Introduction

New Zealand’s legal driving age has raised from 15-year-old to 16-year-old since 1^st August 2011. However, there are many people thinks 16-year-old is still too young to drive. According to a survey of 2300 people conducted by the NZ Herald News, it is not surprised to see the result which 80 per cent of them want the legal driving age raised to at least 18.

There are many factors why people under age 18 shouldn’t drive, here it covers three of them. The first argument will be about young drivers crash facts; the second argument will be about researches of teenagers’ brain; the third argument will be about teenagers drunk driving and ease of getting distracted.

High accident rate

The most straight forward reason for driving age should be raised is that teenagers are most likely to cause an accident by being immature, inexperienced, speeding, drinking, and getting distracted. According to the report from Ministry of Transport, drivers in the 15-19 year age group are approximately two times more likely to be involved in fatal or injury crashes compare to the drivers in 20-24 year age group. The report says, “15-19 year-old drivers make up just 6 percent of all licensed car drivers. Yet, between 2008 and 2010, 15–19 year-old drivers accounted for 14 percent of all drivers involved in minor injury crashes, 14 percent of drivers in serious injury crashes, and 13 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes”

It is not only in New Zealand that younger driver tend to cause more accident, but also it has similar trends in United States. There are statistics showed that “over the 5000 teenagers die each year in car accident, 3000 of them didn’t have their seat belts on; fatality rate for teenagers compared to adults is 4 to 1.”

Therefore, by increase the driving age, it is very likely to reduce accident and number of death.

Brain not fully developed

Brain researchers in the National Institute of Health have discovered that one of the reasons, that16-year-old is danger on the road, is because their brain, especially the part called “the executive branch” is not fully developed. The executive branch, otherwise known as the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, is the part that weighs risks, makes judgment and controls impulsive behavior. The research at the National Institute of Health has found that “a 16-year-old's brain is generally far less developed than those of teens just a little older”.

Science had clearly indicated that the problem is human biology, which means it is nature for teenager to make dangers decision on road based on careless attitudes and rash emotions. Unfortunately, nothing could change it but time for teenager to grow older.

Drunk drive and distraction cause tragedy

Drunk driving is one of the significant problems among teenage drivers. New Zealand teenagers under 18 are allowed to drink alcohol only inside private residence and with parent supervision, but it is obvious that some teenager didn’t follow the law, and sometimes they don’t know when to stop drinking. A report showed there were 2300 teenagers caught drunk driving since 2007 in New Zealand, 12 of them had more than 1000ml of alcohol in their blood which is about 12 times the legal adult limit. It is somehow related to the previous argument, which young drivers tend to make an inappropriate decision. Young drivers knew the risks of driving after consuming alcohol yet made the decision to drive after drinking.

It is said that young people are generally more likely to be distracted by mobile media devices or by other teenage passenger. A statistic observed in United State that 40% of 16-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2003 had more than one teen passenger, and the risk of dying increase if the passenger is a male.

In New Zealand, on 28 May 2011, a boy called Shaun Nilson was killed in an accident by his peer friends Levi Elliott who’s 16 back then. Shaun was a passenger in the car, and Levi was more than five times over the adult drink-drive limit. This is just one of the examples of worst combination, a drunk-drive teenager and other male teenager.

To conclude

Raising driving age is all about safety, it is obvious that teenage drivers are not only danger to themselves, but also danger to other drivers on the road.

The three arguments are somehow related to each other. 16-year-old brain is not fully developed so they make bad decision and driving drunk, as a result accident happened. Arguments above have provided sufficient statistical data, and scientific reason to show that 16-year-old is not old enough to be put behind the wheel. Therefore, by raising the legal driving age to 18, it should decrease teenager’s tragedy on the road.

Raising driving age is just one of the steps to make road safer, the best way might be start teaching kids how to drive around 15 with supervision, so that by the time they are 18 and old enough to get driver license, they already have three years of experience.

