Some people think that the best way to improve road safety is to increase the minimum legal age for driving a car or motorbike. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is believed that raising the minimum driving

age

is the most effective method to improve road

safety

. While I accept that

this

approach has some effects in the short term, I believe that a long-term and a better solution is to impose stricter punishments for driving offences. I think that increasing the minimum legal driving

age

can help reduce traffic accidents,

thus

improving the

safety

of roads.

This

is because a large number of traffic incidents are caused by young people’s careless driving. Many of them are not mature enough to fully understand the serious consequences of their actions or to be responsible for what they caused. Raising the driving

age

,

therefore

, can make sure that the youngest drivers are mature enough to take driving seriously and to protect their own lives and other people’s lives when driving. In my opinion,

however

,

this

approach is only effective to a limited extent, due to the fact that nowadays many youngsters still drive without a driving licence. So, a more effective way to ensure road traffic

safety

is to impose more severe punishments on those who commit driving offences.

For example

, a longer prison sentence could be given for very serious offences and a heavier fine could be imposed for running a red light or driving without a helmet. These punishments could help deter potential offenders and prevent people from re-offending. In conclusion, I believe that introducing stricter regulations for driving offences is a much better measure to increase road

safety

in comparison with increasing the minimum driving

age

.