The appropriate age for a teenager to obtain a driving permit is 16 years old, however I believe it should be raised to 17 since there is a high rate of teenagers causing accidents. There might be some exceptions why they should keep it at 16 but due to the high rate of teen crashes they should raise the age to 17. Statistics have shown that teenagers have a higher chance of accidents. Teenagers from the ages of 15 to 17 are more likely to cause a car crash for many reasons. While teenagers go out at night and drive around with friends and only have their permit, they are putting other’s people life at risk.
The three main reasons why teenagers should be at least the age of 17 to be able to get their permit is because they drive and text, drink and drive, and lastly they hear loud music while driving. Obviously not everyone is the same and there are underage kids who are very responsible, but for those who are not that is why teenagers should be at least the age of 17 to get their permits. There might be some exceptions like they need their permits for school, but not for them to go out and party then that is why there should consequences if they get stopped late at night.
Teens don’t know how to be responsible and don’t listen to the fact that a permit it is not a license. Most importantly, When you hear a teen crashes the most common reason why they crashed is because they were either on their phone or texting. Teenagers have a very hard time “multitasking” while driving, posing more of a hazard when the roads (Zernike). While teens try to multitask and try to do different things while driving and not have full attention on the road, that is when an accident happen.
The sad part is that they hurt themselves and even innocent people who were driving and being responsible. “studies have shown that teens tend to overrate their driving skills and underrate risk on the road” (McClatchy). Teenagers when they are driving and find it so easy to pick up a phone call or even send a quick text but don’t think of how quickly accidents can happen. All phones should have that program were it locks phone when entering a vehicle and sends a voice mail to the person who is trying to call you saying that you are currently driving to lower teen crashes.
We want to find ways to protect or give teens advice on how much it affects everyone of their mistakes while driving. Teenagers shouldn’t even look at their phones while driving. They should definitely put it on silent and if it’s an emergency, you can always pull to the side and answer important calls. This is one of the main reasons why teenagers should be at least 17 years of age to be able to test for their permit. We want to lower teen crashes and that is why. Additionally, teenagers think that having their permit means “freedom” but actually no.
When you have your permit you are supposed to drive with someone older in the passenger seat and with lots of responsibility and not out late driving around with friends and drinking. Underage teens go out to parties late at 2am driving around and putting peoples live in danger. If a cop were to stop you and you are under the influence of alcohol and you are under the age of 18 they should suspend your license for 1 year to learn and see the consequences of your actions.
If you were to see someone who is drinking and is underage the best thing to do is always take their car keys away and call a parent before it’s too late and cause a danger in the road. In other words, teens have become so irresponsible with their driving for the past decade, their lack of responsibility while driving and having passengers. For example, a teen with a permit and a car full of teens that is when things don’t go very well. Teens get easily distracted while driving with friends and extremely loud music on.
While driving a car and you try to change estasions you lose focus on the road and can’t notice neither when the light turns red. That is when an accident happens. Teens don’t think of the many responsibilities there is while driving a vehicle, they need to drive with full precautions since many accidents happen every day. There should be more consequences for crashing and only having your permit, maybe then teens will understand why it’s extremely important to pay full attention to the road. Teenagers will then be more responsible for their own actions if they get more consequences.
If there is no consequences, then things will get more out of control and higher rates because “car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens”(Roan, Sharis) if a teen crashes because they were with a group of friends while driving and not paying attention and end up killing someone then that’s is a huge tragedy. We don’t want car crashes to be the reason of death among teens, we want teens to be safe on the roads and make everyone else safe in the roads and not have families go through hard times for losing their children’s in accidents. We want to find ways to reduce teen car crashes.
In conclusion, The appropriate age for a teenager to obtain a driving permit is 16 years old; however I believe it should be raised to 17 since there is a high rates of teen crashes. Teens learn to drive at a young age due to parents who work in the morning and can’t give their kids a ride to school or because they believe they can drive a vehicle responsibly but sometimes that is not the best suggestion. Because of teenagers not being responsible driving while texting, drinking, and lastly listening to loud music while driving are the reason why they should raise the age to 17.