Changing Legal Age For Driving

the age you can vote for national leaders in your country should be the age when you can get to apply for your driver's license. i believe that if the government thinks you are mature enough to add your voice in the ballots, which will affect the course of the future of your country, then they shouldn't hinder you with age restrictions over and above the voting age by the time you seek a driver's license.

It's always nice having the ability to be able to drive from one place to another, especially for the younger people who need to be able to get to college, university etc.

I don't think changing the age limit to 21 would make any difference to the amount of accidents/drink driving, as said a few posts back, it would just cause riots and possibly illegal driving.

At the end of the day, it's not just the youngsters who are idiots when it comes down to driving, I feel the older audience forget how to drive after a while. In an ideal world, I'd force a retake after 20 years or so and have the limit maybe as 18, not 17.

Anyway if they do decide to change the age limit to 21, there will be unhappy people and the amount of problems won't decrease, if anything it may even get worse! They government would do better worrying and investing money in some other topic such as global warming than wasting their time/cash debating about whether or not the legal driving age should change.

This post has been edited by sportytalk: Nov 9 2006, 10:44 PM

Currently the age to apply for learners down here is 16.5, with the Provisionals at 17. Then after that, you'll need to hold your provisionals for 3 years before applying for the full open license at 20. So fairly much, you'll need to hold on your l's for a minimum of 6 months and Ps for a minimum of 3 years before applying for the opens.

I'd say I keep it as is, they are some notable restrictions when a driver is on their Ls or Ps. With the most noted ones being is that both the L and P drivers are not able to drink at all (no tolerance limit), and that they only receive 4 points as opposed to 12 points when it comes to demerit points.

So which means if they really speed or do other similar road offences, and the penalty is 5 points.. then the L or P driver loses their learners or Ps.

In michigan i took drivers training at 14 and 9 months. Then you could get your license at 16. Although they have some sort of restricted license and then i got my real license when i turned 17. I think its a pretty good idea to raise the driving age to 18. I havent had a ticket or car accident in the 4 years i have been driving..... but i should have

I heard about those in New Zealand that are able to get their L plates at 15 and a half, their Ps at 16 iirc.. but they are some driving restrictions involved for those on P plates in NZ.. It was something to the affect of carrying passengers at particular times, but being across the Tasman, I would have no idea what exactly the restrictions are there.

I hear they may change the legal driving age in Pennsylvania to 18 insted of 16, if you are born after 1991. That really sucks because I am turning 15 in December and I can get my permit in June because you can get your permit 6 months before you turn 16. I already have a car, but I don't have insurance on it yet. I am getting it soon. And if they change the legal driving age to 18, then that gives 2 years of insurance on my car for nothing. If they think they are gonna save lives by bumping up the age limit, they are wrong. I need to drive to work when I am 16. And if they do boost the age to 18, That is just gonna mean that there are gonna be more wrecks at 18, rather than at 16. It won't change the ammount of wrecks. They should just leave it where it is. It will just mean more illegal drivers. If they do change it, EVERYONE NEEDS to WRITE TO THE GOVERNMENT AND STATE GOOD REASONS ON WHY THE AGE SHOULD STAY AT 16.[b] We need to rebel!

Also, there have been pushes to push the Learners minimum age to 18 by various groups and organistations around the world, parents groups are one example. In Australian states, the requirements for holding a license before graduating to the next type of license varies. For example in Queensland, the Provisional License system has been changed to 2 levels. a P1 license (Red P Plates on the car), and a P2 license (Green P Plates on the car). To graduate from P1 to P2 iirc, requires a hazard perception type test which requires the driver to identify what they would do in harzardous situations. As for going from Learners to P1, in all states, a practical drivers test would apply. Starting off with Learners, is a written multiple choice test, in which the majority of questions has to be correct.

Well, as I just finished my licence I dont really care that much about it anymore. There really are reasons for and against, thats right. The accident statistic shows that the most accidents with resulting in death are happening untill the age of 22 or so.
But of course it is cool if you can drive with 16. You just gotta be careful. And the fewest kids are careful

I think it should stay the same.
Yes I can't drive yet but recently there have been a lot of acidents and I think I would rather not be in one.
I mean yeah it would be great to drive but there is a lot of consequences, and responsibilities that comes with it.
And if you can't pass your test even if you do have learning disabilities wouldn't be great since you wouldn't know anything.

In my opinion is not a question of age, but a question of cultures. I mean in some countries, being 16 means being really adult, having responasabilities, etc. In others, especially in occident you can have even 30 and still act like a child. Sometimes, your rich parent gives you a car when you get to the age that you're allowed to drive and there you go... but if you don't need the car, it's like a toy. So you drive like the dumb you are because you don't think that you're risking your life and the lifes of lots others.

So I don't know. I really feel that in Spain there are lots of young drivers who don't deserve the right to drive a car. They use to be idiots who, very often have a motorbike before they can legally drive a car... and you know, they trick them to make more noise and disturb neighbours. I know it's not logical to having everybody paying for some, but it's like very generalized. Anyway I think that the real solution is change the driving exams because right now it's not about how good you drive, it's about the scandalous amounts of money you spend on it.

Anyway if that age would change, drivers who already have the license should keep it, at least because they have spend lots of money (license, car, insurance...) that the government is not gonna pay, I guess.