My body collides with the interior of the vehicle. My shoulder slams against the window with a resounding thud, the impact sending shock waves throughout my body. Blaring car horns and the echoes of my grandmother’s voice swirl in my mind. I am overcome with a sense of vertigo, and the surrounding world is a blur of movement. As my vision refocuses, I am startled by the chaos that now surrounds me. The rear door that I sat beside mere minutes ago is completely smashed, crumpled as easily as a piece of tin foil. My grandmother’s perfectly maintained Chevy Spark is completely obliterated.

Although this event is referred to as a “car accident,” the catastrophic consequences cannot be undone. My innocent hopes of attending my Freshman Orientation were shattered. What was meant to be an exciting evening, the commencement of my high school career, was now tarnished by the memory of this terrifying incident. Instead of laughing with old friends and meeting new classmates, I was coping with my newfound fear and anxiety.

Prior to this experience, I regarded a car accident as a possibility that is far-removed from my own life, equally as likely as being struck by lightning. This incident has made me aware that these tragedies are more frequent than I thought.
The silver lining is that our nation can work to resolve this issue. Although it seems like a simple solution, practicing safer driving will certainly minimize the risk of car accidents.

This begins by increasing the legal driving age. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “The crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times as high for 16-year-old drivers as it is for 18-19-year-old drivers.” Clearly, a critical step towards safer driving and minimal car crashes is to reduce the amount of possibly dangerous drivers on the road. Hence, it is my belief that the United States should increase the legal driving age to 18.

One important factor in performing any function successfully, especially driving, is maturity. Other than experience, one major difference between teen drivers and adult drivers is their level of maturity, which is dependent on brain development. As stated by the National Institute of Mental Health, “Although the brain stops growing in size by early adolescence, the teen years are all about fine-tuning how the brain works. The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s.” I found this to be quite shocking considering that our society has high expectations for teens who are much younger than 25.

Teens might correlate driving to a newfound freedom but, in actuality, it is a big responsibility. Due to the onus that is on teens to drive with caution prior to reaching a full level of maturity, having young teens drive is not worth the possible consequences. Adolescents should be allowed to make the mistakes necessary to be successful in their adult life; however, these mistakes should not result in injuries or, in extreme cases, loss of life.

Although teens’ brains will continue to mature past the age of 18, society has deemed it an appropriate age to handle adult responsibilities, thus this is the most appropriate age to drive responsibly. I feel the clear solution is to increase the legal driving age to 18.

I urge everyone to drive responsibly and remain aware of other drivers. This helps prevent major accidents and ensure the safety of all who are on the road.