Raising the Legal Driving Age

Raise the legal driving age in Florida to 18

It is estimated that 16-year-olds are 3 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than the average of all drivers. Therefore, the legal driving age in Florida needs to be raised to 18. This can be done with the right reasoning, correct process of passing a law, and some problems that would be encountered along the way.

First, there should be reasoning behind making this new law. These are some statistics on teen driving in the United States. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers, even above drugs, sucide, and homicide. It is shown that 16 and 17 year old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger. 14%of all deaths due to motor vehicle accidents are a teenaged driver. More than any age group, teens are likely to be involved in a single vehicle crash, even more so than the elderly. The 16 year old population alone will increase from 3.5 million to over 4 million by 2010. (Messina, Ph.D.)

In order to pass a new law a bill will need to be proposed by a Senator or General Assembly. The ideas can come from sources such as citizens, interest groups, public official or the Governor. Once the idea has been proposed it is brought before a legislator to be sponsored. One legislator may ask others to become co-sponsors, and it will then be drafted as a bill. Now that is become a bill it will be introduced at a legislative session by being read aloud by the Senate Secretary