TEEN CAR CRASHES

Teen Car Crashes

Teen Car Crashes

Introduction

Turning sixteen years old, as in teenagers' lives is an exciting event. It allows them to get a drivers license and is a big step towards adulthood. With this, it gives them freedom and control over something they have never experienced before. In most cases, people stress about gangs, drugs, and violence in our communities as a big result of teenage deaths, but the leading causes of accidents today are teenage drivers, especially sixteen and seventeen year olds. Legislators should pass a law changing the drivers licensing age to eighteen instead of sixteen. By doing this, it could decrease driving problems we face today(Purdy, 1998).

The U.S. Center of Disease and Control stated that the leading cause of death among teenagers, between the ages of sixteen to twenty, is motor vehicle related accidents. On average in the U.S., 5,000 teenagers die in car crashes every year. That's an average of fourteen per day. This is an exceptionally high statistic that should send chills down any parent's spine because the reality is that one of those teenagers could have been their own. Parents worry for the safety of their children on a continual basis and are also faced with the knowledge that while teenagers make up only 10% of the U.S. population, they are disproportionately represented in fatal motor vehicle incidents at a rate of fourteen per one hundred(Petter, 1997). Despite the large number of teenage fatalities per year due to car related accidents, the public has not seen fit to push this issue, and therefore it is not considered to be a social problem. The fact is that the public's ignorance is only prolonging the issue. Society should increase the driving age because without a change this underrated social problem will continue to have fatal consequences.

Discussion

For the most part, sixteen and seventeen year olds don't realize the importance and responsibility that comes when getting a drivers license. They feel it is something to play around with and don't take it seriously. For instance, immaturity is a cause of being irresponsible. Because of this there are many accidents that happen that could have been prevented(Veigle, 1998). Allan F. Williams, an author for "Public Health Reports" writes about the characteristics all teenagers have in common. He observes that "Qualities generally associated with immaturity (such as chance taking, testing limits, poor decision-making, overconfidence) are associated with the more risky driving styles characteristic of teenage drivers (Williams, 1997).

Often, in teenagers' lives, they look towards their friends for advice and guidance rather than their teachers, parents, and others. There are a lot of reasons for this and the biggest one is peer pressure. Teenagers are at a stage in their lives where "it isn't cool to listen to mom and dad", and "fitting in" is a big factor. Therefore when their friends tell them things to do or say, they are more willing to do it just for the sake of "fitting ...