1. Raise The United States Licensing Age to 18
By Emily Munns

2. Teens Lack Maturity
16-17 year olds are not mature enough to drive unsupervised
“Executive Branch” of the brain isn’t fully developed at 16
Results in dangerous impulsive driving
Underdeveloped hand eye coordination and reflexes
Risky driving moves
Speeding
Following too closely
Risky passing

3. Teens Make Bad Decisions
55% don’t wear a
seatbelt
43% report using cell
phones while driving
One in ten high school students reported having driven after drinking within the last 30 days

4. Teens Are Distracted Drivers
Recent study by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety of 1,700 teen accidents showed 58% were caused by distracted driving
looking at something in the vehicle
looking at something out of the vehicle besides the road
Singing or paying
attention to music
Grooming
Looking at cell phones

5. Teen Accidents Are Expensive
Young teens account for more than 50% of accident related injury expenses
Spend over 26 Billion dollars per year on accident injuries caused by young teens

6. Car Accidents Kill The Most Teens
Young teens are three times more likely to be in a fatal car crash
Roughly 3000 teens are killed per year in a car accident
292,000 teens were
injured in a car
accident

7. Other Countries Have Better Teen Driving Laws
Average driving age around the world is 18
The United States has the highest number of teen deaths per 100,000 people
Higher driving age mean
fewer accident fatalities
Sweden: 5.2 (2007)
U.K.: 5.4 (2006)
Ireland: 8.5 (2006)
Germany: 6 (2007)
United States: 13.9 (2006)

8. Conclusion The United States should raise the licensing age to18
Teens brains aren’t developed enough to drive
16-17 year olds make bad driving decisions
Young teens cost the country billions of dollars a year because of accident injuries
Car accidents are the number one killer of teens
Other countries have better policies with lower rates of fatalities

9. Works Cited
Adeola, Ruth, and Mallory Gibbons. "Get The Message: Distracted Driving And Teens." Journal Of Trauma Nursing 20.3 (2013): CINAHL Complete. Web. 3 July 2015
Brophy, Beth. "Give Your Teen More Driving Time." U.S. News & World Report (2006): 71. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 July 2015
Davis, Robert. "USATODAY.com - Is 16 Too Young to Drive a Car?" USATODAY.com - Is 16 Too Young to Drive a Car? 2 Mar Web. 13 July
Neff, Cody. "Distracted driving a major factor in teen crashes." Register-Herald (Beckly, WV) 25 Mar. 2015: Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 12 July 2015.
"Rethinking the Minimum Driving Age - Allstate Blog." The Allstate Blog. 23 Aug Web. 13 July 2015.
Teen Driver Car Accident Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from statistics.html
"Teen Drivers: Get the Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 07 Oct Web. 03 July 2015.