Call For Minimum Driving Age Raise

Should the minimum driving age be raised? Currently in the UK the minimum driving age is 17, you can pass your test and legally drive by this age. Many experienced drivers feel that this is too young to be let loose on the British roads in fact 35% of motorists claim that the minimum age for driving should be raised and quite significantly so, even a large percentage of youngsters agree with 40% of them saying that they should be excluded from driving until they reach the age of 21.

When asking the motorists why the answer is pretty universal, it will reduce traffic accidents which in practice is true, according to statistics anyway. Drivers who are aged between seventeen and twenty four account for 25% of serious injuries or deaths on the road even though they only account for 8% of licence holders, not a great figure for the youth there. There are of course other reasons it’s not just age, it’s also got to do with inexperience, anticipation of hazards and several people have the attitude “it will never happen to me” the common pitfalls of young drivers. It’s also mixed with the temptation to show off to friends and sometimes it can be even blamed upon petrol and insurance prices which force youngsters to get old cars which are lacking in the modern safety features.

On the other hand of the debate the USA doesn’t have as much of a problem as us in the UK yet their young driver age is 16, lower than ours so what’s to say that increasing it will have a positive effect.

So what are the pros and cons? Banning people until the age of 21 yes may get rid of some factors such as the showing off to friends or the “it will never happen to me” attitude. On the other hand however people often start learning to drive around the age of 17, which typically means that you pass by 18, at 18 you can be legally married have kids have a house and do everything an adult can, if you don’t have a car a lot of this could be impeded such as taking your kids to school etc.

Its extremely doubtful that the age will be raised as it would make the government very unpopular and it could also hurt the economy as less people will be buying vehicles, paying for petrol, insurance and road tax amongst other car related things and we all know that to the government money is a large driving factor.

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.