US drivers license age

[Enmos]

Would it be a good idea to raise the age from 16 to 18?
And why, or why not?

Drivers that have their license for less than 5 years, please don't vote.

Edit: This is about drivers licenses for regular cars.

[Orleander]

no no no! I saw it was locked. LOL
what did you do??? LOL

[Enmos]

no no no! I saw it was locked. LOL
what did you do??? LOL

I thought I could add a poll while it was closed, so I wouldn't get people posting here while there wasn't a poll yet.. Turns out that's impossible :o

[Orleander]

In Nebraska, you now can get a learner's permit at 14 and a school permit at 15. If you drive a vehicle on a farm or work for a farm, you can get a special permit at 13.

Oh, and my kid's can't get a driver's license til they are 18 unless they take classes at school. Then they can get one earlier, but only for driving to school or school related activities.

There are so many many rules.

[Enmos]

In Nebraska, you now can get a learner's permit at 14 and a school permit at 15. If you drive a vehicle on a farm or work for a farm, you can get a special permit at 13

Ok, but what about regular driver licenses (I updated the OP ;))?

[cosmictraveler]

18 would be better, that way they would at least have a little better judgement and control of themselves when they are drunk.

[Asguard]

enmos, as the TAC (victoria) said get your Ls as soon as possable and bager your parents relentlessly for practic ("its ok to nag your parents to let you drive" was the actual slogan) and P's as late as possable. The more time you can spend with an experianced driver in the passanger seat the less likly you are to end up on the appaling statistics for p-platers killed

[Asguard]

18 would be better, that way they would at least have a little better judgement and control of themselves when they are drunk.

p-platers do and should have a zero blood achole limit here. Drink driving is bloody stupid, adding inexperiance into that is even worse

[Read-Only]

Would it be a good idea to raise the age from 16 to 18?
And why, or why not?

Drivers that have their license for less than 5 years, please don't vote.

I agree. (I've had mine 50 years.) At 16, their brains have simply not matured enough to fully handle the responsibility of driving.

[Orleander]

well, we were legally allowed to hunt deer with a loaded gun at 10

[jpappl]

I think it should be raised to at least 18. The reason is, I was a freaking maniac behind the wheel at 16 and 17 and 18 and 19, I just couldn't drive 55.

I think that they could tie it in with grades, like in school sports, Get good grades, show responsibility, get to drive.

Most insurance companies offer a good student discount for grades above 3.0, the reason is they have the evidence that those students are more responsible drivers.

The problem is boys. Young men are rarely capable of not wanting to impress with driving, especially with others in the car.

17 year old kid all hopped up on testosterone driving a car, disaster waiting to happen.

[Read-Only]

I think it should be raised to at least 18. The reason is, I was a freaking maniac behind the wheel at 16 and 17 and 18 and 19, I just couldn't drive 55.

I think that they could tie it in with grades, like in school sports, Get good grades, show responsibility, get to drive.

Most insurance companies offer a good student discount for grades above 3.0, the reason is they have the evidence that those students are more responsible drivers.

The problem is boys. Young men are rarely capable of not wanting to impress with driving, especially with others in the car.

17 year old kid all hopped up on testosterone driving a car, disaster waiting to happen.

I'll second that, 100%!!

[Baron Max]

Before I vote, I'd like some statistics and some info. Like, ...of all the young drivers on the road, what's the percentage that cause problems? If it's just a small percentage, then "punishing" all young drivers for the actions of only a few is not nice.

My experience tells me that young drivers aren't nearly so bad as we like to think. The media makes a big stink out of some horrific accident and everyone reacts with horror. But the reality is ....what is the reality? Are all younger drivers really as bad as "they" want us to believe?

Baron Max

[John99]

I think in some states the age is 18. I got my license at 16.

[Enmos]

Before I vote, I'd like some statistics and some info. Like, ...of all the young drivers on the road, what's the percentage that cause problems? If it's just a small percentage, then "punishing" all young drivers for the actions of only a few is not nice.

My experience tells me that young drivers aren't nearly so bad as we like to think. The media makes a big stink out of some horrific accident and everyone reacts with horror. But the reality is ....what is the reality? Are all younger drivers really as bad as "they" want us to believe?

Baron Max

I posted this link earlier in another thread.
http://www.car-accidents.com/teen-car-accidents.html

[WillNever]

Here in New York you can't drive if under the age of 16 and you get only a junior license until you are 18, prohibiting you from driving past 9 pm.

I wouldn't be opposed if people could drive only to work and school until 18.

[Enmos]

I wouldn't be opposed if people could drive only to work and school until 18.

That's still driving. The OP is talking about raising the license age to from 16 to 18. Meaning you cannot get your drivers license before age 18.

[Orleander]

That's still driving. The OP is talking about raising the license age to from 16 to 18. Meaning you cannot get your drivers license before age 18.

But why?
Here in the US they can drop out of school at 16 with parental permission
Join the military at 17 with parental permission
Get married at 15 with parental permission

We allow them to raise their children at 16, but not drive??

