EDITORIAL: Too young to drive? While it's reasonable ? and potentially lifesaving ? to restrict young drivers, raising the minimum age for a license won't address the problem of inexperience

Sep. 11, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Proposals to raise the legal driving age to 17 or older have generally met with strong resistance in Maryland and elsewhere despite safety concerns. If inexperienced drivers are the problem, such a policy would simply delay the inevitable.

The latest report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety makes the case that age matters, however. And it has compelled the respected safety advocacy organization to call on states to raise the driving age to 17 or even 18 -- as in many industrialized nations.

Their response is understandable. Young drivers are twice as likely to be involved in fatal crashes than drivers 21 or older, according to government statistics. Too many are inexperienced and immature.

But Maryland and other states have adopted graduated licensing programs over the past decade that slowly phase beginning drivers into full license privileges. Restrictions on such behavior as driving at night or with peers in the back seat have helped lower fatality rates in every state where they've been tried.

New Jersey is the only state that sets the minimum age to drive at 17. But while New Jersey 17-year-olds may fare better than Connecticut 16-year-olds, the same is not true if one compares 17-year-olds. As the institute's study acknowledges, Connecticut's 17-year-olds were less likely to be involved in fatal accidents.

Admittedly, some teens are too immature to be trusted with a car. But that's an argument for parental intervention, not necessarily for a blanket policy. No 16-year-old or 17-year-old has a guaranteed right to a learner's permit; a guardian has to co-sign for one.

Raise the minimum age to drive too high and parents won't have as much opportunity to supervise their sons and daughters on the road during their high school years. And like it or not, we live in a culture that is car-dependent -- for work, school or perhaps to help an elderly relative. Denying all 16-year-olds the opportunity to drive is bound to cause some hardship.

There are any number of strategies states can pursue to further reduce teen driving deaths. Raising the minimum age for a driver's license just doesn't appear to be the most productive.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0034-28004940