After my 16-year-old brother got in his third minor car accident, I started thinking that there must be a way to better prepare teens before they get their licenses. I’m not calling my brother a horrible driver. I’m just saying he is a new and inexperienced driver because he has only been driving for 6 months. As a young driver, he has the smallest amount of experience compared to others on the road.
The majority of states in the U.S. allow teenagers to get their learner’s permit at age 15 or younger, but California is one of only nine states that prohibit teens from getting permits until age 15 and a half. That means California drivers have six months less practice than those in most other states.
When teens have their permits and are preparing to get their licenses, they have to be with a parent or guardian at all times when they are driving. However, as soon as the teen gets their license, the guardian does not go out and monitor them while they are driving as often, and they are not always there to correct mistakes. Imagine if teens in California had six more months of practice. If teens were able to get their permit at age 15 rather than 15 and a half, it would double the practice time they currently have. This would give them a whole year of experience before being sent out to drive independently.
According to the AAA Foundation, the crash rate of drivers ages 16-17 years was nearly double that of 18-19 year olds. When comparing these age groups, the crash rate was cut in half for the latter. This proves that the more driving experience a driver has, the fewer accidents there are. If teens in California had a whole year of practice under their belt rather than just six months, imagine what would happen to those statistics.
I remember when my brother was 15 and a half with a permit, he would often ask my mom if he could drive somewhere with her. However, if my mom was in a rush or busy, she didn’t have the time or patience to help him get his practice in. I know my brother was definitely not practicing driving every single day when he had his permit because my mom didn’t have time to teach him daily. Parents and guardians don’t have every second of the day to practice driving with their teens, so many of them are currently getting less than 6 months of driving.
16-year-olds on the road are fresh out of the DMV and only just got their license. They are the youngest drivers, and our youngest drivers are getting in the most accidents. This is even more of a reason to give young teen drivers more practice time before sending them off on the streets because they still have their whole life ahead of them.
