Submitted by CedricHughes on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 14:36
Why is 16 the qualifying age for starting to drive? Historically, low age limits for licensing were linked to the needs of the rural agricultural economy for teen workers to drive farm equipment. Now 16 year olds are in the middle years of high school—grades 10 or 11—and most urban teens can walk, cycle or take public transit to school. In rural areas without public transit, there’s school bus service. Current thinking on our collective need to reduce carbon emissions—drive less—and to be more active—get more exercise—also begs the question. And even more so do teen driving statistics. Each year more than 5,000 US teens die in car crashes.
According to the National Highway Safety Administration, the rate of fatal and nonfatal crashes per mile driven for 16-year-old drivers is almost 10 times the rate for drivers aged 30 to 59. Many industrialized countries in Europe and elsewhere have minimum age limits of 17 or 18. And now statistics from New Jersey, where the graduated licensing program begins at age 17, show - some would say conclusively - that increasing the driving age saves lives. (One obvious advantage with a higher driving age is that there are fewer drivers on the road and therefore, fewer accidents).
The New Jersey statistics have been highlighted recently by the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a nonprofit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers. Its research “focuses on countermeasures aimed at all three factors in motor vehicle crashes (human, vehicular, and environmental) and on interventions that can occur before, during, and after crashes to reduce losses.”
At the 2008 annual meeting of the (US) Governors Highway Safety Association, the IIHS, released a report comparing the effects of the licensing policies in New Jersey with those in neighboring Connecticut. During the study years, a rate of 4.4 16-year-olds per 100,000 population were in fatal crashes compared with 20.7 per 100,000 in neighboring Connecticut, where 16 year-olds can get licenses. The lower death rate in New Jersey was offset by a slightly higher rate at age 17 (32.3 versus 31.1 per 100,000), but the combined rate for 16 and 17 year-olds remained much lower than in Connecticut.
Whether beginning drivers are more at risk simply by reason of their immaturity or because of their driving inexperience has also been studied. Canadian statistics show that 16 year-olds have higher rates of injury crashes than older teens who also are new drivers. Eleven studies published since 1990 also conclude that new drivers who are 16 years old have higher crash rates than older teens who also are new drivers.
Learning to drive at age 16 has become an important rite of passage in our culture and opposition to raising the limit comes from both teens and their parents. One commentator noted that some parents find it ironic that this conversation is starting at the same time as a number of college presidents support the Amethyst Initiative proposing consideration of lowering the drinking age in the US to 18.
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