Minimum Driving Age the Issue of the

¶ … Minimum Driving Age The issue of the minimum appropriate driving age provokes controversy between those opposed to allowing teenagers younger than 18 and those who believe that there is no justification for depriving younger teenagers of the opportunities for which driving privileges are so often necessary. Currently, the minimum driving age in varies from state to state, as do the rues and distinctions about the extent of those privileges.

For example, in Georgia, 15-year-olds are eligible for full driving privileges; meanwhile, states such as New York allow learner's permits at the age of 16 and only limited-privilege licenses at the age of 17. The Argument for Higher Age Limits The principal argument for maintaining a higher minimum driving age (i.e. 18) is that the youngest drivers are responsible for a disproportionately high number of vehicular accidents and that much of the reason is directly a function of age-related levels of psychological maturity.

Specifically, according to nationwide teenage driving statistics, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers; 16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age; and 16-year-olds are three times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than the average of all drivers" (http://www.rmiia.org). Similarly, the Automobile Association of America (AAA) estimates the 2006 cost of crashes involving 15 to 17-year-olds to be $34 billion, representing medical expenses, lost work, property damage, quality-of-life losses, annually.

In 2006 alone, 974,000 crashes occurred involving drivers ages 15 to 17 according to the analysis conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation for AAA (http://aaanewsroom.net). Furthermore, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are specific physiological and developmental reasons why driving privileges should be restricted to adults. Researchers have determined that certain regions of the human brain that are responsible for complex reasoning, impulse control, and risk assessment do not fully develop until early adulthood, typically, around the age of 25 (http://www.usatoday.com).

The Argument for Lower Age Limits There are two principal arguments for lowering the minimum driving age. First, is many states (such as Georgia), public transportation is much less available than in other states (such as New York). In those states where there is little alternative to private vehicles, higher minimum driving ages mean that teenagers have less access to various beneficial opportunities such as part-time work and various extracurricular activities. That inevitably places additional burdens of busy parents to transport teenagers who should be able to drive without supervision.

Second, the argument for lowering the minimum driving age also addresses the issue of physiology and developmental psychology with an entirely different conclusion. In that regard, they suggest that if the brain region responsible for maturity only develops in adulthood, it is still not developed at 18 either. Their reasoning is that since drivers are likely to begin driving at an age before they are.