Band 8 essay sample about increasing the minimum age for driving

IELTS essay topic

Some people believe that the best way to increase road safety is to increase the minimum legal age for driving cars.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Sample essay

Some individuals believe that increasing the minimum legal age for driving cars or motor bikes is the best way to increase road safety. While I admit that this policy can be beneficial to some extent, in my opinion, there are better ways to reduce traffic accidents.

It might be a good idea to increase the minimum age requirement for driving for some reasons. Firstly, younger people are less mature and less responsible. They might not be aware of the importance of following traffic rules. Therefore, it makes sense to ban them from driving to prevent them from breaking the law and causing accidents. Secondly, as older people are more experienced, they know how to react quickly to dangerous situations on the road. To illustrate, if the brakes of a car suddenly stop working, a young driver might panic and accidents could occur. An experienced driver will be able to handle the situation with more maturity.

However, I would argue that there are much better ways to ensure road safety. The first one is to improve the quality of our roads. Accidents are less likely to occur on wider, bump-free roads. It is also important to have stricter punishments for careless drivers. For example, people who break traffic rules should be required to pay huge fines or be banned permanently from getting behind the wheel. Strict laws will encourage drivers to respect the law and traffic accidents will reduce. Another solution is to encourage people to use public transport rather than private vehicles. This can be done by reducing the fares and increasing the frequency of buses and tubes to make it convenient for the users.

In conclusion, I believe that increasing the legal age for driving is not the best solution for improving road safety. It might help, but we need to take other measures too. For example, building better roads and improving the efficiency of public transport will deliver better results.