18L Essay, Research Paper

A mammoth occurrence is about to strike fear into the hearts of millions of teens as our world leaders decide their fate. Is it Godzilla? No. Is it a park of wild dinosaurs? No. The concept that has teen?s ages sixteen and seventeen terror-stricken is the possibility of a driving age change. Many people feel that a young person should not have the privilege of driving until they are 18, which I happen to thoroughly disagree with.

Why would a person like to take away this freedom so hastily? Many would say that teens are irresponsible and immature. Too much so that they are not capable of safely driving a vehicle. Do these people take in the other piece of the puzzle? I don?t think many people do. This missing link would be the fact that these teens are inexperienced. They have accidents because they come into a new situation that they don?t know how to handle. Then they learn from it and move on. Changing the driving age would only make accidents increase in the eighteen and nineteen year old drivers. Not because of their immaturity, but because of their inexperience.

Then there is the issue of a job, which, by the way, can lead to responsibility and occasionally maturity. A high school student would have a tough time having an after-school job. A parent would have to take responsibility for dragging them to and from work. In many cases, this would never work. Parents work difficult hours and the student would never be able to keep that job. What responsibility does that teach a teenager trying to learn about life? The truth is it doesn?t teach anything, but then again who cares. At least they won?t be on the road, right?

What about money? Wouldn?t this new law save gas money and help everyone in general? Nope. Not if you really think about it. When would teenagers learn about saving money if they never had a job? When would teenagers learn how to budget if they never had to worry about car payments, insurance, or gas? Imagine being eighteen, on your own, driving for the first time, and not knowing what to do with all this newfound wealth! Spend. Spend. Spend. Then run out of gas and become late on your insurance payments. Everyone does it at least once until they figure out how to handle the responsibility. Is this what we want? Group after group of adults whom have never learned to do these things? I doubt it could never work out.

The truth is I don?t think they could change the driving age. The problems that would result would be too much for the average person to handle. Just ask yourself: Is it worth it?