The Driving Age Should Be Raised To 18Essay Preview: The Driving Age Should Be Raised To 18Report this essayDRIVING AT SIXTEENA right of passage is a ritual that marks the change in a persons social or sexual status which is normally surrounding events such as childbirth or menarche. In adolescents however, the term refers more specifically to certain milestones that youths discover and conquer, such as puberty, coming of age, and most importantly the right to become a legal driver. In North America, training and receiving your drivers license is thought of as being a more significant marker in transition to adulthood, however, at sixteen the question remains if adolescents are mature and responsible enough to handle the responsibilities and pressures that are required to be a safe driver.
For both men and women, California teenagers aged 16- to 19-years-old have the highest average annual crash and traffic violation rates per 100 drivers. Their high crash rates per 100,000 miles driven are matched only by drivers age 85+ (Janke, Masten, McKenzie, Gebers, & Kelsey, 2003). The over involvement of teenagers in crashes is not unique to California; it is a problem nationwide and worldwide (Twisk, 1996; Williams, 1996). In fact, traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers across the United States (Foss & Goodwin, 2003; Jonah, 1986; Mayhew & Simpson, 1999; Shope & Molnar, 2003). High teen crash risk is due to a number of factors, including an obvious fundamental lack of driving skill. However, contrary to what one might think, the evidence suggests that poor vehicle control skills account for only 10% of novice driver crashes; the remaining 90% is accounted for by factors such as inexperience, immaturity, inaccurate risk perception, overestimation of driving skills, and risk taking (Edwards, 2001). There are also certain psychological characteristics, such as sensation seeking, and driving situations, such as nighttime driving or carrying passengers, that put teens at higher crash risk. Finally, although drivers of all ages drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol, teens have had much less experience doing so, which further contributes to their higher crash rates. Research regarding the major factors that increase teen crash risk are primary concerns for both the provincial government and driving service corporations, therefore, they are focusing on as well as providing countermeasures that could be used to reduce the risk of fatalities before and after adolescents become licensed.
Aside from the primary aspects of concerns for young teen drivers being high fatality and crash rates, adolescents also create increased car insurance rates, motor vehicle costs for parents, stress on family relationships, and opportunities for drinking and driving. However, most adults will solely focus on the negative aspects and remember the time when they first received their license, whereas, they should also be considering the positive aspects that do exist. Since parents and guardians try to protect their kids as much as possible it is understandable why they are so cautious and worried about their teens when they start to drive. Nevertheless, the truth remains that it does allows adolescents the opportunity to learn to be responsible for both themselves, the vehicle, and its passengers. This opportunity for teens to prove themselves both to their parents and peers allows them to gain feelings of self esteem, self reliance, and a form of independence. Therefore, the positive social and behavioural steps that adolescents gain during their driving experience prepare them for later challenges that they may face in their later teenage years.
Due to psychological and peer complications that would arise with delaying adolescents right of passage to drive, I believe it is better to consider the alternatives such as driving restrictions so that adolescents are still allowed the opportunity and ability to feel independent and self reliant. I fear that delaying these important psychological and personal developmental stages could result in teens lashing out in other ways so that they can gain self reliance and separation from their parents, as viewed by themselves and their peers. Even though a National Institute of Health study suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully formed until age 25, it is evident that not all adolescents develop their cognitive abilities at the same rate. also, it is apparent that each adolescent is unique in maturity levels as well
The findings of the National Institute of Health study are the first to report on the state of the nation’s social development in 2009.
To date, research on adolescent health, education, and life expectancy has been conducted with the goal of helping prevent and address health problems, including but not limited to smoking and the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, birth defects, cancer, substance abuse, developmental delays, homelessness, homelessness at the time of birth, increased child poverty, access to health care, and poverty relief.1, 2 More than 70% of the federal government supports health programs for adults, and many schools support the health care of children and those who are in need.3 As a result, it is clear that our most vulnerable children are being pushed into higher education in ways that will make their education and work opportunities even more difficult and potentially difficult for our own children and future generations.
The first major review of these issues occurred in 2003.4,5 The National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviewed a range of topics related to teen health and mortality in the U.S. Since this study was written, and since the 2007 publication of a National Institute of Health retrospective and case-control population survey which involved over 400,000 boys and girls at age 12 years, children’s health has been steadily improving.[1] It also has been improving substantially. In 2002, 10 years after the original NIDS and with increasing public policy pressure, the CDC convened a panel of experts to recommend changes in teen health behaviors and preventative interventions. One of the recommendations was the recommendation that teen health should be managed in a non-attachment-based environment and that adolescents should have no physical or psychological control over their health. The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging is working to address this need with activities such as:
• Increasing public involvement;
• Strengthening community-based interventions, including research, education, and behavioral education.
These results demonstrate that the most effective ways that young people can improve their development in life are through the provision of education, support, and the chance to exercise control.
The NIDS cohort data for 2008 confirm the public-health needs they met for their primary prevention and education efforts. Specifically, their health education and health care efforts resulted in a 4.4 percent decrease in teen deaths per 100,000 young adults since the NIDS survey began in 2000. Furthermore, the total number of adolescents hospitalized for emergency room visits (excluding hospitalization due to the first time in their life) fell from 1.5 to 1.1 and to 50 to 61, respectively, in 2007. In 2008, the public-health program was revised to reduce infant and young adult deaths by 8.2 times and the percentage of teenagers who had experienced at least one other cause of death fell from 15.6 percent to 12.7 percent.5
The National Institute of Health found that the prevalence of obesity in adolescents had increased from 15 percent of all children under age 6 in 2001 in the United States to 29 percent in the same time span in 2013.[2] The rates of overweight and obesity among U.S. adolescents decreased from 5 percent in 2002 to 6 percent in 2013.[3] A 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that the rates of diabetes mellitus decreased in 12 percent of adults from 2001 to 2013,3 and the prevalence of high blood pressure decreased from 7 percent in