Argumentative Essay on Teenage Driving

Introduction

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has strict traffic rules that bound motorists to maintain the discipline of the road to prevent accidents. Hence, the development of roads and transport system in UAE can operate efficiently with a network of rules and regulations. It is difficult to live without a car, and many people can own one. The local transport authority or police enforce a system of black points to driver's license that results to license confiscation in a bid to ensure adherence to traffic laws (The United Arab Emirates' Government portal, 2018). Other penalties include fines which depend on the nature of the offense committed. Many usually fancy to drive either for contingency or fun. The United Arab Emirates federal laws stipulate the age limit for acquiring driver's license at 18 years. However, there are calls to reduce the age limit to acquire a driving license from 18 years to 16 years. This paper discusses the drawbacks of effecting the policy including lack of attention and recklessness among teenagers, destruction from other individuals and cellphones, low visual and spatial awareness and responsiveness during emergencies. This essay concludes that it is good to maintain the issuing of driving license at the age of 18 years.

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The first challenge that teens have is difficulties in making the right decisions while driving. In cases of emergencies, teenagers may act thoughtlessly lacking appropriate reasoning and decision making as their frontal cortex which helps in thinking and decision making is not entirely established at their age (Romer, Mcdonald & Winston, 2014). Due to this fact, the teenagers are at high risk of being involved in a car accident. Besides, the frontal cortex lacking full development places the teenagers at a lower capability of making the right decision as compared to adults. In a situation needing urgent action to avoid a probable accident like head-on collision while overtaking, the teens become anxious and lack to act immediately and intelligently to evade an accident. Adolescent drivers are more vulnerable to errors of mismanaged attention resulted from inexperience. Safe driving requires adequate situation awareness which adolescents have a deficit in stemming from maturity. Secure driving requires a high ability of the driver to maintain attention Lack of attention and recklessness among teenager with high cognitive capabilities to predict and plan for potential risks.

Lack of attention and recklessness among teenagers is a common phenomenon while driving. Teenagers have not yet come to terms with the fragile and short-lived life is and tend to be less cautious while driving. They do not recognize how dangerous a vehicle could be and the importance of maintaining the required speeds, watch out for pedestrians and other cars, observe traffic lights and slow down on turns. Teenage and car crashes are frequent and are a leading course of deaths. According to gulf news, 63% of the total traffic accidents in 2018 are caused by motorists between 18 and 35 years (Taher, 2015). The Deputy Director, Traffic and Patrols Directorate revealed that among the reasons behind the accidents is lack of attention regarding oncoming vehicles and the condition of the road and reckless driving. Teenage drivers are more likely to be speed in a bid to compete with other motorists on the result to dangerous driving behaviors compared to the experienced drivers. Lack of attention among the adolescent drivers is associated with lacking maturation of intellectual and motor skills that include visual spatial awareness and the swiftness in-memory processing.

Teenagers are at a higher risk of driving after drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and other drugs. Teenagers who drive under the influence of substance abuse result in reckless driving and hardly conform to traffic laws. In United Arabs Emirate, driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs is an offense. This is because driving under the control of these substances majorly raises the risk of being involved in an accident because of the adverse effect of the drugs on the attentiveness and decision making of the abuser. The teenage drivers who get drunk while driving thinks that they are invincible, therefore, they fail to take precautions while driving leading to car accidents. Accidents caused by drunk teenage drivers in the UAE usually increases during night hours of between 9 at night to six in the morning, especially during the weekends. Adults are not an exemption; they are also adversely affected by the influence of alcohol while driving and UAE statistics also show that it is among the leading causes of accidents. However, what receives much attention among teenage drivers is the high relative risk of their fatality when drunk compared to old experienced drivers. The effect is related to the more significant interference effects of alcohol on attentional and motor capabilities of teenage drivers while drunk. Alcohol reduces the ability of a teenage driver to attend to driving circumstances, and the effects are adverse among the adolescent drivers.

Similarly, technology such as mobile phones and transportable media player devices contribute mainly to the high rate of car accidents involving teens. Teenage drivers are more likely to be destructed by their cellphones that contribute to a substantial amount of crashes in the UAE. Most of the teenagers in the United Arabs Emirate own smartphones which are the most common forms of destruction. Whether adolescent drivers are texting or talking through the phone of passengers has a significant influence while driving. The situation is made worse among the adolescent drivers by the fact that they have a limited driving experience hence cannot relate from their previous exposure to managing unsafe circumstances. Text messaging while driving is a higher risk because it impedes the attention of the driver on the road. Driving while operating a cell phone results to driver's eyes veering off the road which reduces the reaction time to crashes among teenage drivers. A study on the effects of phone operation among teenage drivers in a simulated driving environment established that adolescent between 14 and 16 years was more distracted compared to experienced drivers. Among teenage drivers, use of cell phones while driving reduces situational awareness of the driving conditions that affect the detection of dangerous driving. Teenage addiction to a cell phone is the UAE would prompt adolescent drivers to dial or even hold the phone which creates aspects of destruction.

Conclusion

To conclude, the minimum age of driving should be 18 years as at this age the young adults are competent and have adequate experience to drive in a busy road. Also, they have fully developed brains enough to assist them in making wise decisions towards the situations they face. Teenagers above 18 years can make fast decision to act in an instant emergency without panicking to evade a car accident. It is important noting that the eagerness and anticipation with development in technology possess teenager's minds in a wide range that ceasing them from using their phones and other devices is hard until they reach a specific age. This shows that the right age to drive is 18 years to help save teenagers from preventable injuries and deaths caused by car accidents. Therefore, I suggest that delaying the licensure for teenagers to the driver until they are 18 years when they have acquired the necessary maturity to drive safely in the UAE roads.

References

Romer, D., Lee, Y., Mcdonald, C. C., & Winston, F. K. (2014). Adolescence, Attention Allocation, and Driving Safety. Journal of Adolescent Health, 54(5). doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.10.202

Taher, N. A. (2015, October 29). Young drivers behind 63% of accidents in UAE. Retrieved from https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/transport/young-drivers-behind-63-of-accidents-in-uae-1.1609524

The United Arab Emirates' Government portal. (2018). Driving and traffic laws. Retrieved from https://www.government.ae/en/information-and-services/transportation/roadways/driving-and-traffic-laws-