What is the driving age where you live?
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, your big brain, and the links below::
What is the minimum driving age in your state?
What is the most common minimum driving age in the United States?
What is the national minimum driving age? (Pro tip: this is a trick question)
Why don't we have a national minimum driving age?
Describe any geographical patterns you see in minimum driving ages in the United States.
List one thing the visual makes you wonder:
Explain whether the U.S. of A. should have a national minimum driving age?
Graduated Drivers Licenses (GDLs) have been adopted in many states and impose strict limits on getting a license. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states with strict graduated drivers licenses see up to 30% fewer crashes. If South Dakota, for example, adopted a graduated drivers license they would see a 24% reduction of collisions and a 50% reduction in fatal crashes. Is South Dakota more free than states with a graduated drivers license?
Why do you think some states have strict minimum driving ages while others have looser regulations?
In 1984 (Stranger Things!) 48 percent of 16-year-olds had driver's licenses. In 2020, that number had fallen to 25 percent. Today the number is even lower. Why do you think so few of you are rushing out to get your license and will this make America safer?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Read this short report on three Senators who are trying to create a standard national graduated drivers license then Contact your U.S. Senator and let them know what you think about a national graduated drivers license (GDL).
Get Creative
Bold prediction: by 2053 there will be no more drivers licenses or even cars (as we know them today). What will transportation be like then (or will people even go anywhere anymore)? Make a creative response to this scenario.
Learn More
States with strict graduated drivers licenses see up to 30% fewer crashes. Use this interactive calculator to see how a graduated drivers license would impact different states.
