If one law in the United States was slightly altered, it could save thousands of lives every year. In the last decade, over 68,000 teens have died in car crashes, often involving alcohol and distracted driving. (“Tips and Statistics”) If the United States were to raise the legal driving age to 19 it would decrease accidents caused from lack of experience and fatalities from distracted driving.
The main leading cause in death among teens are fatal car crashes. Take for example sophomore Clayton Boen, a young basketball player who was killed in a vehicle being driven by his drunk 17 year old friend. (Kotowski, Price) Clayton didn't drink. He was completely innocent. His life would have been spared if the country's legal driving age was 19. He and countless others would have had the rest of their lives ahead of them to travel the world and chase their wildest dreams. Clayton didn't even get to graduate high school. Memorial Day weekend starts off what's known as the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers. From 2010 to 2014, more than 5,000 people have died in accidents involving teen drivers in those 100 days. (Wallace) …show more content…
To that there is a perfect solution. Carpooling. As simple as it is it provides many benefits. Carpooling reduces pollution emitted into the air and lessens the number of cars on the road so traffic would diminish. Carpooling also saves gas money and can bring friends together. About 75% of americans drive to work by themselves, imagine if everyone carpooled even just once a week!(Carpool Commuter) Even in a situation where there's no time to plan and someone just needed a quick ride, they could always just call an uber or taxi. To summarize, if the driving age was raised a teenager could always carpool if their parents were unavailable, a simple solution that would actually help the environment and lessen
The main leading cause in death among teens are fatal car crashes. Take for example sophomore Clayton Boen, a young basketball player who was killed in a vehicle being driven by his drunk 17 year old friend. (Kotowski, Price) Clayton didn't drink. He was completely innocent. His life would have been spared if the country's legal driving age was 19. He and countless others would have had the rest of their lives ahead of them to travel the world and chase their wildest dreams. Clayton didn't even get to graduate high school. Memorial Day weekend starts off what's known as the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers. From 2010 to 2014, more than 5,000 people have died in accidents involving teen drivers in those 100 days. (Wallace) …show more content…
To that there is a perfect solution. Carpooling. As simple as it is it provides many benefits. Carpooling reduces pollution emitted into the air and lessens the number of cars on the road so traffic would diminish. Carpooling also saves gas money and can bring friends together. About 75% of americans drive to work by themselves, imagine if everyone carpooled even just once a week!(Carpool Commuter) Even in a situation where there's no time to plan and someone just needed a quick ride, they could always just call an uber or taxi. To summarize, if the driving age was raised a teenager could always carpool if their parents were unavailable, a simple solution that would actually help the environment and lessen