Should the driving age be raised to age 18?

[Neal Caffrey]

I live in a place people start driving at 18. But hey, its too late. When people get 18y, they already know how to drive. 16y is the best age, I think.

So: no. But I'm not american.

@Edit;
And yeah, there are 16y kids. but also there are 21y kids. so... thats not a valid argument

[CadmiumYellow]

No definitive answer from me, but here's my thoughts:
I drove fine at 15/16 (here, you can get a Learner's Permit at ~15), and to this day I've never been in an accident.
My brother, on the other hand, didn't get his license until he was 17 or 18, and he's been in one decently major accident, and a few minor ones.

Waiting until he was older didn't make him a better driver; getting my license younger didn't make me a worse one. Granted, I'm sure that someone else here can make the exact opposite statement. IMO it's completely individual.

That's an interesting thought, though, and there's plenty of reason to raise the age (as bacchus mentioned, there is a biological basis to it). People of that age demographic do have the highest crash rate-- though I have to wonder if it's because 16-to-18-year-olds are just worse drivers, or if that demographic has a comparatively higher crash rate because being a bad 16-to-18-year-old driver is what made them a better 19+-year-old driver. People do learn from experience, after all, and being in a crash (or near-crash) does tend to straighten out previously-careless drivers.

If you remove the 16-to-18-year-old drivers, would the (for example) 19-to-22-year-olds become the new "bad driver" demographic, since they're the new "new drivers"? Or would being older and (debatably) more mature balance the lack of experience? It's an interesting thought.

It's my general belief that minors are as responsible as they're taught to be. Something like this is pretty individualistic, but I don't think changing the age would make a huge difference to anything, in the long run.

[Skarl]

The driving age was lower and has already increased. A higher age restriction isn't a cure for inexperience, in my opinion.

Furthermore, if a soldier can die for America at eighteen, I feel he should be legally able to drink, too. The drinking age was raised before my time... to twenty one.

[Kyle]

Personally I think it shouldn't be raised. First of all, there are 16-year-olds out there who have a job and they cant just rely on public transportation. What if their schedule suddenly changes out of the blue? They're going to have to see what times the bus comes by a stop and who is willing to take them there. They might become unfortunate and because they couldn't make it to work, they're jeopardizing their jobs (depending how often this happens and how understanding their boss is). Plus at that age they are starting to get independent.

Yeah, there are irresponsible 16-year-olds out there but with more laws and more restrictions, perhaps maybe even a change in parenting, accidents wont be as likely to happen.

[Teal]

@(you need an account to see links)

In my experience, I didn't get my license until I was 20 years old.
I started working before then and I relied on public transportation for school AND work.
It is possible, so I don't find that necessarily a reason.
Of course, I guess it depends on the location.

[haiqtpi]

I mean I live in nyc and am 28 and j am still scared to death to drive in the city. I mean, I'm sure that the fact we have a brand new BMW doesn't help allay my fears, but I probably would never drive in the city (haven't in the 2 years ive been here)

[Lightz]

in my area, its alr 18.....

---------- Post added at 09:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 AM ----------

however... the price of cars are tooo expensive in Singapore!!!!

[riedy]

That's the driving age in my country and I still think it's too low.

[Naked Gamer]

lol I've been driving here in Aus since i was 15 0_0

[sousuke]

I don't think that's valid for every area. I live in a small suburb and there's basically no public transportation available other than taxis, which would cost way too much to take everyday.