Worldwide, 1.2 million people die each year from car accidents. Many people question whether the minimum age limit for driving should be raised. It is being debated as to whether it would save lives or help perpetuate the issue. The minimum driving age should be raised. Raising the age will help spread the idea of safety and protect the youth of today. Firstly, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20- year age groups. In 2008, 2,739 15- to 20- year old drivers were killed and an additional 228,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes (NCHS figures). This shows that in 2008, 15- to 20- year old drivers were mainly involved in fatal car crashes. In 2002, the number of fatal crashes involving the young age group increased. Over 8,000 drivers were involved, while around 3,900 drivers were killed (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts). This proves that 15- to 20- year old’s leading cause of death is motor vehicle accidents because it shows that the rate of fatal accidents is increasing. In addition, it reveals that more than half of fatal crashes involving 15- to …show more content…
70+ age groups of a 9.1 population, had a 6.2% rate of single vehicle accidents and a 9.3 rate of multi-vehicle accidents, compared to the 14.0 and 10.4% of accidents in 15- to 20- year old age groups (NCHS Figures). This demonstrates the difference between older age groups and younger by presenting the evidence that older age groups are less likely to get into crashes. Additionally, 65-69-year-old age groups only had a 3.2 percent total of all fatal crashes. This is compared to the 11.9 percent total of all fatal crashes for 15- to 20- year old drivers. To put it another way, there is an 8.7 percent difference between older age groups and younger age groups’ rate of fatal crashes. This is showing that raising the minimum driving age will be beneficial because there will be more mature drivers on the