There is clearly an issue with teen drivers when you look at traffic fatality statistics. Per capita, because they have such a small age group, teens cause the highest fatal accident rate. One of the biggest dangers that any driver faces is just the fact that they may have to share the road with teenagers.
Some claim that this means teens are just too young to drive safely. Instead of having the driving age set at 16, perhaps it should be increased to 18 or even to 21. Wouldn’t this save lives by preventing a lot of fatal car accidents? If teens have the highest fatal accident rate, why not take their age group off of the road entirely?
Inexperience is the root problem
The issue with moving the driving age is that teenagers have such a high crash rate because of their inexperience. It leads to mistakes because they are just not used to driving safely. They misjudge how fast they need to enter a corner or what a safe following distance looks like. They don’t know how to adjust their driving due to weather conditions or they get confused when driving at night.
As they grow older, their crash rate declines because they gain this valuable experience. Drivers in their 20s have a lower accident rate for a reason. However, moving the driving age wouldn’t necessarily help. Instead, young people wouldn’t start to accumulate driving experience until they were 18 or 21. But they may still cause the exact same accidents, just at an older age. Driving is a difficult skill and it simply takes time to learn.
Seeking compensation
Have you been injured in a car accident caused by a teen driver? Be sure you know how to seek financial compensation for medical bills and other costs.