You may have heard that teen drivers have very high crash rates. Those first three years after a teen starts driving, from 16 to 19 years of age, can put them at serious risk of an accident, and teens tend to be involved in a disproportionate number of fatal accidents. Naturally, other drivers who have to share the road with them are also at risk.
Should the minimum driving age be raised? Is the solution as simple as it sounds? If young drivers are a risk, would it make sense to simply increase the legal driving age?
The trouble with inexperienced drivers
The problem with this simple solution is that experience levels are a leading cause of these car accidents, as inexperience leads to mistakes. In fact, the National Safety Council notes that the best thing parents can do is to spend time driving with their teens to get them more experience in a controlled setting.
If you moved the driving age up from, say, 16 years of age to 20 years of age, you would merely have inexperienced 20-year-olds driving cars. Would that really cut back on accidents, or would they just happen to slightly older people?
The one argument for moving the driving age is that brain development is still happening for teens and won’t be done until around 25 years of age. Young people may be better equipped mentally to make better choices at a later age, even if they still don’t have any more experience behind the wheel.
All that being said, it’s unlikely that the minimum driving age will ever change. If you get injured in an accident caused by a teen driver, you must know what legal options you have to seek compensation. A crash can leave you with extensive medical bills, lost wages, property damage and more, so find out what it takes to get a fair settlement from the insurance.
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