Restricting teens’ driving rights to save American lives

A sparkling red convertible or a jet-black sports car is the fantasy of most American… A sparkling red convertible or a jet-black sports car is the fantasy of most American teenagers, accompanied of course by the golden ticket of high school — a driver’s license. Although, for many of us, the sports car is actually a used car that we are ecstatic to share with siblings.

Learning to drive is a landmark occasion for American teenagers. It is the first step toward actually being a grown up and asserting your independence. Driving home from Friday night football or the movies has become a rite of passage. However, for many American families every year, the Friday-night fun ends tragically.

Car accidents in this country are the number one cause of death among American teens. More teenagers are killed every year behind the wheel, or at the mercy of their peers, than are killed by guns, drugs or disease. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2003, 5,240 teens were killed in car accidents and 458,000 were injured. Even more startling — on average a teenager is killed in a car accident once every hour on the weekends and once every two hours during the week.

A study conducted by the National Institute of Health in 2005 showed a biological correlation to the strikingly high statistics. The study used brain scans to show that a teenager’s brain might lack the ability to make critical decisions. Critical decisions translate into split seconds when driving a car. The researchers observed that a teenager’s brain is not fully developed until age 20. Specifically, the portions of the brain that control risk taking and impulse control have not fully matured.

The question that any reasonable person would obviously ask is, “Why, then, do we license such young drivers?” If a 16-year-old crashes at a rate nearly twice as high as an 18-year-old, why do we let him drive?

In 21 states, teenagers can receive a driver’s license without any restrictions the year of their 16th birthday, and in nine of those states, they can get a license on their 16th birthday. Another 21 states license teenagers the year of their 17th birthday. In only eight states do you have to be 18 to get an unrestricted driver’s license.

All 50 states do have some type of learner’s permit or provisional period for a license. For example, in Maryland, drivers with a provisional license cannot drive after midnight or with a passenger who is not a family member. All of the states vary to some degree. It is important to recognize that in states where you can get an unrestricted license on your 16th birthday, such as Arizona, a teenager begins driving months earlier with a learner’s permit or provisional license. Although they may not have a license without restrictions, they are on the road driving a car months before their 16th birthday.

In 42 states, a teenager can receive a driver’s license without any restrictions before their 18th birthday. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the fatality rate is four times higher for these drivers than any other age demographic.

Jeffrey Runge, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, considers teenage automobile accident deaths “a national epidemic.” Runge believes that “if we had any other disease that was wiping out our teenagers at the rate of thousands per year, there would be no end to what we would as a society to stop that.”

We, however, continue to license young drivers, when statistics and science have shown us that it is dangerous. This “national epidemic” will continue until we do something to change licensing laws.

Creating a national age to obtain an unrestricted license is the first step. In each state, the minimum age must be 18 years old. It is safer for teenagers and it is safer for other motorists. I recognize that this age minimum will still put some younger drivers on the road. However, they will adhere to the restrictions of a learner’s permit or provisional program as enforced by each state.

I am a strong believer in states’ rights, and I believe that each state has a right to regulate motor vehicle laws. A state should have every right to regulate the provisional periods, or the age at which a learner’s permit may be obtained. However, we must, as a country, make the minimum age to obtain an unrestricted license 18 years old. This nationwide step will save American lives. If we want change, we must make changes to our driving laws.

Beep beep! E-mail Kimberly at kns12@pitt.edu.