Are teens ready to drive? That’s a question every parent/guardian should ask themselves before handing off car keys to their teenage son or daughter.

According to the DMV’s official website DMV.org, the legal age for driving in the state of California is 18. Although the legal age for driving with a license issued by the DMV is 18, at the age of 15 ½  you can actually take driver’s education to get your learner’s permit. At the age of 16 you are “eligible for a provisional license (with completion of driver’s education).” Then it continues on to say at the age of 17 ½ your are allowed to apply for your permit without taking driver’s ed.

The driving age in California is understandable because at the age of 18, you’re considered a legal adult but, the age to gain a permit is ridiculous. Most teens at the age of 15,  16 and 17 are still in high school and still have to ask permission to use the restroom during class. Why should teens be allowed on the road so young?

Let’s face it, we live in a world where we are “cell-phone” obsessed. As soon as you hear that ding ringing from your phone, you “suddenly” can’t resist the urge to see who it is. cdc.gov makes a great point of the different types of distraction’s teens face while on the road. Visual distraction is obviously taking your eyes off the road which, by the way, can be quite dangerous not only to yourself but, to other individuals around you. Manual distraction is taking your hands off the wheel and cognitive distraction is taking your mind off driving. If you’re easily distracted, (which I’m very guilty of myself.) you’ll fall under the category of cognitive.

Teens shouldn’t be allowed to drive because we are distracted by ourselves. What I mean is, teens are self centered. If the world doesn’t revole around us then we don’t care. Now, not every teen is categorized as self centered but, a majority of teens are. TeenDriverSource states “Cellphone use behind the wheel reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.” This falls under cognitive. Teens are distracted by their cellphones. We are distracted by the amount of likes we get on Instagram or the amount of retweets we get on Twitter. Asked yourself, “does it really matter?” Likes on Instagram aren’t going to matter when your car is slammed into the back of a truck. This, is the sad truth.

The age of driving should be raised because teens are just too distracted. So next time you’re driving and your phone goes off, I hope you’ll consider the amount of lives driving around you.