In May of 2013,  Teen Driving Source put out an article saying that 2,865 young drivers died in fatal car accidents. That number has been on the rise for many years. It is so high that now it is the leading cause of death for teenagers. In fact, teens have the greatest risk of getting into an accident in just the first 6 months of owning a licenses. I believe that this happens because the driving age is too young. The only way to make the roads safer and decrease the car deaths is to raise the age kids are able to get their driver's license. I am not the only one that feels this way but there are many people that believe the age is fine as it is. There are also views from people that think the age should be lowered. Since it is the leading cause of death, I think we need to do something.
        

For one to get a driver's license right now in Minnesota is 16 years old. Also the driver needs to have a permit for half a year with completing 40 hours of supervised driving. The people at USA today and I both feel that it is not enough to be able to drive a car. In 2008, they released an article saying, “it’s a good idea to raise the driving age.” I strongly believe that in order to drive, teens need to accomplish at least twice as many hours and they need to have their learner's permit for a couple more years along with more situational training.
        

There are some people out there that don’t believe that this is a problem even though it takes many young people's lives away in seconds. The King Courier wrote an essay in 2016 called, “The driving age should not be raised.” It said that “driving is something that teens look forward to for many years.” They also wrote that “the freedom of a license is liberating.” But I think that freedom should not come at such a costly price. It is the price of multiple lives. The privilege that young teens have is too big of a responsibility because they are operating a vehicle that can easily turn a person’s life around and change it forever.
        

There is even people that think that the age is too high. In my opinion, those people are out of their minds. Brains do not fully develop until people's twenties and they want these age to be below 16. There is a major difference between the age of 25 and 14. The prefrontal cortex is the spot in the brain that helps make decisions. It also takes the longest to develop. According to ingenie in 2014 the slow developing brain is the main reason why teens crash. The reason why is the kids don’t react to the dangerous situation in time which results in a crash. If it takes men and women until about 25 to have their brains fully developed I can't believe how unready it is at the age 14 or 15. I definitely cannot see a young teen having the large responsibilities that come along with driving alone.
        

The people in the “Driving age is fine, or Lower the age” category need to be shown the ugly truth. In the same article from ingenie, they say that teen driving is badly affected by peer pressure. Teens go as fast as they can to impress the other passengers. Also young drivers  joke around in the car and try to show off which make their eyes less focused on the road.That is also something that correlates straight to the young immature age.

There are many different rules and regulations that try to make it as safe as possible for all drivers. But I feel that not enough is being done because it can be safer. I believe that the only thing that can save young drivers is to limit the number of drivers and cars on the road. We can accomplish that by lowering the driving age in the state of Minnesota. When motor vehicle accidents are not the leading cause of death that is when the age limit is fine and should be kept the same. Before they send teens on the roads alone, we need to be more prepared for what can happen. My dream is that no one gets in a crash, which is not very realistic. I also wish that I could feel safe every time I get in the car. But if the states can lower the teen death rate by a percentage that would make the problem a little better and I may be able to get some sleep.