Bertrand's ACE Debate

The driving age should not be raised to 18.

People say that your brain is fully developed when you are 18 so that is when you should start driving. But your brain is not fully developed until early 20’s to early 30’s so it doesn’t matter if you start driving at 18 your brain still won’t be fully developed. The government is not going to change the driving age to early 30's just to have the brain developed. Not to mention parents are not going to want to drive there kids around till the kid is in there 30's. So you might as well just keep the driving age at 16.

The driving age should not be raised because having the driving age at 18 puts more pressure on the parents. Who is going to chauffeur kids around? How are they supposed to get to dates, dances, or other school events? If they are on a sports team then they have to go to all the events. Also, the kids can have a job when they are 16. How are they supposed to get to and from work? Especially when they have shifts almost every day and they close the work and have to be picked up late at night. Parents are busy enough and won’t want to be a chauffeur. You might say, What about biking? That may work for some states but what about in the winter of Wisconsin? With kids learning how to drive at age 16 all these problems are solved. The kid can drive where ever they need to go and the parents don't have to worry about driving them or picking them up.

I disagree with you, I think the driving age should not be raised. You say a lot of deaths have occurred from 16 year old driving. This is probably because they are inexperienced but if you raise the driving age and have the 18 year olds drive for their first time they are also going to crash. The death rate for 18 year olds will go up. This is just delaying your child’s death by 2 years. You may have gotten closer to your kid in those 2 years and now they have died at 18. How does raising the driving age to 18 help the death number for teenagers decrease?

The driving age should not be raised because keeping the driving age at 16 keeps the parents involved with the child learning how to drive. Parents need to learn to let go of their kids at some point and give them the freedom to go places on their own. This helps the kids be more independent and responsible. It’s a part of growing up that should probably still involve the parents and happen before the kids leave home for college. With the driving age at 18, a lot of kids will be at college or possibly have moved out and on their own. If the driving age is 16 parents are there to help the teen learn to drive and use discipline if necessary. If kids are learning how to drive in college and get in trouble or get home really late it is the college’s problem, not the parents. Parents can easily discipline and it is the parent's problem for their few kids. When the college has to discipline kids there are thousands of kids to look after. And who is going to know what to take away when they discipline? No one but their guardian knows them better, also when teens first get their temps they can drive with only their parent in the car. If the child is far away from their parents who is going to drive with them?