Drinking and Driving With Statistics

Re “Deaths in Teenage Drivers’ Cars Drop,” Aug. 11: I think this article presents some evidence that the driving age should actually be lowered from 15 to 12. By lowering the driving age to 12, a person could receive over three years of driving instruction under the watchful eye of an experienced driver before driving solo. By the time this person reaches 19 years of age, he or she will have matured to the point of a 21-year-old who started driving at 19. This leads to my second point, which is the drinking age.

A person begins adult life somewhere around 12 and is a full adult by the time he or she is 18. This is, after all, the age at which you can fight and die for your country. If a person cannot drink until 21, he or she certainly didn’t get any helpful experience there. At 16, a person has matured physically enough to consume a controlled amount of alcohol. By being introduced to alcohol at this age (only if a person chooses) under some form of control, the teenager can experience its effects and learn to deal with them before being independent.

Jack Frost

San Juan Capistrano

I am the parent of a 16-year-old driver, and I intuitively believe that a young passenger can distract the teenage driver. However, the statistics presented do not address this point. The article states that “during the first two years the restrictions were in place, the number of teenage passengers killed or injured in crashes involving 16-year-old motorists dropped 40%.” However, this could be due to the fact that 16-year-old motorists are carrying 40% fewer passengers, in compliance with the new restrictions. Unanswered is whether 16-year-old drivers in the first six months of licensure are having fewer accidents than this same group prior to the restrictions.

Michael R. Granen

Newhall