License to Drive: The Responsibility of Teenage Drivers

The Debate on Teenage Driving

License to Drive: there is no reason why a person who is fifteen years old should not be allowed to get a driver's license. There is nothing magic about the number of years in a person's age. Teenagers can learn from having to maintain a vehicle. The real issue when considering whether teens should drive or not is their level of responsibility. Driving a car puts you in a position of great opportunity and risk. Driving too fast, or recklessly, is dangerous. You can endanger your own life. You can also endanger the lives of everyone else on the road. Listening to the radio or texting friends has caused many accidents on the road. But responsible drivers have the wide-open road in front of them and endless opportunities. For a teenager who has already proven to be a responsible person, the ability to drive provides many benefits. For one, it encourages further development of responsibility. By rewarding a responsive teen with the freedom of driving, society teaches the teen that responsible behavior pays off in the long run. The parents of the teen will also benefit by not having to drive their teen around to work, school, and extracurricular activities. In contrast, a responsible teen who were denied the right to drive may think, "What's the point of trying to be responsible?" This lesson can carry over into school, work, and personal life.

Challenging the Opening Claim

Some people question whether fifteen-year-olds are old enough to drive. My answer is that some are. Some are not. The question is not the numerical age of the person, but how mature they are. If mature and responsible teens are given the opportunity to drive, then everyone benefits. Those who are not responsible should not be allowed to operate a vehicle. But don't punish everyone just because of a few bad apples.

Supporting Claims

The author primarily supports the claims made in this passage with reasoning and anecdotes. Statistics, expert testimony, and evidence are not as prevalent in the argument.

Addressing Generalizations

When the author says, "don't punish everyone just because of a few bad apples," he is urging the audience not to generalize all teens based on a few bad drivers. It is essential not to stereotype teenagers but instead evaluate them based on their individual maturity and responsibility.

Correcting Punctuation Errors

The sentence "Steven, 14, a Murdock High School freshman, went to ground search rescue school at Fort Irwin last Spring, a program run by the Civil Air Patrol" contains a capitalization error. The word "spring" should not be capitalized unless it is used at the beginning of a sentence.

Conclusion

The author's opening statement is somewhat unreasonable as it overgeneralizes teenagers' desire and readiness to drive. The passage primarily employs reasoning to bolster its claims. Not all sentences are equally vital to the argument, and punctuation errors, like unnecessary capitalization, need correction.