Recently, American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a groundbreaking study that said 16 and 17 year olds are more than 20 times as likely to have a crash as any other drivers on the road. It is this and many other similar statistics out there that make me wish the driving age would be raised to eighteen. I believe that driving a car is a task sixteen and seventeen year olds are just not ready for yet. It requires a person to fully grasp the meaning of responsibility, and to understand every risk involved. While some sixteen and seventeen year olds may be able to handle this, most become part of yet another statistic, and some never reach their eighteenth birthday due to irreversible mistakes.

In the world we live in today, the idea of sixteen and seventeen year olds driving anywhere they want without an adult has become the way of life for most Americans. I believe this is a crazy logic that people really need to rethink. There is no reason for these kids to be out there on the road without an adult there to assist them. Most of them are still living with parents, and jobs are scarce because they are in school. School is an easy place to get to without driving. A student can either ride the bus (why not it’s free!) or be dropped off by their parents.
Some states are beginning to realize that these kids do not belong on the road. To fix this colossal mistake, they are currently making and passing amendments to raise the driving age to eighteen. Because of these great strides being made, People are starting to see the problems with young teenage drivers. Even though it’s only two years, the development from age sixteen to eighteen is astounding. The biggest parts that are changing have to do with decision making skills. Judgment like this is used every time you get behind the wheel. For example, when driving in an area with a lot of cars, the driver has to judge how spaced you keep yourself from the cars in front and around you.
Everyone needs to be made aware of the dangers these kids pose on the road, and how much we could help save lives by adding two more years to every teens wait. Raising the legal driving age would decrease the overall number of accidents; therefore preventing some accident caused deaths. Not only that, the parents of thousands of sixteen and seventeen year olds would never had to hear the words, “you child was killed in a driving accident” again.