under these restrictions and proved they
are safe on the road, do they get a full license. GDL
doesn’t fit with raising the driving age, because it
assumes that new drivers are still at home with their
parents. If you change the age so that learners cannot
drive until they have mostly left home, then there is no
one to go out with them.

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Raising the driving age would also help us tackle The roots of obesity are in early childhood, not the
obesity. Lack of exercise is a major reason why many teenage years, so this measure won’t make a
people are hugely overweight. Obesity leads to ill difference. But society will pay if the driving age is
health for the individual, and society suffers through raised, as many young workers won’t be able to take
higher taxes to pay for the extra healthcare spending, the jobs they are offered. This will make our labour
as well as from lower economic output. Many teens market less flexible, raising the costs of doing
are obese and raising the driving age would force business and making youth unemployment an even
them to walk instead of riding, giving them much- bigger problem. We could, of course, lay on much
needed exercise. 16-18 is also a time when people more public transport, but that would also be very
develop habits that will stick with them for life. This expensive.
means that raising the driving age will have a wider
impact as people will grow up less dependent on their
cars.
Motions
This House would raise the driving age
This House believes 16 is too young
That we should raise the legal driving age to 18

Useful Sites
New York Times Upfront topic (accessible)
National Youth Rights Association (USA) (accessible)
Times Online article on UK situation (fairly accessible)
Association of British Insurers position (accessible)
USA today article including information on the legal driving ages in different US states (fairly accessible)
US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (more demanding)
Economics Help article, with comments (fairly accessible)
Youtube report on proposals to raise the driving age in US states
Article on driving age in Australia (fairly accessible)
2Pass.co.uk on proposals in the UK. Includes info on driving ages in European countries (fairly accessible)
Brake – UK road safety charity (fairly accessible)
House of Commons Transport Select Committee Report (more demanding)

Useful Books
Is 16 too young to drive: teens behind the wheel are more likely than adults to crash, speed, and take
dangerous risks. Should the driving age be raised? An article from: Scholastic Choices (Digital)
By: Denise Rinaldo
Teen Driving (At Issue Series)

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Driving Age, raise to 18: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

By: Louise I Gerdes

Themes
Law and Crime

Discuss
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Author Post

Majid Yasser Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:52 pm

Member
First of all, the ones who are dying the most on the roads in car crashes, are teens
between 14-18. Now obviously, they're inexperienced drivers, who didn't earn their
driver's license. As well as they didn't go through any courses of driving, so they still
don't know about any situational awareness when driving. They also do not have the
faintest idea about calculating the right distances, speeds of the car. The law is there
for a reason. 18 year old people can go apply and learn all the driving skills, and gain
experience with a professional instructor. Those teens who don't apply the law, should
be strictly briefed about the dangers of driving below the assigned age. Those teens
that try to act cool, actually end up either in graves, disabled or mentally retarded. As
well as some teens cause the death of other innocent people that get involved in a
car crash with them. That is not fair! So keep quiet and stop complaining and begging
to drive like little 4-year old kids.

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