The debate on the driving age has been ongoing, with various people proposing various issues in relation to the driving age. However, the best option as at now is to raise the driving age to 21 years. While there may be benefits that are associated with the low driving age, there are more benefits associated with increasing the driving age.
First, many people below the age of 21 are mostly in college and do not need a vehicle. Most students reside in the college while others reside in places close to the colleges where they can walk back and to the college. There will be no inconveniences that are associated with raising the driving age for the people in the society.
Many of the individuals below the age of 21 are after learning new things, and they try to test many things. These are the individuals who overspeed on the roads because they are after testing the ability of vehicles that they drive. They are also after pleasing their friends or competing with them on the roads, and this endangers their lives and that of other drivers. Such individuals die at a very tender age which can be avoided by increasing the driving age (Congressional Quarterly, Inc, 2012).
The drinking age is 18 years, and at this point, the young people especially in colleges engaging in partying activities as well as the use of various other drugs. When these young people start driving while under the influence of drugs, they are more likely to cause accidents since their carelessness increase when under the influence, something they are not used to. They cannot exercise self-control as compared to the older people who are already used to drinking before they learned how to drive.
The low driving age means that there are so many cars on the road, because more people have the licenses to drive a vehicle. With the high number of vehicles on the road, the chances of occurrence of accidents are high. Increasing the driving age means that many people will be disqualified from driving, hence will have to use public means of transport. This will reduce congestion in towns and the number of accidents that occur.
Since the majority of individuals below the age of 21 are unemployed, increasing the driving age would mean that the level of dependence in the society will be reduced. It will ensure that the young people in the society develop financially before they can start using vehicles. This will reduce the strain that the parents experience in the society when they have to buy fuel for their children to drive as well as repair vehicles that their children use. It will motivate the children to work harder and own their own cars in the future (Congressional Quarterly, inc. 2012).
Increasing the driving age in a way reduces the level of pollution in that is as a result of increased use of private vehicles. As many people below the age of 21 will be compelled to use public means of transport, meaning that the pollution by the fewer vehicles will be less as compared to when there are many vehicles on the road. As more youths will be compelled to walk in most of the cases, this will ensure that they do some exercise every day and incidences of obesity in the society will reduce.
References
Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (2012). Childhood and adolescence in society: Selections from CQ Researcher. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
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