Driving is a privilege for teenagers, and sometimes that privilege can be fatal. Car fatalities result in 36% of teenage deaths. That’s more than 5,000 teen deaths a year, and roughly 400,000 are severely injured (Car-accidents.com). Out of all car crashes, 12.9% are by drivers ages 16- 20 (rmiia.org). How can the United States government let this happen? If states just created stricter laws for teenage drivers, all these statistics would decrease. States can increase the penalties and fines of all the illegal actions teenage drivers commit. For examples, if you are caught text messaging or talking on the phone, you should get a fine of $500 and get your license suspended for one month. If you are driving under the influence, you should be given a fine of $2,500 and get your license revoked for 12 months. If you are speeding, you should be given a fine of $250 and depending on how fast you are going your license should be taken away. For every 5 mph you are over, your license should be suspended an extra month. With these laws in place, it would put a sense of fear in teenage drivers and they will stop performing illegal actions.
Many believe that strict laws already exist, and they didn’t help before, how would it help this time. Even if states create stricter laws, it should be for all drivers not just for teens. Adults break the laws just like teens do and if the laws are changed, then they should be equal. A lot of people complain that teens are inexperience drivers that are just reckless. But, how can they be experience drivers with all these laws are preventing them to drive. With all these laws being created it will just put fear in teen drivers, which would just make them worse drivers. Grace H., a teen for Louisville stated “If you want to put a ban on something that distracts people from driving, you might as well ban everything that could be considered a distraction like [passengers] or food.” On the other hand, stricter laws are just necessary for teens because teenage drivers are 4 times more likely to get in a car accident then all other drivers (car-accidents.com).
Speeding plays a major factor of teenage fatalities. In a survey that conducted 1,000 teens, 69% said that they speed to keep up with traffic and 64% say they speed to run a yellow light (rmiia.org). That just proves that teens make reckless decisions, which increase the percentage of getting into an accident. They also drink and drive, which is the worse thing anyone can do. In a survey done by US TODAY, 50% of teenager say they see other teens drink and drive, which results in 23% of all teenage automobile deaths (car-accidents.com). Recently, the cell phone has increased the cause of teenage fatalities. Seventeen states, including Washington D.C. have passed a bill banning and restricting the use of the cell phone for teenage drivers 18 and under (“cell phone+ teen driver= danger?”). Governor Schwarzenegger from California was quoted saying “The simple fact is that teenage drivers are more easily distracted.” In a study of teenage driving, when a teen uses their cell phone 53.8% of the time they cross the line on the road. Kelly R., a teen driver of Reno, Nev., said texting is a big distraction, “I actually tried it once while driving and got honked at because my head was looking practically at my feet.”
With stricter laws in place for teen drivers, the number of teen fatalities would decrease. With harsh fines and stricter penalties, a sense of fear would be placed in the minds of teenage drivers that would prevent them from committing unlawful actions. Teens need to be taught a lesson, and unless they experience consequences for their actions they will never learn.
