IELTS Academic Essay 7th Nov 2020 India 9 AM

Some people say that the best way to improve road safety is to increase the minimum legal age for driving cars or riding motorbikes. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

ESSAY NUMBER 168 FROM OUR BOOK

It is commonly believed that the ideal way to ensure road safety is to raise the minimum age for getting a driving license. I believe that raising the legal age of driving would lead to more problems and other methods like banning the use of mobile phones and stricter punishments for traffic violators would turn out to be more effective.

I believe raising the minimum driving age would rather increase accidents. Today, most people are busy, and they don’t have time to drive their children. Thus, teenagers and youngsters knowing driving is no more an option but a necessity. If driving is not allowed, it doesn’t deter youngsters from driving but rather makes them drive illegally. For example, many teenagers are caught driving without a license in India as the legal driving age is on the higher side. Driving illegally means youngsters driving without knowing about traffic rules and driving fast to avoid police which leads to more accidents.

A more effective solution to reduce traffic accidents would be to ban mobile phone use while driving. Nowadays, the major reason for accidents is distracted driving, which means reading messages or taking calls while driving. Reckless and rash driving, which is associated with young age and lack of maturity, are certainly not the main reason for accidents. Thus, banning the use of mobile phones and inculcating a habit of undivided attention among people while driving would prove more effective.

Another solution that I think can prove more beneficial would be to have stringent fines and punishments for traffic violations and especially for repeat offenses. In India particularly, many traffic accidents are caused by breaking the traffic rules, like jumping red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road to save time. Thus, a healthy culture of people following rules and regulations needs to be developed and this can be done by having harsher punishments like high fines, suspension of driving license and so on.

In conclusion, I think there are better alternatives to raising the legal age for driving as this could lead to more problems.

Plan followed:
Intro: Disagree
Para 1: It would lead to more accidents
Para 2: Other methods
Para 3: Other methods
Conclusion:
Written by: Indroop Singh