Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Works and Transportation received a petition this week from the president of the Costa Rican Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, Rocío Solís, requesting authorities consider raising the minimum age for a driver’s license to 21 in an effort to reduce road-related injuries and fatalities.

Road transit laws in Costa Rica set the minimum age for obtaining a regular driver’s license at 18 years. The exceptions are for motorcycle licenses (A-1), for which the minimum age is 16 years with parental consent, and licenses for trucks that require a minimum of 20 years (B-2) or 22 years (for a B-3 or B-4 license).

Solís made the case that neurological studies have shown that 18-year-olds still do not have the brain maturity necessary to effectively prevent the risks involved with driving.  The argument to raise the minimum driving age has been made in the past in Costa Rica in the wake of increasing road-related fatalities.

Over 20 percent of road-related fatalities from Jan. 1 – March 31 this year involved drivers aged 15-24. Of the 126 deaths on the road registered during this period, 29 were in this age group, include two motorcyclists aged 23 and 21 who collided head-on with a vehicle in Barreal de Heredia, according to the Road Safety and Education Council, COSEVI.

Solís also cited a study that found young drivers have three times the risk of dying than those over the age of 25. The study explains that the final part of the brain to develop is the region that allows us to make good decisions instead of impulsive or hasty ones.

Young drivers are four times more likely than older drivers to be involved in a crash. And studies have found that the safest age for driving vehicles is between the ages of 30 and 45, depending on the experience of the driver.

Young people tend to have a reduced risk perception, a feeling of omnipotence, tend to take risks, and are more likely to be trying drugs and alcohol for the first time thus unaware or unconcerned with their effects, and can often be non-compliant with rules.

It is no coincidence that many car rental agencies have a minimum age requirement of 21, and some as high as 25, said Solís.

“It is not enough to run campaigns – specific steps must also be taken. The MOPT must not only take into account the social and political part, but also studies of human neurodevelopment in which statistics corroborate …that maturation is not complete until 25 years,” said Solís.