Did you know that kids become twice as likely to wear their seatbelt, 70% less likely to drink and drive, and 30% less likely to talk on the phone when parents become involved in their driving (‘11 Facts About Teen Driving”)? These statistics prove that teens can be safe drivers with the support of their parents. Many reasons contribute to why the driving age should stay at sixteen; young people need to better understand the importance of independence and responsibility, not to become dependent on parents, and parents need a break from chauffeuring their kids.
Whether or not the world wants to acknowledge it, parents have lives too and can’t chauffeur their 16-year-olds around all the time. It’s exhausting for parents to drive their kids
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People constantly state the fact that teens act immature and reckless. Anne Fleming, a spokeswoman, thinks that two key things that play into car crashes are the lack of maturity and experience (Morelli and Johnson). People claim that these are the reasons teen crash statistics have skyrocketed. However, they don’t mention the fact that parents can put restrictions on their teens who are driving. Some restrictions include having no passengers, a curfew, and no cellphones. A Utah Department of Health spokesman, Jenny Johnson, states that when parents or guardians put restrictions on their young and less experienced children, it lessens the crash rate and gives kids the chance to think about how to deal with responsibility (Collins and Cortez). This also ties back to kids with kids needing to be responsible. Although many people state that teens act too immature, they don’t include the part about parents being able to give their newly licensed teens restrictions.
Although many think the driving age should be raised to eighteen, I think that the driving age should stay at sixteen because of the stated reasons. Keeping the driving at the age of sixteen allow teens to learn about responsibility and independence and gives parents a break of ferrying their teens around. Even though people say teens act immature and more likely to get in a crash, crashes can be prevented by parents stepping in. These reasons