Drivers license age: keep the same or raise?
By Justin ShepardReporter, The VOICE
The majority of students at Glendale Community College are the age of 18 or over.
If you are one of the few younger-aged students, you may not be so fortunate. You may be relying on someone else to take you to school and elsewhere for a little while longer.
Recently, several organizations have urged states to raise the legal minimum driving age to 18 years old. Several things come to mind when I heard of such nonsense.
So many people out there urge the younger generation to get part-time jobs while they are in high school and college. But who is going to want to be the 17 year old getting dropped off at work everyday by their parents?
Imagine what the parent has to go through hauling their child around all day, while at the same time attending to personal responsibilities? Imagine doing this for 18 years. What about the 17 year old that has to have his parent be the chauffeur for him and his date on a Friday night? What a way to impress a girl.
Many believe that teenagers that have to rely more on their parents for a longer time, will only promote a lack of self responsibility. At some point, these teenagers are going to have to learn how to operate a vehicle. Who's going to be the one to teach them when they are finally 18 and out of the house for good?
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "5,000 teens are killed in car crashes every year in the United States…". Before organizations begin urging a raise in the driving age, why not start out by urging more schools and cities to offer more driver development courses?
Try this first, before making a decision as big as raising the driving age, inform these teens that vehicles are weapons, and not toys. Inform them that driving a vehicle while intoxicated can kill and driving while texting is just plain stupid.
Show teenagers the obituaries of people who thought they were racing superstars and were confident that they could take a turn at 80+ mph, only to hit the wall and never get out.
To all the reckless teenage drivers out there, we probably wouldn't be facing this issue if it weren't for your stupidity. Learn to respect fellow motorists on the roadway, and prove that the younger generation is perfectly capable of safely operating a vehicle prior to their 18th birthday.
