Teenage drivers: risk factors and road safety

Logical Fallacies

STATMENT: By all means, teenagers should be the best drivers in the world. Their muscles and their reflexes should be quick enough to handle anything.

FALLACY: False dichotomy

The arguer sets up the situation so it looks like there are only two choices. The arguer then eliminates one of the choices, so it seems that we are left with only one option: the one the arguer wanted us to pick in the first place.

Certainly, teenagers do have quick reflexes. However, quick reflexes aren't enough. It also takes considerable experience in order to drive well. While reflex speed declines in later life, the gap is at least partly filled up by driving experience. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has statistics on drivers based on both age and driving experience. They found that inexperience behind the wheel contributes substantially to both accident rate and fatality rate. In addition, the fatality rate for teens was more marked when compared to older drivers, who might well have slower reflexes than teens typically have. The rate of teen accidents was highest when compared based on the number of miles drivers have driven, confirming that experience behind the wheel reduces accident rates (IIHS, 2005). In fact multiple skills contribute to safe driving, including adequate reflexes, experience, and acquired skills such as defensive driving. An example of that would be using mirrors frequently so the driver knows where other cars are and what they might be likely to do in an emergency.

STATEMENT: Is it safer for children to begin driving when they are older than 16? A teenager's first 500 miles of driving are the most dangerous. During that time, they're 10 times more likely to crash than an adult (Stafford, 2005a).

FALLACY: Missing the point

DEFINITION: The premises of an argument do support a particular conclusion -- but not the conclusion that the arguer actually draws.

DISCUSSION: The statistic given is alarming and should be of great concern to all parents, since their children will inevitably learn to drive some day. However, this statistic does not argue in favor of raising the minimum driving age, because no matter what age they start driving, they will still be inexperienced when they first start out. No matter the age they start to drive, they will still have to drive those first 500 miles.

STATEMENT: What was most disturbing about that episode was that the teen drivers didn't notice their mistakes until they were shown the video tape because they were too distracted (Stafford, 2005b).

FALLACY: Post hoc (also called false cause)

DEFINITION: Assuming that because B. comes after A, A caused B.