References

Davis, R. (2005, February 3). Is 16 too young to drive a car? USA TODAY. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/

Driving age of 18 makes perfect sense. (2010, January 8). The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

Ministry of Transport. (2011). Young Driver Crash Fact 2011. Retrieved  September 26, 2012 from http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Young-driver-crash-statistics-2011-(1).pdf

O’Donnell, J. (2005, January 3). Deadly teen auto crashes show a pattern. USA TODAY. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/

Peter,E. (2008, October 23). Should The Driving Age Be Raised To 18? Retrieved  September 26, 2012 from http://blog.motorists.org/should-the-driving-age-be-raised-to-18/

The minimum driving age should be raised to 18. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2012 from http://debatewise.org/debates/116-the-minimum-driving-age-should-be-raised-to-18/#yes1

This house would raise the legal driving age to 18. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2012 from http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/law-crime/house-would-raise-legal-driving-age-18

Wade, A. (2012, May 15). Teen drink-drive numbers falling. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

Williams, A. (2010, March 25). Raising the Driving Age Limit? Retrieved  September 26, 2012 from http://www.at-risk.org/blog/567/raising-the-driving-age-limit/

Ten Links

Is 16 too young to drive a car?  By Robert Davis, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-02-teens-cars-main-usat_x.htm

In this article, the author uses findings from brain researchers at the National Institutes of Health, and gave scientific reason why 16-year-old is too young to drive a car. It argued that 16-year-old is too immature to handle today’s car and roadway risks, because their brain, the part that weight risk, make judgments and controls impulsive behavior, is not fully developed.  

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Deadly teen auto crashes show a pattern  By Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-02-28-teen-drive-cover-usat_x.htm

This article gave many statistical data that collected from insurance institute and other relevant institutes, to show that 16-year olds are far worse drivers than 18-year-olds. It reviewed crash statistics and establish several patterns about teenager car crash. One of the patterns is that teens’ risk of dying increases when they’re riding with other teens. In the article, it also gave many examples of accident which really happened to make its theory more convincing.

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Driving age of 18 makes perfect sense   (NZ Herald News)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10618981

A survey undertaken with 2300 people by the NZ Herald News, showed 80 per cent want the legal driving age raised to at least 18. It also simply stated the reason why the driving age in New Zealand should be increased. It says that many of those killed were young passengers in cars driven by their peers.  

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This house would raise the legal driving age to 18   (idebate)

http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/law-crime/house-would-raise-legal-driving-age-18  

 

This site discussed whether the driving age should be raised to 18, and it provided both points for and points against the issue. It argued that driving age should be raised to 18 from four different perspectives. For example, young people are more likely to be distracted by mobile media devices than older people; young people are more likely to be involved in serious accidents.

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Young Driver Crash Facts 2011   (Ministry of Transport)

http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Young-driver-crash-statistics-2011-(1).pdf

This is a report prepared by the Ministry of Transport. It contains summary of young driver crash data including statistics and graphs. It showed that young drivers aged 15-19 are much more likely to be involved in fatal or injury crashes. It also showed that the fatal crashes of young drivers often happened at night, especially on Friday and Saturday night.

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Teen drink-drive numbers falling   (NZ Herald News)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10805950

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The age for drivers licenses should be raised from 15 years to 18 years?

http://www.politics.org.nz/webapps/cid/23106/44861/vote/vote-debate.html?questid=228

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The minimum driving age should be raised to 18    (Debatewise)

http://debatewise.org/debates/116-the-minimum-driving-age-should-be-raised-to-18/#yes1

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Should The Driving Age Be Raised To 18?   (National Motorists Association Blog)

http://blog.motorists.org/should-the-driving-age-be-raised-to-18/

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Raising the Driving Age Limit?    (At-Risk Teenagers)

http://www.at-risk.org/blog/567/raising-the-driving-age-limit/