Debate Case Outline
Affirmative Side of the Case
First Affirmative Constructive Speech

Resolved; The legal driving age in New Hampshire should be changed to 18 in the US.
I will now define unclear terms
Legal Driving Age­ Established or founded upon law. Neurological­The medical science that deals with the brain and the disorders affecting it.
Gray Matter­ Grey nerve tissue in the brain that when developed controls things like how we make choices.
Cognitive Skills­ (Cognitive skills include things like memory, the ability to learn new information, speech, understanding of written material and most importantly choice making, these are not developed fully until the late 20’s all information in accordance with merriamwebster.com

My partner and I will cover the case with the following contentions:

1) There is many dangers of irresponsible teenage drivers.

2) We will explain the neuroscience of the slowly developing young adolescents brain and what is has to do with teenage driving.

3) We will educate the audience, our worthy opponents and the judge about the statistics of teenagers behind the wheel.

4) We use examples of the harm that is caused by teenage drivers and their surroundings and also the plans we would like to implement in order to make the statistics go down.

 What if you were the parent of a 15 year­old boy named Chris, who left with his 16 year old friend Tommy, who recently received his licenses last month, at 11 O’clock at night you get a phone call from the police asking if you could come down to the station to identify your only sons body that was so severely damaged from a double roll over on I­95 that caused by the drivers lack of experience. This tragic event, is fictional, but a reality for the overwhelming amount of families that have to deal with the unbearable loss of their child from a car accident. Would you mourn in sorrow from the loss of your child or would take a stand and fight back use the tragedy to make a difference? Contention one­ There are extreme risks that come with teenage driving, According to an article called “Teens and distracted driving” written by Mary Madden and Amanda Lenhart both Senior Research Specialists for the American Life Project.

In September of 2009 U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood found that distracted driving occurs most commonly in the under 18 age group.This includes texting, and other uses of cell phones while operating a vehicle. Secretary LaHood gathered together a group of policy makers to announce an appeal to President Obama to issue an executive order that legally forbids drivers from operating a vehicle while using a cell phone or other means of distracted driving. Fortunately, this appeal was approved in almost all states, including New Hampshire. However this problem still remains and the fact that texting while driving is a crime does not seem to faze both teenage and adult drivers.

Distraction.gov, reports that the major violations of the distracted drivers law that teens are guilty of includes, texting, eating and drinking to name a small fraction of violations. However distraction.gov reports that cell phone while driving is by far the most lethal form of distracted driving because it requires cognitive, visual, and mannual use of the driver.The amount of mistakes that young drivers make are enormous. It’s no secret ladies and gentlemen that adults are more responsible when it comes to driving. driverseddirectory.com says teenagers are five times more likely to to get into accidents than adults.

Contention 2­ Neurologically teenagers have not undergone enough maturation to have their license. Children ages 15­17’s brains are not fully developed until the late 20’s. According to nimh.gov (nation institute of mental health) The scientific community’s knowledge about a teens brain has revealed the exact implications this fact has for teen drivers. Harvard Medical Schools, research indicates that the brain of a young adult age 15­19 develops certain newfounded neurological skills that include development of both negative and positive social and cognitive traits.The negative side says that teenagers are not neurologically capable of handling driving because of the extreme increases in risk taking that take place in the frontal lobe. The first and second stages of brain development, which occur before people become adults, over­produces brain cells, but lacks an adequate mechanism to process them.

The most important aspect of brain development for drivers is the spread of white matter, the process that helps brain cells communicate more efficiently which creates danger for underage drivers because it controls the thought process and since it does not occur until the late mid 20’s it proves that teens are more likely to take risks than mature adults, not only that but it proves in cold hard facts that a young adults brain is not mature enough to tackle operating a vehicle according to gjel.com . According to usatoday.com neurologically 18 year olds are more likely to handle the stress of driving. The dmv.gov also helps prove our evidence with a statement saying “The traffic accident rates for 16 year old drivers are higher than those for any other age group.” Proving our contention correct.

Contention 3 ­ The amount of statistics on teens in car accidents is absolutely frightening for parents, and concerned citizens. The amount of harm caused by teenage drivers accounts for 30 percent, in fact 7 billion dollars of the money that is spent on fixing the devastation of car accidents annually according to the dmv.gov. This not only harms drivers and their surrounding but also harms insurance companies and could result in a higher monthly insurance rate that some families could not afford. According to Jack E Zimmerman phd, the average stay in an intensive care unit per week cost health insurance companies over 20,000 dollars. Depending on ones salary most, or very little could be covered by insurance. You may ask yourself “how big is this problem?” well according to the cdc.gov In 2010, about 2,700 teens in the United States aged 16–19 were killed and almost 282,000 were treated and released from emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor­vehicle crashes.

Contention 4- In 2008 Tim Diodone reports on saferoads.org that his 15 year