Washington State is considering raising the driving age to 18 this is an unusually bad idea for many reasons. Washington State already has graduated licensing requirements with many rules and regulations, Parents are overburdened with the responsibilities of driving and teens are not as reckless as people would have you think

Washington State already has graduated licensing requirements with many rules and regulations to govern driving laws that concern teens.
*Teens must pass driver’s education courses and take a written and driving exam to pass.
*Sixteen and seventeen year olds cannot carry other teen passengers and must drive with an experienced driver for almost a year after getting a license.

Teen drivers cannot drive at night or alone and must retain a B average in school to receive insurance discounts.
*Teens cannot get a license without jumping through many hoops and following strict guidelines
*Parents are overburdened with the responsibilities of driving.
*Parents are tired of chauffeuring kids around town.

The economy has forced many families to send both parents back into the workforce to make ends meet. Parents cannot drive kids to work or sporting practices. Parents depend on their older teen children taking some of the financial responsibilities off them by getting jobs.

*There are only so many hours in a day many teens will not get rides to important functions or to work.
*The economy would come to a complete halt if no teens could work. Clothing stores, fast food, and the movies would close down if teens stopped spending money there

Statistically teens are not as reckless as people would have you think.

The best argument for leaving law as it stands it a simple one. Accidents are not caused by drivers who happen to be 16 or 17 years old they are caused by NEW drivers. So if you change the law to 18 then they will be new drivers and have disproportionate amount of accidents.

Teens get bad publicity but numbers do not lie. In fatal accidents in a ten year period between 1998 and 2008 only 10% of 16 year olds had alcohol in their blood compared to 43% of 20-49 year olds. The adults were 4.3 times more likely to be drinking than teens.

 

The National Insurance Alliance has found that 16 and 17 year old drivers receive only 1% of the texting or phone violation driving tickets.
*That means 99% of texting or speaking on cell phone tickets were given to those 18 and up.
*The media has done a good job of teaching teens the importance of safe driving.
*The media has also portrayed teens as reckless for comic effect but the statistics do not add up.
*Teens actually cause very few of the fatal accidents adults do the most damage.

You could argue that teens die everyday from accidents, that they are too immature and that their impulse control isn’t mature enough to handle the responsibility. I believe statistics will prove that new drivers, not teen drivers, cause these accidents. Impulse control in teens seems much better statistically than adults. Ninety-nine percent moving violations along with 90% alcohol related fatalities are caused by adults.

Maturity happens when you give teens a chance and they succeed. Keeping teens at home playing X-Box is not helping their maturity issues. The ability to get a job and attend after school sports practices do increase maturity. All of which can happen if you have a car.

We were all new drivers once. With education and the existing laws governing teens and driving we will all be safe with teens getting their licenses at 16.

Washington State already has graduated licensing requirements with many rules and regulations, Parents are overburdened with the responsibilities of driving and teens are not as reckless as people would have you think.

I believe we should keep the driving age at 16 in Washington State.