Flávio Bolsonaro defends CNH at 16 years old along with the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility

Senator and PL candidate for the Presidency, Flávio Bolsonaro, defended on Thursday (13) that young people can get a driver’s license from the age of 16, linking the idea to the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility, during the broadcast of the launch of his government plan.

“When we reduce the age of criminal responsibility to 16 years old, you who are young and 16 years old, you will also be entitled to your driver’s license,” he said.

The proposal, however, is not in the document that lists his government proposals, presented on the same day and entitled “For Brazil to overcome backwardness”. The plan only provides support for lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 years old and harsher accountability of adolescents from the age of 14 in serious crimes, such as rape, trafficking, torture and homicide.

Today, the Brazilian Traffic Code requires that the candidate for the license be criminally liable. As the Constitution considers those under 18 years of age to be unimputable, this is in practice the minimum age. Changing this would require changing both norms.

What is already being processed in Congress

On Wednesday (12), the Chamber of Deputies installed the special commission of the PEC on the age of criminal responsibility. In parallel, another commission is discussing the reform of the CTB, and there the proposal under debate is more modest: the rapporteur, deputy Aureo Ribeiro, defends not a full CNH at 16, but permission to drive accompanied by an adult, with time limits. The argument is that many teenagers already ride mopeds without any training.

The arguments of those who are against

For road safety specialists, the discussion is not about rights, but about cognitive maturity. Transport engineer Marcos Rothen and professor Patrícia Margon, from the Federal Institute of Goiás, point out the fragility of driver training in the country and the propensity of adolescents to distraction and daring behind the wheel. For specialist Celso Mariano, the CNH is treated as a rite of passage.

International data reinforce caution. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, teenagers are involved in accidents at a rate almost four times higher than that of drivers aged 20 and over, per kilometer driven, and the risk is highest between 16 and 17 years old. In this comparison, the 16-year-old has an index about 1.5 times higher than the 18 or 19-year-old. Raising the minimum age from 16 to 17 was associated with a 13% drop in fatal accidents between 15 and 17 years old.

The literature points out that the design of the rules weighs more than age alone. A study by the California Department of Traffic and the University of North Carolina showed that requiring nine to 12 months of learner’s permit reduced deaths among 16- and 17-year-old drivers by 21%. Limiting it to one passenger cut 15%, and vetoing driving after 10 p.m. dropped fatal cases among 16-year-olds by 19%.

In Brazil, the National Road Safety Observatory estimates more than 37 thousand deaths per year in traffic, with human behavior as the predominant factor, and the 20 to 30 age group already concentrates the largest volume of victims.