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Legal Driving Age Research Paper

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Legal Driving Age Research Paper
LEGALLY RAISING THE DRIVING AGE IN THE UNITED STATES TO 18 1

Legally Raising the Driving Age in the United States to 18 and Reducing the Teenage Driving Fatalities and Accidents

LEGALLY RAISING THE DRIVING AGE IN THE UNITED STATES TO 18 2

Abstract
This paper explains the reasoning of increasing the legal driving age in the United States to age 18. It gives insight into the statistics of driving fatalities among teens, allowing the teenage brain to mature more, and also tips on increasing the parent’s role in the teen’s life when it comes time for a teenager to sit behind a wheel. I stand strong behind my argument and hope that more people will come to the same conclusion about increasing the …show more content…
For instance, a teenage boy with a BAC of just 0.05 is 18 times more likely to suffer a single vehicle crash than his non-drinking counterparts. A teenage girl is 54 times more likely to have a single vehicle crash. Experts also suggest that teens are more likely to engage in risky driving behaviors like speeding while intoxicated. They have less driving experience than an adult and may overestimate their driving abilities (learn-about-alcoholism).

There is an organization which meets frequently to attempt to reduce the student drinking population and this group is called SADD. SADD, which originally stood for Students Against Drunk Driving, is now called Students Against Destructive Decisions. This is an informative alcohol and drug abusive prevention program for adolescents and young teens which help redirect young student energy to more positive pastimes. SADD holds meetings and presentation to help students learn to resist peer pressure to drink alcohol. Statistics show that five million high school students binge drink more than once a month and those who begin drinking before the age of 15 are at a high risk to become alcoholics (alcohol-alert). By allowing teenagers to mature more before handing over the keys, may decrease the number of car related accidents and
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