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The Cons of Driving at the Age of Sixteen

Raising the driving age from 16 to 18 has been the subject of many debates, based on the fact that there are so many fatal crashes involving young drivers in America. Some states are making laws to try and improve statistics by reducing the hours that teens can be on the road and introducing defensive driving courses to improve the driving skills of young drivers. For instance in Florida, 16-year-olds can only drive between 6 am and 11 pm, unless they are accompanied by a person of at least 21 years of age or if they are returning home from work.

Experience
- Driving experience is one of the things that creates a good, safe driver and at 16 years of age it is just not possible to have the experience necessary to be a good driver. Teens need several years of experience before they can claim to drive well and an extended period of supervised driving is needed to ensure the building of good driving habits.
Statistics on Young Drivers
- According to the national teen driving statistics, motor accidents are the leading cause of deaths amongst 15- to 20-year-olds, and 16-year-olds are three times more likely to die in a traffic accident than older more experienced drivers. Sixteen-year-olds have more traffic accidents compared with drivers from any other age group.
Cost of Insuring young Drivers
- Due to statistics on traffic accidents involving young drivers, the cost of insuring a 16-year-old to drive your car is quite high. AAA reports that the costs associated with teen traffic accidents is around 34 billion dollars a year, covering medical expenses, loss of work, property damage and other related costs. In 2006, there were 974,000 crashes involving drivers between the ages of 15 and 17, according to the analysis conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation for AAA.
Brain Development
- According to scientists at the National Institute of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland, the executive part of the brain is not fully developed in 16-year-olds. This part of the brain affects judgment and impulsive behavior and is not considered fully developed until about 25 years of age. This has led many people to believe that 16-year-olds are not mature enough to handle the risks of driving on modern roads, and this could be linked to the high amount of road accidents involving 16-year-olds in particular. In slightly older teens, this part of the brain is more developed, so they are more capable of driving safely unsupervised.

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