[Orleander]

Here in New York you can't drive if under the age of 16 and you get only a junior license until you are 18, prohibiting you from driving past 9 pm.

I wouldn't be opposed if people could drive only to work and school until 18.

That's how it is in the states that I know of. Not all states have school buses to get their kids to and from school. And considering all the cut backs in school funding, I bet more schools lose bus routes

[Baron Max]

I posted this link earlier in another thread. ....(link posted)...

That site listed the following: Stats. Teenagers are about 10 percent of the US Population but account for 12 percent all Fatal Car Crashes.

Is that 2% enough to change laws and driving rules, etc? I don't think it is. Yes, it's a lot of people dying, but 2% is a very small percentage on which to base laws and rules that restrict the freedoms and rights of the other 98%, don'tcha think?

Baron Max

[jpappl]

Before I vote, I'd like some statistics and some info. Like, ...of all the young drivers on the road, what's the percentage that cause problems? If it's just a small percentage, then "punishing" all young drivers for the actions of only a few is not nice.

My experience tells me that young drivers aren't nearly so bad as we like to think. The media makes a big stink out of some horrific accident and everyone reacts with horror. But the reality is ....what is the reality? Are all younger drivers really as bad as "they" want us to believe?

Baron Max

The statistics in insurance show that younger drivers and much older drivers are the worst offenders.

But those are large number stats. There are plenty of good younger and much older drivers but they are grouped with the ones that are not so good, so yes the insurance companies can discriminate based on age.

Younger drivers that are inexperienced make more mistakes, they learn and get better, but a lot of young drivers especially young males cause very large accidents due to being reckless. Much older drivers cause a lot of accidents as well because they are losing their motor skills, so while an 80 year old might have his senses together and is still a good driver, the group that he belongs in, all of the 80 year olds for example, is a scary group.

[Baron Max]

The statistics in insurance show that younger drivers and much older drivers are the worst offenders.

But those are large number stats. There are plenty of good younger and much older drivers but they are grouped with the ones that are not so good, ....

Hmm, I'll have to think about that some more. But I'd also be curious to see the figures on, say, 20-25 year olds as a group and as compared to the nation of drivers as a whole. In other words, hell, would any group come out smelling like a rose if they were viewed in that way?

I always hated statistics in college. I thought at the time, and still do, that it was designed specifically to torture young college kids to get them to drop out of college and go to work in the city sewer systems! :D

Baron Max

[Lori_7]

driving is NOT difficult. being responsible apparently is (i speak for myself). i've seen people in their 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, and it just gets worse from there...who shouldn't have a license.

[Asguard]

Age group statistics

18 to 25 year olds represent only 12% of the Victorian population, yet account for 24% of fatalities in 2008.

http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/jsp/content/NavigationController.do?areaID=12&tierID=1&navID=4B348A89&navLink=null&pageID=173

theres a table on that page but its not a piture so i cant copy it and paste it directly


In 2008, 27% of drivers killed were aged between 18 and 25 years. And yet, this age group only represents around 13% of Victorian licence holders.



http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/upload/stats-young-drivers.png


Of the 38 young drivers killed in 2008:

74% were males,
34% were killed on country roads,
74% were killed in single vehicle crashes,
68% were involved in crashes that occurred during high alcohol times,
the days when fatal crashes were most frequent were Saturday (26%),Sunday (24%), Friday (13%) and ,
55% of crashes occurred between the hours of 8pm and 6am, and
52% of deaths occurred on 100km/h and 110km/h signposted roads.
Note: High alcohol times are those times of the day and week when casualty crashes are ten times more likely to involve alcohol than casualty crashes at other times.


http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/jsp/content/NavigationController.do?areaID=12&tierID=1&navID=CC348A57&navLink=null&pageID=171

[Baron Max]

from the link: "In 2008, 27% of drivers killed were aged between 18 and 25 years. And yet, this age group only represents around 13% of Victorian licence holders."

That just talks about drivers who were killed. It doesn't say anything about whether they were run off the road by some old fart or some middle aged driver.

I don't think the age of the driver is a good stat to prove anything about how good the driver is/was. As I said, he might have been trying to get out of someone else's way or swerved to avoid an accident with an idiot driver and lost control. He died and became a statistic, the driver who caused it all went on home and it was forgotten and never made any of the stats.

No, I'm not so sure that the stats tell us what we really want to know in order to raise the age for a permit.

Baron Max

[pjdude1219]

generally the worst drivers I have met are generally older people who complain about younger drivers.

[Baron Max]

generally the worst drivers I have met are generally older people who complain about younger drivers.

Yeah, I've found that to be true, also. And I'm an old fart, too, so I'm definitely not biased in favor of old farts.

What I've found, both when I was young as well as now that I'm old, young people have faster reactions and will often try to steer out of trouble ...which sometimes causes them to crash. And the driver who caused all of the trouble is not harmed at all.

Baron Max

[codanblad]

i didn't vote cos i think age is irrelevant, different people have different skills at different ages. getting a license should require a higher level of skill if teen drivers in the US suck as much as they do in Aust. Here, license exams are too easy and don't test all the skills necessary to be a safe driver.