Here’s Why The Driving Age Is 16 In Most States. Should It Be? – Cheddar Explains

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States 16 to 17 year old drivers are almost twice as likely to die in a car crash than drivers who are just two years older so why is the minimum driving age still 16 in 44 states it's

Actually a highly contested subject in 1903 Massachusetts and Missouri became the first States to require drivers to obtain a license this was for two reasons first to generate revenue for the state

Government and second to hold drivers responsible for damages caused by their vehicles as cars became more common so did accidents therefore states began to introduce formal requirements for a license in

1909 Pennsylvania became the first state to establish an absolute minimum driving age eighteen twelve years later Connecticut became the first state to implement a driving age of 16 but still 16 year old drivers had to be

Accompanied by a licensed adult this was the nation's first attempt at executing a graduated licensing system that would grant young drivers more freedom over time in 1925 New York followed in Connecticut's footsteps and created the

Learner's permit one year later a National Conference for Street Highway Safety drafted the Uniform Vehicle Code which urged states to set the minimum driving age to 16 this wasn't an actual law but more of a suggestion and yet

Most states followed it between 1919 and 1937 fifteen states enacted a minimum age requirement nine of which allowed driver's as young as 16 to obtain licenses and by the 1940s this number grew to include most states in the

Country by 1996 all 50 states and the District of Columbia adopted graduated driver licensing policies even with measures like these teen driving is still dangerous drivers under Tony account for 5.4 percent of all drivers

Yet they also account for 8 percent of all fatal crashes one of the more popular arguments for raising the minimum driving age has to do with maturity this is jayegi he let us study with the National

Institute of Mental Health that focused on the evolution of children's brains as they mature from adolescence to adulthood the team analyzed 4,000 brain scans from 2000 volunteers and discovered this over time the brain

Quickly turned blue in some areas and more slowly in other areas the rate at which the area's turn blue represents their development over time and one of the more significant areas to slowly turn blue was right here the dorsal

Lateral prefrontal cortex it's the part of the prefrontal cortex that controls impulsive behavior ways risks and makes judgments the research suggests that this crucial part of a teens brain grows through adolescence and does not fully

Mature until 25 this means that teens decisions are often driven by ration oceans and impulse rather than by logic the slow maturing process coupled with rapidly changing hormones can make a potent mix as teenage bodies mature the

Hormones encourage more novelty seeking and risk-taking behaviors emotions start to run high making it harder for them to think long term inform wise judgments speeding for example was the root cause of over 19,000 teen crashes from 2000 to

2011 in 2016 alone teen drivers accounted for 32% of all fatal speeding related crashes studies have found that speeding behavior increases over time as teenagers gain more confidence in driving another argument for raising the

Driving age is that doing so could significantly reduce the cost that families have to pay for automotive insurance the average 16 year old driver in the u.s. is expected to spend over 2,500 dollars every year on insurance

Adding a driver to an existing insurance plan can bump up the price by an extra $600 even 15 to 19 year-olds who maintain a clean driving record are expected to pay a higher insurance rate because they are four times more likely

To be in a crash than older drivers with more experience so people argue that since these hefty our highest for drivers 15 to 17 years old raising the minimum driving age would allow families to avoid spending

So much on insurance facts like these are pretty hard to ignore yet there are supportive reasons for keeping the driving age at 16 first it comes down to the maturity versus experience dichotomy this argument comes

From the idea that skills can only be attained through practice and experience so raising the minimum age would only delay teens from gaining crucial driving experience in turn the argument hypothesizes the teenaged crash rates

Would only shift more toward 18 and 19 year olds supporters of maintaining the driving age at 16 say that rather than focusing on the drivers age policy should concentrate primarily on offering more hands-on classes and tighter

Restrictions on novice drivers plus raising the minimum driving age can limit the options teenagers have to participate in extracurricular activities 57 percent of children ages 6 to 17 are part of an after-school

Activity like sports clubs or part-time jobs and all of these activities require some form of transportation raising the driving age would take away the chance for these students to drive themselves and instead places the responsibility on

Parents who may not be readily available this would also cause problems in areas where public transportation is limited so the ultimate goal of this debate boils down to this to keep young drivers safe both sides provide sound arguments

Which can make it difficult to establish a single minimum driving age across all 50 states but state governments have created programs like graduated driver licensing to help young novice drivers gain crucial experience on the road most

Graduated driver licensing programs or GDL consist of three stages that slowly face beginners into full unsupervised driving privileges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study in 2006 that found that GDL

Programs can reduce fatal crashes for 16 year old drivers by an average of 11% New Jersey has long been used as a model for implementing strong GDL policy the state established 17 as the minimum driving age and requires new drivers of

All ages to follow its GDL policies after the GDL program was implemented the state saw a 25% decrease in fatal crashes of seventeen-year-old and nighttime crashes of 17 year olds also decreased by 40%

So while teenagers across the country look forward to the day they get to receive this small 60 by 92 millimeter laminated card at the DMV that date could come even later put all in the name of safety do you think the minimum

Driving age to stay is 16 leave a comment down below hit that like button and subscribe to our channel so you can be notified whenever we post new videos