What if they changed the driving age to 18?
Photo by CJ Sorg
A new year usually brings new laws. In 2010 one such law requires anyone under 18 to have parental consent to tan indoors, and those under the age of 16 and a half years are not allowed to tan indoors.
If you think indoor tanning is harmless, or that this law is unfair, think again. Researchers have found that indoor tanning can increase your risk for getting skin cancer later in life.
Now you’re probably asking yourself, what does tanning have to do with safe driving?
Research also shows that in a teenage brain, areas that assess risks and decision-making are the last to fully develop. That means you may not care that your chance for skin cancer has increased by using an indoor tanning bed, or you may not think about the risks associated with speeding, not buckling up, or other risky driving behavior.
It is important to be fully informed before you get into any type of situation that has the potential to be dangerous. So read up about indoor tanning before you jump into a tanning bed. And read up on the major dangers for teen drivers before you get behind the wheel.
So how would you feel if lawmakers decided to change the driving age?
Let’s talk about it in the comments section.
whats wrong with everyone only 47 votes! uuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
people will debate that teen driving should be changed to 18. this is crazy to even concider. ask yourselves would you rather have an 18 year old who is out of the house an not under any supervision learn to drive? or would you rather have a supervised 16 year old being tought to drive, all of the statistics saying teen drivers have higher crash rates are absolutly true. and the reason for this alarmingly high number is inexperience, teen drivers dont have the experience as say a 45 year old driver. besides if you change the driving age to 18 you will soon see that the statistics just turn out to say that 18 year olds have the highest crash rate. and this is because of inexperience!!
Changing the driving age will do nothing. Teens are crashing because it is their first couple of years out on the road. It would be the exact same way if it was 18. They’re going to need to learn how to drive somehow, whether it be at 16, or 18. The problem is unavoidable so why not just leave it alone? There’s nothing we can do about it other than to encourage parents to make sure their kids are driving safe, and maybe making the driving tests harder.
yes but if you look at the statistics from people in other country’s changing there laws it made a huge impact in crash rating’s and i agree it might just be the fact that they are new to the roads but wouldn’t you rather start out knowing you can make better decisions then starting out knowing that you cant make the right decisions.
i do agree with the two comments above mine, but i have been doing research about this for a school project. brains are better developed at age 18 than at 16. this is a very interesting article about it…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52687-2005Jan31.html
yes and no people should leave the law alone keep 16 year old teens driving on the road.
I AGREE WITH GIL JUST LEAVE THIS SUBJECT ALONE TO MANY PEOPLE WORRY ABOUT THIS WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT OTHER THINGS LIKE THE WAR PERHAPS OR EVEN GETTING OUR HOMELESS OF THE STREETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brain & auto safety experts state “16 year old’s are to immature to handle today’s cars and roads. Brain researchers at N.I.H. National institute of health explain why efforts to protect teens on the road usually fail. The executive branch of the brain that way’s risks and controls impulsive behavior is not fully developed till the age of 25 but is way more developed at the age of 18 then 16. Also stated my researchers from RMIIA rocky mountain insurance information association state crash rates at age of 16 are higher then all other ages. In fact the crash rates are 3 times higher then crash rates of all other crash ratings at all other ages averaged out. AAA insurance/road side help showed that in 2006 $34 billion was spent on medical bills from crashes for age’s 15-17 alone. On top of that imagine losing someone close to you from them messing up cause they didn’t make the right decision because there brain was not developed enough.