EDITORIAL – Drivers see red, teens not blue enough

The next time someone younger than 25 has the inkling to engage in “risky behavior,” we need… The next time someone younger than 25 has the inkling to engage in “risky behavior,” we need not blame fate, the media or peer pressure. We can now look to science.

CBS News Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reported a series of studies found the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior isn’t fully formed until age 25 and is seriously underdeveloped at 16.

That doesn’t sound too good. At 24, most people are legitimately considered adults. Some are even getting married and starting families. The triumphant achievement of turning 21 is often celebrated by falling down drunk after the 15th round of birthday shots. The age of legitimacy is 18, when a person can vote, smoke, play the lottery and go fight in a war. Talk about risky business! And at 16, the first taste of freedom is felt when sweet teen-agers take to the steering wheels of cars to get their drivers’ licenses.

Laurence Steinberg of Temple University used a series of driving-style tests to show that young people consistently take greater risks when their friends are watching. While some might blame peer influences for the increased speed and number of traffic lights that were run, Steinberg argues the real source of the problem is neuroscience.

He points to a small blue area in the front of the brain that stops people from doing “dumb things.” Teen-agers just don’t have enough blue in the brain.

Steinberg, and anyone who agrees with his conclusion that younger people can’t help endangering their lives because a blue part of their brains is underdeveloped, is misguided. The legislators who want to push the legal driving age back to 18 and the insurance companies that want to set high premiums and rates for drivers under 25? Wrong.

Steve Cebulka has been a driving instructor for 33 years at the nationally acclaimed drivers’ education program at William Penn High School in Delaware and claims he can train the teen-age brain to be a good driver.

There is no real reason to push back the legal driving age because of Steinberg’s findings. More and more young people rely on their ability to drive because they just have more to do. It’s the way our society is changing. People are depending more on private rather than public transportation, and at a younger age. And parents, also getting busier by the minute, are less likely to be chauffeurs for an extra two years.

It’s easier to teach people responsibility at an early age.

In some states, teen-agers have to wait six months between getting learner’s permits and receiving their driver’s licenses. In the interim, they must document hours spent practicing with a licensed driver — often the parent, who signs off on the paperwork.

It’s about time we stop using science to take away from accountability. Train a teen to be more responsible. Don’t tell young people their brains aren’t blue enough to tackle a task.