The question that many parents might be asking-“Is my child old enough to drive?” The more appropriate question to be asking is- “Is my child mature enough to drive?” The privilege of driving is something that some 16 year olds can handle, and some can’t. We shouldn’t penalize the young adults that are mature and can handle the responsibility of driving simply because there are people who make stupid decisions.

The ability to drive is extremely important when a student gets into high school. I personally have two working parents, and getting a ride to and from anywhere is extremely difficult. The ability to drive for me will be extremely important so that I can get to and from sports practices without the struggle of finding a ride. Having my license in high school will be very useful and will take a lot of stress off of my parents.

What would we do if students didn’t have their license so they couldn’t go experience things like the career center? Without the ability to drive, students couldn’t get themselves to the career center to experience the amazing educational opportunities. Better opportunities are present there that you would be denying students if you upped the driving age to 18.

Another really important idea to think about is learning driving responsibility. Wouldn’t it be better for teen drivers to learn how to drive safely and responsibly while still being controlled by their parents? Learning to drive while still under parent control is very beneficial to everyone involved and will keep the roads safer. Knowing that you have to go home and talk to your parents if you do something stupid and get into an accident could potentially keep you out of that accident. It will make you think about it more and potentially make the roads a safer place for everyone.

Another thing to think about is some students won’t be 18 when they leave for college. I have a few friends that will still be 17 when we go off to college. So what are they supposed to do? They can’t drive themselves to college and they can’t drive home. Are they simply supposed to postpone their life for a year? That’s absolutely insane that you can see someone as mature enough to go off to college but not mature enough to drive.

Also, what would we do for the teens already driving and the teens in driver’s education? Will we tell them that all the work they put into learning to drive is useless and now they have to wait two more years? That is extremely unfair personally going through drivers education right now, I would hate to be told that after all the effort. After all the trying hard in driver’s education to get my license early, I would have to wait until I turn 18. I would be so angry and upset because everyone knows drivers education is not fun.

I truly believe that the driving age should stay where it is right now. Keeping it where it is would be beneficial to everyone. Moving the driving age would put more stress on everyone involved. It should be the parent’s decision after the age of 16 and a half if their children can handle the responsibility.