Argumentative Essy on Teenage Drivers free essay sample

Saving Lives of the Inexperienced Remember the days leading up to your sixteenth birthday? You would be talking with friends about how you cannot wait to go out in your new car and drive with the wind blowing through your hair? Plus the adrenaline pumping in your body especially on the day of your birthday and waiting to go to the license bureau and claim your ticket to freedom! Though there may have been another side of the spectrum which was not being focused on, and that was the amount of experience you have yet to gain before calling yourself a full-time driver. By nationally setting the drivers learner permit minimum age at sixteen years old and enforcing two years of driving with a licensed adult before obtaining a full license, will result in reducing the amount of teenage car accidents because of the increase in supervised driving experience for new drivers. Earlier this year last October, Kieran Turner, a spokesman for NZTA (New Zealand Transportation Agency) mentioned teenage car accidents are still the single biggest killer of teenagers nationally (Car crashes biggest teen killer). Additionally, ccording to statistics gathered by the Federal Highway Administration, drivers 19 years old and under came in second on the rank in amount of fatal accidents, being 3,272 total, both females and males (Federal Highway Administration). The group which came in first was the 20 to 24 years old drivers with an amount of 5,600 total fatal accidents (Federal Highway Administration). From looking at the statistics, there clearly is a sign showing that action needs to be taken into consideration in order to drop these rates. Age rather in comparison to experience, is the actual top cause of raffic incidents among teenagers. Though, the age does go in a relation to experience, but every driver is different. Explorations need to occur with new drivers and the link with high amounts of car accidents, with the help of an increase in supervised experience provided by a licensed adult. Teenagers growing up more in this day and age, will most likely have a cell phone with them at all times, having grown up with cell phones in comparison to past drivers who did not. There was a study performed to investigate the relationship between cell phones and automobile accidents and was done by Thomas Dinkelacker. An observation was made, Use of cell phones while driving was associated with a quadrupling of the risk of collision (similar to the hazard associated with a blood alcohol level of the legal limit) (Dinkelacker 168). Additionally, there was a 10 year national study performed of highway fatalities, and one of the authors mentioned in an article written by the Washington Post: Few teenagers are aware that nightfall magnifies the risk posed by their inexperience and fatigue he resulting fatigue, especially at night, can contribute to impairment that is similar to eing intoxicated (Halsey Ill A06). When a driver gets behind the wheel of a car, he or she needs to recognize the other lives which are in the car and now at risk. The moment a driver gets behind the wheel of a car with other passengers, nothing is more important than protecting those live s, like a parent protecting their children from harm. By mixing cell phones, darkness, fatigue, and much more, such as high, because we have not taken away the distractions leading to the fatal accidents. What people may not know about teenagers and development is that the human rain is still developing during adolescent years. Texas Transportation Institute wrote a study in regards to the brain development and teenagers which was composed by Ashley Halsey Ill, a writer for the Washington Post. Novice drivers (1 5 to 17 years old) are at a distinct disadvantage, not only because of their incomplete brain development Research has found that the prefrontal cortex of the brain the region responsible for weighing the consequences of risky behavior is the last part of the brain to develop (Halsey Ill A03). There was another conducted, by Jeff Muttart, a U. S. based academic who studies the mechanics and psychology of driving. He stated, mioung adults do not have fully formed brain connections (Cheney A6). Taking a moment to think about what he may mean by this is important, because would we as other drivers, want those kinds of drivers on the road with us? Teenagers with more brain development understand the risk factors of driving recklessly or being more aggressive towards other drivers and causing danger from having the experience of driving with licensed adults. Allowing the opportunity to drive with a licensed adult provides the chance to experience and earn from those rare high-risk moments when inexperienced drivers may not know what to do. Driving does require a lot of quick decision making, rational reasoning skills, critical thinking because of the amount of responsibility being on the road with numerous other people. However, there is the thought of what will happen with the transportation of students to and from high school institutions? Most public high schools already have a bus transportation system which will pick up students as well as drive each home, but what about private schools? Private high schools, which would have a lower need for parking sports, with it only being the highest grade level needed to park, as a result would have more reason for a bus transportation system as well. Parents which are not paying for their children to have a car, car insurance and extra necessities do have the money to contribute to the bus transportation system which could then be used. The money from usage of the old parking lot will now be used towards the bus transportation system of students. Yet, actually there is already a bus transportation system right in cities today, and he government pays for each year. By making use of the transportation system there is a decrease amount of money spent for parents per year on average, less pollution of carbon dioxide put into the air, and the roads are opened up some more and lowering the rate of danger from less high school students being out on the road. In addition, the upperclassmen of the high school which may live near other students are capable to carpool with the lowerclassmen since they are more familiar with driving from the increase of experience provided by the change in minimum age for ermit drivers to begin the two year training towards a full license.