Hike driving age? Take a hike, some say, but stats don’t lie
Teens aren’t going to like it, but what’s to like about being dead? Spurred by the fact that 5,000 teen drivers die annually in traffic accidents — and are 10 times more likely to have a crash than drivers 30-59 years old — some are calling for raising the driving age.
In Texas, that age is now 16. The lowest driving age is 14 years and three months (why the three months extra?) in South Dakota. The highest driving age is 17, in New Jersey. And what’s happened in Bruce Springsteen country? The number of young drivers killed in teen driving crashes is consistently lower than in neighboring states with lower driving ages.
Calling for a change is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a group funded by the auto insurance industry. Those folks want the driving age upped to 17 or 18.
Others want to slam the brakes on this idea. They say driving as a young person isn’t about your particular age so much as your experience. They say a 17-year-old driver who just started driving might be just as prone to accidents as a 16-year-old who just started driving.
But the institute is pressing its case with the pedal to the metal, offering its proposal to an annual conference of the Governors Highway Safety Association meeting today in Arizona.
Part of its plan could be more emphasis on “graduated” licensing programs, which many states already use. These involve teens getting restricted licenses at first, so that they only drive with a licensed adult also in the car.
Many industrialized nations around the world have a driving age of 17 or even 18. You could argue that if someone is old enough to vote and go to war, they’re old enough to drive. But the last time I checked you weren’t eligible to do either if you were 14 years and three months old, much less 16 or 17.
Of course, upping the driving age wouldn’t prevent all traffic accidents. One statistical analysis of traffic accidents shows that drivers 25-34 and 45-64 were almost twice as prone to having alcohol-related fatalities as those 16-20.
Of course, young teens don’t have the same ready access to alcohol as an adult with a valid ID, which may account for some of that gap. That’s not to say teens can’t get alcohol, anyway. It is to say that drinking and driving is a problem for any age group.
Meanwhile, the question remains: What should be the legal driving age? Is 16 a good starting point for teen drivers, as it is in Texas, or should it be higher? Or lower? Some parents who are weary of carting their kids around say the earlier the better. But when potential traffic fatalities and injuries enter the equation, priorities change. Nothing about driving is worth taking or losing a life — nothing.
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