Is there an ideal age for driving?

Looking at the legal minimum driving age in different countries across the world, one wonders if there is any ideal minimum age for driving on the roads. This issue has been under active debate for quite some time, yet there are as convincing arguments for increasing the driving age as there are for decreasing it, with the result that different countries have come to adopt different standards on this issue depending on what factors have been considered most important in fixing an ideal driving age.

The argument in favour of decreasing the driving age basically relies on the changing social realities of the modern day families where children learn to be quite responsible at a very young age because of both their parents working and the compulsion to stay alone at home for a large part of the day on a routine basis, and thus making a case for lowering the driving age for these responsible group of adolescents. The principal argument that opposes such moves and in fact pleads for increasing the driving age instead rests on various studies linking higher road accidents to younger drivers driving at super fast speeds on roads and their irresponsible attitude to stick to the driving rules and norms, thus putting not only their own life at stake but also others driving on the roads.

With convincing arguments both in favour and against increasing the driving age, it is not surprising that different countries have been following different rules. While 18 years is the most common driving age in most countries, there are cases where the age is both higher and lower than this. Usually the driving age, once adopted is uniform for a country, but United States and Australia present interesting scenarios of having different driving ages for people residing in different states or regions. Thus, whereas the driving age in South Australia is 16 years, it is 18 in Victoria with all other states fixing it at 17. In spite of these differences, most countries follow some kind of a graduated system wherein a teenager is given a learner’s permit and asked to attend driver education classes before he or she can take the written and driving test to qualify for a driving license. Some countries also put a requirement of having a minimum number of driving practice hours with someone holding a driving license sitting alongside. The legal age is higher in most countries when it comes to driving commercial vehicles or high-power vehicles.