What are the arguments for and against raising the teen driving age?”
Taking aim at a longstanding rite of passage for 16-year-olds, an influential auto safety group is calling on states to raise the age for getting a driver’s license to 17 or even 18. Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the auto insurance industry, acknowledged the idea is “a tough sell,” but noted that car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers. “The bottom line is that when we look at the research, raising the driving age saves lives,” Lund said. He plans to present the proposal Tuesday at the annual conference of the Governors Highway Safety Association in Scottsdale, Ariz. Not surprisingly, a lot of teens hate the idea. “I would really be upset because I’ve waited SO long to drive,” said Diamante White, a 16-year-old in Reading, Pa., who got her permit in July. She said learning to drive is a “growing-up experience.” Many parents agree. They also like not having to chauffeur their teens to school, sporting
Raise the driving age. That radical idea is gaining momentum in the fight to save the lives of teenage drivers — the most dangerous on the USA’s roads — and their passengers. Brain and auto safety experts fear that 16-year-olds, the youngest drivers licensed in most states, are too immature to handle today’s cars and roadway risks. New findings from brain researchers at the National Institutes of Health explain for the first time why efforts to protect the youngest drivers usually fail. The weak link: what’s called “the executive branch” of the teen brain — the part that weighs risks, makes judgments and controls impulsive behavior. Scientists at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., have found that this vital area develops through the teenage years and isn’t fully mature until age 25. One 16-year-old’s brain might be more developed than another 18-year-old’s, just as a younger teen might be taller than an older one. But evidence is mounting that a 16-year-old’s brain is generally far less
