Essay Writing

Are you in favor or against for lowering the driving age to 16?

Driving a car is so easy to learn that people learn it at young age. We all know that driving a car
require a driver's license . Here in Bolivia the minimum age for obtaining a driver's license is 18 years.
Many people believe that the minimum age to drive should be lowered to 16. However, driving a car
requires a lot of responsibility and prudence. I think that we should not lower the minimum age to drive
for the following reasons:

First of all, 16-years adolescents are not responsible. First, adolescents often drive while drunk by
which many times cause accidents with fatalities. For example, not long ago a teenager hit another car
killing two elderly people and a child. On the other hand, adolescents are most of the time with their
phones, even when they are driving which is also a danger for people. For example, almost one third of
traffic accidents occur due to the use of cell phones while driving. Finally, adolescents drive at high
speed. There is no doubt that teenagers like adrenaline, which is a fact that they drive at high speed,
which is the second most important cause of accidents. Thus, it is clear that adolescents lack of
responsability to drive a car.

Secondly, teenagers do not take responsability of the damage that they cause. First, teens under
18 can not go to jail. For example, here in Bolivia a teenager who kills other people do not go to jail but
to a juvenile hall. Second, teenagers do not take responsability of the economic damage caused because
they have no money, their parents do. For example, my friend crashed his car and his father had to
cover the double damage. Finally, adolescents may not have possessions in their name, so if they causes
damage with their cars parents are responsible because they are the owners of the cars. For example,
the parent of a boy that killed three people was accused for being the owner of the car. Therefore, little
or nothing teens pay for his deeds, the most affected are the parents.

Finally, teenagers do not need to have a car urgently. First, a 16-year old adolesecnt regularly do
not work, they do not have to keep to the schedule of in and out. Second, adolescents normally attend a
nearby school so they don’t need to drive. For example, here in Santa Cruz most people study at a
neighborhood school. Third, adolescents just want a car for having fun and go for a ride which has
many risks since driving a car should not be an object of fun. For example, many adolescents make
underground racing endangering their lives and that of others. As you can see, having a car and thus a
driver's license is no urgent need for a teenager.

Thus, the minimum driving age should not be lowered to 16 since teenagers lack of certain
qualities and care to drive. Besides, 16-years adolescents are not responsible and they do not take
responsability of the damage that they cause. Moreover, teenagers do not need to have a car urgently. I
highly recommend not to lower the driving age to 16.