Driving Restrictions Essay, Research Paper

Driving Restrictions

There are many accidents everyday that are costing people their lives. My young brothers and most definitely my grandparents would probably kill me for saying so, but there should be some changes made to the laws concerning the age requirements of drivers. If the State of Ohio changed the age requirement of operating a vehicle to between 18-70 years of age, our roads would be much safer to drive on.

If you had told me when I turned sixteen that I couldn?t get my license until I turned eighteen, I would have thrown a fit. Now that I am older, I realize that I had no business driving an automobile at 16 years old. I was the typical teenage driver. The cool one, who had the ?Detroit lean,? with the seat tilted so far back that I couldn?t see over the dashboard, and could only reach the pedals with my big toe. There?s no way I could hear emergency sirens with the music being turned up so loud that it caused my mirrors shake.

If asked most teens would say that they don?t think of the consequences their driving could bring, because if they had then the statistics of fatalities due to car accidents would not be so high. In 1997, according to the US Department of Transportation, 7,885 teens were involved in fatal crashes. They also claim that teen crashes are 4 times the normal rate of accidents. These accidents are occurring because teens tend to take more risks. They drive too fast and usually aren?t paying attention to the road and their surroundings. They are too busy playing with the radio, lighting cigarettes, or talking to their friends. I have yet to see a teenager drive down my street at 25mph, it is usually about 40mph. What will it take for the laws to be changed? Is it going to take a politician?s little girl being killed by a speeding teen to wake people up? Maybe if we were to take some extra precautions in issuing drivers? licenses, we would not have so many of our young teens dying in car crashes.

Teens should not be permitted to drive until they are 18 years old. They should be able to drive on a temporary permit when they are 16 years old and use it until they turn 18 years old. This permit would allow them to drive only during daylight hours and with a parent/guardian. This would enable the young drivers to become more experienced. The eight hours of drivers training with your instructor is not enough. These teens need to get a feel for the road and learn to drive defensively. If you do not know how to operate a vehicle responsibly, it could be used as a deadly weapon. These young drivers are hurting themselves and other innocent people, because of their lack of experience and their irresponsibility.

The consequences of a teen caught driving under the age of 18, without a parent/guardian, should be suspension of their temporary permit. As a result, the teen will also have to pay steep fines, and have the possibility of losing their privilege of driving until they are 21 years old.

The elderly should also have restrictions. Their driver?s license should be renewed every year after they reach 70 years of age. At this time, they should have to take the whole drivers? exam again. The test should consist of a vision, hearing, and regular road test. Not to be disrespectful to the elderly, but they do not have the same physical capabilities they had when they were younger. They lose their vision and hearing, and their reflexes become much slower. In order to drive an automobile defensively, you must have all of these senses, and if the elderly people don?t possess them, the rate of fatalities will continue to grow.

We have a neighbor who is close to 80 years old. He drives daily, and from what I can see, he doesn?t do too badly. It wasn?t until my husband?s truck was buried in the snow, that I realized our neighbor wasn?t fully fit to operate a vehicle. He came over and offered to help get my husband?s truck out of the snow. When he got in the driver?s seat, he was shifting from drive to reverse to rock the truck. Several times he put the truck in neutral, instead of drive and stomped on the gas. When I looked at him, to see why he was doing that, I noticed he was squinting his eyes to see which gear he was in. The next thing I knew, he had the truck in drive, and started barreling out of the snow and into another neighbor?s driveway. I thought for sure that he was going to go right through the neighbor?s house. His reaction time to hit the brake was so slow and all I could think about was that he was going to wipe out someone?s house, not to mention destroy my husband?s truck. If he had to take the whole driving exam again, I would guess he wouldn?t have a license anymore.

We need to realize that age is a major factor in peoples driving capabilities and safety. Teens just don?t have the responsibility or experience and the elderly do not have the physical capabilities to properly operate a vehicle. We need to take a look at the statistics, so we can see how serious this problem is. According to the US Department of Transportation, teen and elderly drivers make up 41 percent of casualties involved in car crashes. Does this number have to keep increasing before something is done? Should we continue to let our kids and grandparents hurt themselves and innocent bystanders? If so, I?ll bet you would reconsider changing the laws if someone in your family was involved in a fatal accident.

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