Namida Goddess

What they are going to do is restrict anyone under the age of 17 to driving only during the day and they must undergo so many months of driving with an adult after they pass drivers ed. I greatly disagree with this proposal because what about teens with jobs and a lot of extra curricular activities? Parents cannot take it upon themselves to drive teens everywhere!

__________________

Priestess Angel

Should the legal age of driving be changed? Well, let’s look on all sides of this. We could keep it 16 like it is in some states. We could lower the age. We could have it where a student will get the learner’s permit at an earlier age but still have the age to get a license at 16. We could keep it at 16 but only let people who have passed with 90% or more on both tests get the license. We could rise the age to 18. Or it could be made where if you are employed you will automatically be eligible to take the driver’s test.

If we keep the driving age at 16 then people can still be in school and take driver training. More people will pay for insurance and there has also been the question of why change something that seems to work? But then there is the factor that there are just some teens that are just not responsible enough to drive. For instance, I know a boy named Wesley, he was my schoolmate, and he had just got his license. He drove with four of his friends in his truck and was fishtailing the road (going back and forth on the road). It caused his truck to go off the road and he tried to get it back off the road. The truck ended up being propelled into the air and one of his best friends, Justin, was ejected out of the seat. He lost his life. Also, another bad side to keeping it the same is that the accident rate with teen drivers would still remain high and things like what I have just said will still keep happening everyday. Also, it is high cost for a car when a teen has so little money but the parents usually care of that but that is not always the case of course.

There is the option of lowering the age which I am not much of a fan at all of but it has been discussed in debates. One positive side to it is that parents wouldn’t have to drive kids to school events anymore. I have heard of the some people say, “Well, kids are old enough to babysit. Why not let them drive?” My repute to that is the fact that just because you know how to babysit doesn’t mean you will know how to drive like an expert. Anyway, the bad sides to it is the amount of pressure that would be put on parents on their children’s driving. Many kids would party and drive because they are simply not mature. The accident rate would certainly increase, I would think.

Then there is the option of just making the age to get a learner’s permit earlier and let the driving age stay the same. It would give the person more time to practice their driving and become more experienced. Parents would get more chances to work with their children on their driving skills. Yet there is the side effect of parents would have to drive with their children longer. Students would most likely gain more bad driving habits. There would also be more accidents due to the fact that there would be more people on the road.

How about keeping it at 16 but only if the individual made 90% or higher on both tests. Well, there would definitely be more knowledgeable drivers on the road. More money would be made for the SGI because many people would have to take the test more than once. Yet, there are some people who are just not good at writing exams or taking them. Some people just have a bad day. It would lead to a lot of individuals not being able to get a job.

Now the famous option of raising the age to 18. There would be more responsible drivers. There would be more money for jobs. They would also be going away from home at this time for college and such and they would need a license for that. Yet, it would lead to more illegal drivers on the road. The individuals wouldn’t be eligible for many jobs. Parents would have to drive students to all school functions.

What if we made it where people who are employed would automatically be eligible to get their license? Well, it would increase the incentive to work for one thing. The individual would be able to transport themselves to work. They would become more eligible for on-the-job responsibilities. Well, for one thing you could receive a job from a friend or relative who may not be so responsible and then they would be free to get that license. There would also be no training available. Also, if you lose your job then do you lose your license?

As for me, I am ok with them changing the age to 18 but I will openly admit I used to be against it from the bottom of my soul not too long ago but since losing a friend to an accident and seeing first hand just how dangerous some of my peers drive my perspective has changed a bit. The only major problem I have with it now is that there are just some kids who have to have jobs to help support their families and sometimes the safest transportation would be to drive. Sometimes parents won’t be able to take these people to their jobs because they have their own jobs they need to be at, public transportation is just not available, and there are some roads where riding a bike would be incredibly dangerous. My town is a perfect example. I think they should raise the driving age to 18 and keep the age to get a driver’s permit the same but if someone has employment they can get their driver’s license but only if they have had at least a year of driving experience with a parent. If the person with the job loses or quits from it they can keep their license if they have not been pulled over, given a ticket, or been in any accidents in one year. If they have done one of those three things or the year has not been fulfilled then sorry you lose it. I think this plan would work out pretty good but I may be wrong.

Sorry guys, I didn’t mean for it to be this long. Oh well, this may give you some ideas of how we could approach this debate and how we could help or solve the issue.

__________________

worldpeace2529

They are seriously thinking about changint it to 18. I think it should be 16, because the earlier you start driving, the more experience you have, so by the time you're 18, you'll be a good driver. Also, like nightboyz said, we need to get to work by car, how are we gonna do that if we can't drive it. We can't always rely on our parents to get us places. And the drinking age should be 18, cut all the 21 crap, i mean what kind of number is 21? it's like 21.

__________________

aceman67

In most provinces in Canada, the age for a Drivers License is 16. They then have to hold a Learners permit for a full year which restricts them to having someone who's had a full valid license for over 5 years in the car with them in the front passenger seat, and they can't drive after midnight and must have a B.A.C of 0.0

After that, they can take their test for a full license, but that license is still probationary and must hold it for a year. they are restricted to only having as many passengers as there are seat belts and a BAC of 0.0

After that there are no restrictions other then the Law.

__________________