Fail now, not later: Let the students drive

American poet Emily Dickinson once said, “Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon.” In simpler terms, when you do something for the first time, the chances of disaster are high.

This includes the first time I saw my APUSH test score, the first time I attempted to ride a hoverboard and earned yet another new scar and the first time I drove a car with my mom, who got a cramp from gripping the seat the way a struggling junior attempts to hold onto their rapidly falling grades.                    

   Although learning to drive is considered a rite of passage for many teenagers, it is not without opposition from many parents as well as policy makers. Of course, the main argument against 15- and 16-year-olds learning to drive is that driving causes an average of 3 million deaths a year in America.

In addition, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, states that require graduated driver licensing have reduced the number of teen motor vehicle crashes.

While this evidence may seem pretty hard to refute, the truth is being a driver is just like being a surgeon; both take lots of practice. Although performing a surgery and operating a motor vehicle require very different skills, both require a license to practice and aren’t given to just anyone who can pick up a scalpel or reach the gas pedal.

Allowing teenagers to drive is practice for the future, when 86 percent them of will eventually drive to work. Even though fewer licence holders will drive in college, you’ll realize  afterward that finding time to learn how to drive will be difficult, as you’ll also be weaning yourself from hot pockets and scavenging for a job.

Personally, as someone currently learning how to drive, I’ve witnessed some subpar drivers regardless of their age. Even to me, a novice driver, these people seem to lack spatial reasoning and perhaps common sense. They believe that they can block an entire intersection just to be 2 or 3 seconds faster to whatever child-birthing-urgency appointment they have to attend to.

It's undeniable that drivers require practice, and I’m most definitely not parading every underage driver to be NASCAR worthy drivers. However, it's not unreasonable for underage students to drive. To legislators and those who want to raise the driving age, deciding whether to cut the chance of some responsible drivers — albeit younger ones — from learning to drive is like a group of men weighing in on abortion laws.

Oh wait.