driving license

[prof Aa]

Hello,i'm from malaysia and i am entering a debate competition on the topic of the age of getting a driving license should not be increase to 21.Can you give some opinion and points relating on this topic,pleeeeeeeeez........

[Kevin Solway]

Hello,i'm from malaysia and i am entering a debate competition on the topic of the age of getting a driving license should not be increase to 21.Can you give some opinion and points relating on this topic,pleeeeeeeeez........

The data shows that the younger people are, the more accidents and deaths they cause.

So you could argue that younger drivers help to reduce the overpopulation problem by killing people with their cars.

And through their killing of innocent people they provide many with an opportunity to learn about the impermanence of life.

They also create a lot more employment in insurance agencies, car workshops, and in the oil industry.

[Kelly Jones]

Driving generally means travelling very fast. It also generally means a minimum period of several seconds for a vehicle to come to a halt.

So, it is the option taken if getting somewhere very fast, or to travel a very long distance, is more valuable than mashing things up (by not being able to avoid unpredictable collisions).

In light of this, who needs to get somewhere very fast? And who needs to travel very long distances? And who doesn't mind mashing things up because of the former two imperatives?

The answer is: someone impatient, someone trying to escape their thoughts, and someone who allows their egotism to destroy indiscriminately.

This hasn't got anything to do with age!


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[avidaloca]

The answer is: someone impatient, someone trying to escape their thoughts, and someone who allows their egotism to destroy indiscriminately.

This hasn't got anything to do with age!

Those people who have those qualities, and use driving a car fast to express or deal with them, tend to be young (statistically).

[MKFaizi]

I think that if an eighteen year old man or woman can be considered old enough to fight a war, he/she is old enough to drive and to drink beer.

Personally, I think that a man should not be considered a man until he is twenty-five but adulthood in the US is considered to be eighteen.

If an adult is an adult then that adult should be able to drive and do whatever else.

If you can send an eighteen year old to war, then, that eighteen year old deserves full rights.

Faizi

[sschaula]

I think elderly people shouldn't drive, as well as teenage women. Women should only be allowed to drive after they have a child.

[Kelly Jones]

The answer is: someone impatient, someone trying to escape their thoughts, and someone who allows their egotism to destroy indiscriminately.

This hasn't got anything to do with age!

Those people who have those qualities, and use driving a car fast to express or deal with them, tend to be young (statistically).

I see plenty of oldies in holiday vans, with their little saying of choice stuck on the front and back, such as "Escape to Freedom", "My children's inheritance", "Living My Dream", "Get-Away-Mobile", and so on.

Recently, there's been a massive invasion of Harley Davidsons and loud motorbikes, all ridden by holidaying members of the Ulysses Club --- motorcycling for the Over-50s.

I think recklessness and viciousness is expressed in all ages, it's just that those with a weak character won't dare so much.


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[avidaloca]

It's also partly an intelligence factor. Older drivers would probably be smarter on average and thus less likely to take unnecessary risks. Younger drivers, being less mature, would not think about such matters as discriminatively on average. More mature usually equals more thoughtful though not always, it's just a statistical spread. Citing Harley Davidson riders is not a representative sample of over 50s road users.

[Kelly Jones]

It's also partly an intelligence factor. Older drivers would probably be smarter on average and thus less likely to take unnecessary risks. Younger drivers, being less mature, would not think about such matters as discriminatively on average. More mature usually equals more thoughtful though not always, it's just a statistical spread. Citing Harley Davidson riders is not a representative sample of over 50s road users.

You're confusing intelligence with valuing pain-free-ness. "You might get pneumonia!" is what a comfort-loving person will say to someone who never even considered it was cold.

The impatient is always reckless, because they're off in a fantasy world, paying no attention to right and wrong. Some of the most hardened, reckless people I've ever met are the elderly. They're incredibly arrogant, mindless, self-centred, bitter, and full of complaint. It's very rare to find an older person who isn't so full of intellectual blockages that they can actually listen and engage in open, exploratory dialogue. It's really a dead mind, hardened like a withered tree.

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[avidaloca]

I don't dispute your accounts of older people's mindsets, I only point to crash statistics showing the majority of reckless car accidents occur in the 18-25 year age group. Maybe the older drivers are experienced enough to be able to drive recklessly without crashing so much!

[Moatilliatta]

Numerical age is meaningless. It just so happens that our orbit around the sun is a certain length which we consider one unit of age. If we had a slightly larger or smaller orbit we (other than possibly not existing at all) would set the age of consenting adults at perhaps 16 or 20, because a "year" would be longer or shorter. Numerical age is flawed anyhow...most people have come to the realization that personal maturity and the amount of significant experiences in an indivudual's life determines that person's true age. When I was 17, I was dating a 14 year old. She was only a grade younger than me; most people in my grade were 16 and most people in her grade were 15. I just happened to be old for my grade, and she was simply young. Of course, we both acted as we should have...like the majority of people in our respective grades. This proved that actual age does not matter, but it is how a person is treated and the environment which decides. We both were surrounded by people in our same basic age group, and that was all that mattered. Of course, there were some nitpickers who disapproved of the age difference (although later in life, 3 years is peanuts).

Bottom line: if a person can pass a driving test, they should recieve their license regardless of age. The real issue here is that they never should have manufactured civillian automobiles that go faster than 50 mph. A belted in collision at that speed has a remarkably high survival rate.

[Kelly Jones]

Numerical age is meaningless. It just so happens that our orbit around the sun is a certain length which we consider one unit of age. If we had a slightly larger or smaller orbit we (other than possibly not existing at all) would set the age of consenting adults at perhaps 16 or 20, because a "year" would be longer or shorter.

Right, adulthood is relative to a normal lifespan, but maturity is often mistaken as intelligence, ie. "wise elder". It wouldn't matter what speed the earth's rotation was, or how far it had to orbit (though this would affect the development of complex organisms and consciousness).

ProfAa's question is superficial, because it depends on statistics to answer a subjective question, rather than values. That is, it implies that the capacity to value correctly, increases with age. It's a nonsense question. He should argue an entirely different point: that is, what is most valuable, and how does one decide?

Bottom line: if a person can pass a driving test, they should recieve their license regardless of age.

A driving test is a test, not a complete check of a driver's abilities. Few people who pass a driving test know how to manage dangerous driving conditions, such as black ice. In my area, people frequently overtake me on blind-corners at speed, on the wrong side of the road, and *speed up* when they do it - just because I'm on a bicycle!

Again, I think it comes down to a person's intelligence, which isn't - as you say - age-related. It's to do with a person's character, their level of consciousness, and the quality of their thinking.

A robot could pass a driving test, but not know that it was against the law to hit endangered species. A child might be able to drive, and have memorised all the rules, but not know how to deal with pain and anxiety calmly.

The real issue here is that they never should have manufactured civillian automobiles that go faster than 50 mph. A belted in collision at that speed has a remarkably high survival rate.

Or even 15 mph. It would certainly improve the mental state of most people, if moving around took more effort, and exposed them to thoughts of self-organisation. Also, more time walking usually means more time alone.


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