This house would raise the legal driving age to 18

The age at which you can legally drive varies from country to country¹, but in many places it is lower than 18. In some American states it is 15 or younger. Usually you are allowed to take a driving test a year or more before you can vote or drink alcohol. As young drivers are the ones most likely to have accidents², from time to time there are calls to raise the driving age. In the past two years lawmakers in the US states of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Massachusetts have debated raising their driving age³, although these attempts are unlikely to change anything in the foreseeable future. The British government has also recently considered lifting the driving age in the UK from 17 to 18⁴, although it seems unlikely to go ahead with this change.

This topic assumes that the age should be raised to 18, but the arguments will still work for any number higher than the present legal driving age in your state. Many European countries already have a driving age of 18, so they might debate raising it to 21. Most of the arguments will also work for a debate on limiting how young people can drive.

¹List of variations in legal driving age:

²Safe Roads Partnership, "Young and Newly Qualified Drivers"    

³Firestone, 2001

⁴BBC News article “Driving age ‘must increase to 18”, 19 July 2007