Travel

10.1. Driving being essential to mobility in our society, minimum driving ages should be eliminated.

Since World War II, suburbia and exurbia have replaced city neighborhoods and small towns as the areas with the highest populations. Unless one is lucky enough to live in one of the few areas where public transportation is readily accessible and covers a substantial area (such as Manhattan), he or she must rely on the automobile for transportation. Unfortunately, many American young people are not permitted to drive due to their age. Their mobility is completely dependent on others' willingness to provide rides for them.

We think this is unacceptable. While younger drivers are statistically more likely to be involved in accidents than older ones, we see no evidence that this due to drivers' age and not their inexperience. As long as drivers are required to undergo drivers' education programs and pass driving tests, we would like minimum ages for drivers to be eliminated or lowered. At the least, all states should reduce their driving age to 14, the current age in some states.

Also, we feel that if a government decides to prohibit young people from driving, it is only fair that they provide free or low cost public transportation to those young people. Finally, we urge an end to the trend of "conditional" licenses for under18s that prevent them from driving at night.