Picture this: a seventeen year old girl busy at a late night dance, enjoying her friends and the music. Now, glance to the doorway, and there waits her mother, watching the whole spectacle What if this teenager had to rely on her mom for a ride home? Can you believe that the driving age actually might be raised to eighteen? I hope the law stays at sixteen for driving so that young people can have their freedom, and parents can have their own lives. I say let the test judge who is ready to drive rather than some lawmaker’s arbitrary decision about maturity.
My first reason that I think the driving age should stay sixteen is because adolescents need their freedom. For sixteen years, they have had to compromise, postpone, and cancel excursions because of transportation problems. Just when a teenager is about to go to the movies, a parent frequently cancels the trip because of some other priority, like going to the post office or the market. It would be especially unfair to have to be so dependent on parents at a time when young people are just beginning to enjoy freedom. I have heard several teenagers say, “I can’t wait until I can take myself places, and not have to rely on my dad. My social plans are always the lowest priority.”
Secondly, I think sixteen year olds should be able to drive because parents hate the stress of being taxi drivers. Most parents are responsible for keeping the home organized, earning money at work, and assisting older family members. They are exhausted and overwhelmed already. If the driving age were raised, mothers and fathers would resist being chauffers for two more years. I could imagine there being many tense conflicts around the dinner table that would sound like this, “Mom, I hate that you won’t just change your day a little so that you could drop me off at the movies. Haven’t you already been to the market three times this week?” We all know that there is enough tension already between teenagers and their parents; there is no need to create more disharmony at home.
Last, but not least, this proposal seems arbitrary. Who can say that one sixteen year old is not mature enough, while another eighteen year old is supposedly ready to drive? Isn’t that what the driving exam is set up to do? The state of California has a thorough written and behind the wheel test which has been created to decide who is ready to drive and when. If a sixteen year old has practiced driving, and studied the driving regulations enough, then the Department of Motor Vehicles will issue a license. If the young driver isn’t yet capable, she/he won’t pass the test. Implementing a new age requirement would be an arbitrary system for determining who is ready to drive.