Bex discusses the advantages and disadvantages of raising the legal driving age.
Will increasing the minimum driving age make our roads any safer?
As the situation currently stands, 17-year-olds are able to acquire a driving license. It is now under discussion whether they should be taken off our roads, and licenses should only be provided to those of 18-years or older in order to reduce the amount of deaths that occur through dangerous driving.
Instead of 17-year-olds being able to hold a full driving license, it is possible that they will have a year’s worth of training time, taking them to the age of 18. It is thought that this could prevent thousands of deaths and injuries on the road each year.
The year-long learning period would benefit those learning to drive by equipping them with skills for driving in various conditions. Many young drivers pass their test with as little as six months of training, meaning they may not experience driving in the winter months, when the roads are icy and the evenings are dark, during their lessons, and may pass without the necessary knowledge for driving in these circumstances.
Jamie Coles, an 18-year-old attending the Rushcliffe Sixth Form, learned to drive when he was 17. He said, on the subject: “I don’t think that raising the age would make any difference because it’s about experience; someone who started driving at the age of 18 would have the same amount of experience as someone who started at 17. If I hadn’t been able to drive until I was 18, it wouldn’t have made a huge difference to my life, but I wouldn’t have had as much freedom as I did, and being able to drive has allowed me to travel more.”
Statistics show that the number of collisions amongst drivers under the age of 25 is on the increase. Around 27% of teenage male drivers crash within their first year of holding a license.
However, does a person’s ability to drive really depend that much on their age, or is it more to do with their character? Obviously new drivers may want to flaunt their skills to their friends, with dangerous driving due to showing off being a major cause of accidents, but surely new drivers are likely to be more cautious than experienced ones and pay more attention to what they’re doing. What they have learned is still fresh in their minds, while motorists who have been driving for a long time could be overconfident and careless.
Amy Byard is a 17-year-old driver who agrees with Jamie’s view and doesn’t think that age is a factor in driving. “I think that all new drivers, whatever their age, are going to be at risk. It’s more of a confidence issue, rather than an age-related one. Without being able to drive I would struggle to get around; I wouldn’t be able to drive to college. This would be yet another regulation that the government is throwing at young people.”
Dangerous drivers can be found across the generations and not just amongst young drivers. Maybe a 12-month training period would give new drivers time for the initial thrill of driving to wear off and give them more experience, but how much difference will prolonging driving independently by one year make? Is it not possible that 18-year-olds will find themselves in the same situation that 17-year-olds are in now? Another possibility is that more teenagers will turn to mopeds as a method of transport, potentially leading to more road-related deaths.
Perhaps to make a real difference to road death figures, people should be tested regularly, to cut down on the number of older drivers who pose a risk on the roads.
