Age of Maturity

One thing that stood out in the article What is the Age of Responsibility? was that many states allow women to marry before men. While I know the fact that women go through puberty and mature sooner than boys physically, who is to say that men are not ready to marry at the same age women are. In many societies I have learned about in past social studies classes men were actually the ones to gain more responsibility first. I think that separating maturity by sex is even more silly than separating maturity by age can be at times. In addition, the article said in the past, "As soon as someone’s feet could reach the pedals, he or she was free to drive." I think that the age 16 makes since for the fact that at 16 you can get a job and parents don't always have time to drive because they have jobs of their own. However, at the same time I know many of my friends weren't mature enough to drive at age 16. For example, one of my friends got her license at 16 simply because everyone else was. When she got her lisence she had never driven on a highway with her parents before to help her with advise and apparently had never driven in a construction zone. The first time she had entered a construction zone she was alone she freaked out and hit a cone and knocked off her mirror. I think that many 16 year olds just get their lisence at 16 just because everyone else is while they know they aren't ready and I think that is a very dangerous thing. Another problem with driving laws is the age at which cell phone use is okay. When I was in seventh grade my brother got hit by a car while in a crosswalk because the man driving was paying more attention to his cell phone then on driving. The worst part of it all was that since my brother didn't press the cross walk button even though it said it was okay to walk, it was "his fault". So the man driving who hit my brother go absolutly no consequences for hitting a person! Studies have shown time and time again that cell phone use majorly decreases peoples' ability to drive. In fact it is more likely to get in an accident while texting than while drunk. Because people under 18 can't vote, legislation is put against them easily. As soon as "adults" hear their rights are trying to be taken away they immediately shut it down. I think the problem with the laws does not have to do so much with the government as the voting people. Voters only want to agree with laws for more regulations on other people, not on themselves, even if it is better for the country as a whole.