We should raise the driving age to 18

And here is just another reason why: http://boise.pillblogger.com/18_Should_Be_The...

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Doesn't matter what age you move it to. It's all about the experience behind the wheel, as well as common sense. If you don't know which one's the gas pedal, then you're simply an idiot and shouldn't be behind the wheel.

Anyone who has spent any time in Western Europe knows they are some of the best drivers in the world...most notably the Germans and Austrians. In those countries, as well as several others, people are really TAUGHT how to drive. Not a few days behind the wheel in a quiet part of town puttering along, nor practicing parallel parking in an empty parking lot. No, they have real training for real situations in all types of weather. The learn about the physics involved with driving, what a car will do is a given situation, and what they need to do to correct it before they become just another statistic. They learn, really learn, the rules of the road and they practice on real roads at real speeds.
I'm sure someone is about to say that "the school systems can't afford to do all that" and I agree with you. It shouldn't be the school system that teaches driving. In most countries, the driving schools are privates businesses and people pay to learn how to drive...and they pay a lot. For them, getting a driver's license is very difficult and expensive, but the end results are worth every cent.
If the U.S. would stop handing out driver's licenses to 16-year-olds who have maybe an hour behind the wheel, very little of which is in real traffic, then maybe the rate of injury and death of young people would drop. Those of us who have lived for a while, know that teenagers are firmly convinced they know everything and fully believe they are immortal....impervious to injury or worse. Unfortunately, none of that is true.
Driving is not a right, it is a priviledge that must be earned. Traffic increases every day, and drivers have to have more skills to survive.
Bottom line? I would like to see the age increased to 18, although gradually. For example, incrase it to 16.5 on a given date, 2 years later, increase it to 17, 2 years later to 17.5, and finally make it 18.
I would also like to see driver training turned over to the private sector or create a new section of the Dept of Transportation to provide realistic driver's training.
That's my $.05 worth (inflation, you know)

If you are going to allow your child to have a license at 16, take the time to get him or her through a drivers education class. Make sure your child drives the amount of practice hours required by his or her permit with a licensed adult.

My son took a driver's education class last August and passed with an A. He has until this August to drive 50 hours with a licensed adult before he takes a written test and a driving test with the DMV and gets his license.

We let him drive with myself or my husband in the passenger seat daily, and he did make silly mistakes in the beginning (like the young man in the article). He's doing much better now. He will get his license in August, before his permit expires, but he will be ready for that responsibility. http://www.nampaid.ourtown.com