Collection 4: "Is 16 Too Young to Drive a Car?" by Robert Davis

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. radical
    markedly new or introducing extreme change
    That radical idea is gaining momentum in the fight to save the lives of teenage
    drivers—the most dangerous on the USA’s roads—and their passengers.
  2. impulsive
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    New findings from brain researchers at the National Institutes of Health explain for the first time why efforts to protect the youngest drivers usually fail.
    The weak link: what’s called “the executive branch” of the teen brain—the part
    that weighs risks, makes judgments and controls impulsive behavior.
  3. impose
    compel to behave in a certain way
    Many states have begun to raise the age by imposing restrictions on 16-year-old drivers.
  4. notion
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    Even lawmakers who recognize that a higher driving age could save lives, Mandel notes, resist the notion of having to drive their 16-year-olds to after-school activities that the teens could drive to themselves.
  5. flagrant
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    But such flagrant misdeeds account for only a small portion of the fatal actions of 16-year-old drivers.
  6. misdeed
    improper or wicked or immoral behavior
    But such flagrant misdeeds account for only a small portion of the fatal actions of 16-year-old drivers.
  7. novice
    someone new to a field or activity
    Instead, most fatal crashes with 16-year-old drivers (77%) involved driver errors, especially the kind most common among novices.
  8. bane
    something causing misery or death
    For years, researchers suspected that inexperience—the bane of any new driver—was mostly to blame for deadly crashes involving teens.
  9. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
    The teen brain is a paradox.
  10. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    That’s also why teens often seem more impetuous than adults. In making decisions, they rely more on the parts of their brain that control emotion.
  11. threshold
    the starting point for a new state or experience
    But Giedd says that ethical crossroad is too radical to seriously consider today. “We are just at the threshold of this,” he says.
  12. modest
    limited in size or scope
    The new insights into the teen brain might help explain why efforts to protect young drivers, ranging from driver education to laws that restrict teen driving, have had only modest success.
  13. instill
    teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions
    With the judgment center of the teen brain not fully developed, parents and states must struggle to instill decision-making skills in still-immature drivers.
  14. graduated
    taking place by degrees
    In nearly every state, 16-year-old drivers face limits known as “graduated licensing” rules.
Created on Fri Jun 05 09:51:04 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Jun 08 09:01:44 EDT 2020)

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