Teens, pay attention here.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) was established in 1959. Its main function is to lessen the accidents related to motor vehicles. Aside from that, the agency also conducts research and gives ratings to consumer products that will help reduce the fatalities during accidents. For the past few years, the agency has been actively promoting the creation of a national legislation that would crank up the age limit for any driver to receive his first license – and that is 18.
IISH is not alone in this campaign as many traffic experts vowed to promote the creation of similar legislations to raise the age limit to 18. Under the said law, any state found to continue letting their minors (18 and below) to drive their car will be penalized by cutting off federal highway funds.
For many parents, this law is a heaven-sent but for a 15 or 16-year-old teen, this is not a good news. While it is true that insurance companies have generated a substantial amount of money by offering high insurance rates to teen drivers the same companies are paying large sums of money when these kids encounter accidents – which, by the way, happens quite often.
As with every argument, there are always two sides of the coin, and it is good that we hear both sides.
Understanding the Need to Increase the Driving Age Limit
There is no argument that drivers below 25 years old, particularly the males, get easily distracted, risk takers and lacks the experience. And quite frankly, many of these teen drivers do not feel any sense of responsibility while driving their cars. Because of their tender age, they are not yet fully aware about the consequences they are about to face during accidents; the worst, some of them believed in immortality.
Another important factor that was considered is the inability of the parents or educators to teach these kids about proper driving. Parents working all day are so burnt out when they arrive home. Overworked and stressed, they continue to perform their duties to provide the basic needs to their kids such as food and shelter. Teaching their kids how to handle basic driving might be possible but handling emergencies such as what to do in case of losing the breaks or tires skidding on slippery roads are extremely limited. States could provide such training but not until recently when most of their budgets were reduced leading to the utilization of slogans, lectures and trainings which fairly reflects the actual real world dangers experienced by many drivers day after day.
What the Others Have To Say
The people who are against this legislation are pulling the experience issue and the thought that not all teen drivers are dangerous right off the bat. The worst thing that could ever happen is when people drive their cars as soon as they reach 18 without any experience in driving at all. I know for the fact, that most states issue driver’s license as long as they reach the required age without any driving experiences. Advocates felt that labeling all teens as irresponsible drivers is unfair and that there are many safe and competent teen drivers out there.
While it is true that operating a vehicle requires some sort of skills and practice, they are not that difficult to accomplish. Many states are just slow to provide driver’s education training programs coupled with busy parents who do not have the time to supervise their kids.
