"I have a 15-year-old sister," said Rebecca Stollof, 18, a senior at Wilde Lake. "She can't wait to get [her license] in March."
All of the teens interviewed said driving privileges are needed to accommodate the social rigors of teen life.
Teens "have more demanding schedules," said Ameet Luhar, 16, a junior. "They depend on others to get them from place to place. If those people can't get them, they are stuck."
Sam Scheltema, also 16 and a junior, said he needs a car to get to his job at a local pizza parlor. "Teens are pretty much your social years," he said. "You have to have a job to pay for social stuff."
But the insurance institute's Fleming said that 16-year-olds are "the riskiest drivers on the road" and that a higher driving age would reduce fatal crashes. She said studies have shown that 16-year-old novice drivers had a higher rate of fatal crashes than 17-year-olds who had just received their licenses.
"It isn't simply inexperience. There is an immaturity factor that also contributes to 16-year-olds' high rates of fatal crashes," Fleming said.
Dr. Clea McNeely, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health, said teens ages 16 through 18 experience rapid changes in their cognitive ability.
"Their brains develop so that they're able to assess risk more accurately," she said.
Raising the driving age would likely ensure that novice drivers make better decisions, McNeely said.
"It would definitely reduce morbidity and mortality. There's no doubt about it," she said. "But it is really hard on families when kids can't drive."
