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Rant & Rave
Don’t lower
driving age
Editor's note: Students can make their voices heard on the student driving issue by participating in the Kids Voting election Nov. 7, when one of 10 questions on the ballot is, "Should the driving age be raised from 15 to 18 years of age?"IN response to Barbara Makahi's "Rant and Rave" article, printed Oct. 17, I am writing to disagree with her urgings to oppose the raising of the driving age.
Let me begin by apologizing to everyone coming into Honolulu from Ewa and Windward Oahu who had to deal with the immense traffic on Oct. 16. That was my fault: I rear-ended another person, causing damage to his vehicle and completely incapacitating mine.
That morning, I did not imagine that I would get into an accident. I always give distance between my car and the one in front -- more than the two seconds called for by the Hawaii driver's manual. Nevertheless, within a split second of gawking at blue lights on the other side of the freeway, I found my hood crumpled into my windshield and a new addition to the inside of my engine block: my radiator. The only consolation: No one was injured.
This is why I feel I need to speak out against Makahi's suggestion to lower rather than raise the driving age.
Makahi listed a series of helpful tasks that can be accomplished by teens who have a driver's license, but failed to mention the other side of the argument: accidents.
She wrote, "What if a family member collapses ...? Are you going to call an ambulance? How much would that cost?"
Of course, without a license, a teen cannot save a loved one's life by driving him or her to the hospital; that's why there are ambulances. Costly or not, this is a LOVED ONE! Would cost really matter? What's the point of endangering many lives by playing hero instead of allowing a professional ambulance driver to handle the situation more safely and effectively?
As for dating: what is a 13-year-old student doing at a nightclub anyway?
Furthermore, carrying groceries once a week isn't going to save you from the natural effects of old age.
How many emergencies will arise between your 15th and 18th birthday? Probably just as many as in any other three-year span of your life.
According to a study in 1999, youths 16 to 19 years of age made up 10 percent of the driving population. That same 10 percent was also involved in 14 percent of fatal car crashes. (Data for the 1999 study found online at www.highwaysafety.org/safety_facts/fatality_facts/teens.htm)
It is hardly arguable to propose a reduction in the age for obtaining a driver's license: The current legal age has already yielded results such as this.
As a driver, I do not want to see inexperienced 13-year-old drivers flooding the roads.
True, I am an older teen and above the legal driving age so it is easier for me to speak out against lowering the driving age. However, I feel that Makahi's argument is far too unrealistic and influenced by her desire to drive more than common sense.
While it is true that a youth with a driver's license attains certain privileges and advantages -- ranging from doing occasional errands for parents to going out with friends and dates -- those privileges come with weighty responsibilities.
I believe that the issue of raising the driving age is viable but lowering the driving age, in my opinion, is completely out of the question. Driving requires not only practice, but also maturity and the ability to make sound decisions on the road.
Yet, at age 17, I have already shown I still lack one or more of those qualities.
Justin Shizumura is a senior at Iolani School. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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