We got a call from CNN one day last month to come downtown and be on TV, interviewing on the issue of raising the driving age to 18. Sad to say, their deadline was less than two hours away. With Atlanta traffic there was no way to be there on time, so we had to pass.
The driving age is once again an issue in the news. In other countries — including Germany, France and most of the EU, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia, South Africa and the Australian state of Victoria, – teens can’t be licensed until the age of 18. Our neighbors to the North in Canada still hold with most US states at 16 years old. New Jersey stands alone in the US with minimum licensing at 17, while South Dakota is at 14-1/2.
According to the IIHS.org status report of September 9th, “A basic question is whether the risk associated with beginning drivers stems from their youth and immaturity or [their] inexperience. If it’s mainly immaturity, then it would pay to put off licensure until teenagers get a little bit older. But if the problem is mostly inexperience, then delaying licensure would simply put off the toll of beginner’s crashes [to an older age group].”
Many studies have been done dating back to the 90’s that try to separate these two factors. One Canadian study concludes that 16 year old teens, especially girls, had higher rates of injury crashes than older teens who had the same amount of behind the wheel experience. Another 11 studies also focused on driver age and inexperience. Based on these studies, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that “new drivers who are 16 years old have higher crash rates than older teenagers who are also new drivers.”
So it seems that research supports raising the driving age to reduce the crash rate. During 2008 several states introduced legislation to raise the driving age, yet none have passed. Legislators face resistance from parents who, according to Dr. Anne McCartt, “…may know that putting off licensure is good from a safety standpoint, but at the same time they’re impatient to get out of the business of chauffeuring their kids from one activity to another. They often believe their own children will be safe drivers, and they may be disinclined to disappoint their kids, many of whom want to get their licenses as soon as possible. For these and whatever other reasons, parents haven’t made a big push to change the licensing laws,” McCartt says.
