Driving license: move it to 18?

[Mike hoffman]

We've all heard about the Illinois legislature changing the license age from 16 to 18. Now I know most of us are really unhappy about that. I know that most of us need our license to do stuff like going to the mall or hanging out with friends and getting out of the house. I know I use it to get out of the house a lot and to get things done that I need to get done, not depending on my parents.

But there still is that one thing that all adults are worried about. Us teenagers getting into crashes. I know that doesn't happen as much here as it does other places because were good kids, right... anyway that is the reason that they are pushing it back to age 18. According to RMIIA 16 year olds are 3 times more likely to get in a crash than average drivers. furthermore, lest face it, guys we get into more crashes than girls do. 2 out of 3 teen crashes in 2008 were males. Personally I blame it on the fact if you have a girlfriend you're usually driving her, not her driving you.

I mean this is a good reason to make it 18, but I need some way of getting out of the house to do what I want. Don't you people need it too?

[catherine betti]

I think the driving age should stay at 16.There are teens who do drive irresponsibly, but that's their own fault sometimes. There maybe should just be changes with the course and tests they take in order to recieve a license.

[Allison Dunnington]

I think it's the driver's education courses that are causing the problem. We should learn how to handle the car when it's fishtailing on ice or if the weather is really bad, because let's face it, everyone can press the gas pedal. Perhaps there should be courses that let us learn what anti-lock brakes feel like before we have to slam on the brakes in a real situation.

[Rachel Baum]

I actually think making the driving age 18 is a terrible idea. When you're 18, you are getting ready to go off to college, so what's the point of learning to drive? You're most likely not gonna have a car on campus until your at least a junior, possibly a sophomore. I think it would just lead to more crashes because people don't get as much experince before they are an adult.

[Danny Vasilev]

It should stay at 16. But like what the above comments said it should be tougher to get a license. Maybe a test that really tests your driving skills instead of driving for 5 minutes with the instructor and passing the test.

[Nick Klein]

I don't think that the age minimum should be necessarily moved to 18, but there should definately be an increased difficulty in getting a drivers license.

[Jacek Cioch]

moving it to 18 is stupid but making the laws harsher should be enforced. Now that everyone is in the texting phase, I sit behind drivers where I see their head look at their phone by their lap constantly and they don't know what's going on around them. Moving the age to 18 would complicate things, rather just enforce really small laws, and 4 hours of traffic school? that's a joke....

[lexibarwacz]

i think each person is different and a lot of 16 year olds are responsible drivers and if some teens arent the best drivers they shouldnt get there license untill 18, not everyone is a bad driver and we all shouldnt have that privelge taken away because of other teens

[Mike Leahy]

I don't think they should move it to 18 because, maybe i am the only one, but I didn't get into a car crash when i was 16(knock on wood). If you don't drive like a maniac, then you won't crash.

[Joey Marasco]

I don't think they should move itto 18 either, i think they should just make the tests and everything harder. We've all taken driver's ed and taken the tests and everything, and to be honest i think its just too easy to get your liscense. Driver's ed should be like college calculus difficult and so should the tests, that will separate who can drive and who can't

[John Miller]

This coincides well with the idea of "Individual Liberty vs. Preservation of order"