Q07011

Raising The Driving Age Unnecessary

Raising the driving age from 15 to 16 is pointless 15 year olds and 16 year olds are the same. Raising the driving age is the wrong thing to do in such a rural country where public transport is very limited. Just because of the age of the driver does not mean it is the age that is the problem, young people are also the ones with little experience.

Raising the driving age from 15 to 16 is pointless as a15 year old is just as mature as a 16 year old. If you pick out a 16 and 15 year old they will look the same and age act the same, also a lot of 15 year olds will have 16 year old friends we see this when we go up town and in school. If the driving age was to be raised by one year there would be little difference as the 15 year old and 16 year old are the same in maturity level.

In such a rural country where public transport is majorly limited, raising the the age from 15 to 16 is unrealistical. What happens when your eldest child turns 15, your other child turns five and just starts to play sport, you have two children playing sport at different times and you live 20 minutes out of town, your going to need an extra four to five hours a week as there is no public transport. In New Zealand public transport according to http://www.wikipedia.com/ is only in urban areas, a lot of theses urban areas only have only six to eight buses travelling the main inner city and only for a period of around eight hours a day. This is the wrong country to be raising the driving age as it will cause parents more grief and public transport is very poor furthermore limited in most urban areas.

It is unfair to blame younger drivers because they are the high percentage of fatal crashes, they are also the ones with little to no experience. In 2004 according to http://www.stats.govt.nz/ there were 446 fatal crashes 137 of these were caused by the age group 15 to 24. The age group of 15 to 24 is the high risk age of fatal accidents but if you think about it they have very little experience no more than ten years some not even five. The driving age should not be raised but there should be compulsory courses like defensive driving but have more courses example: make learner drivers take ten compulsory driving lessons with an approved instructor.

The driving should not be raised from 15 to 16 as there is no great gap in the maturity level. This is also the wrong country to raise the driving age as there is very poor public transport and that is only in urban areas, because of poor public transport and raising the driving age will cost the average out of town family around five hours extra a week transporting children. Its not the age either it is the experience the reason a 15 year old crashes is because they do not even have a years experience, there should be more compulsory courses not a raised driving age.