There's a push on to improve the safety of teens on the roadways. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety wants all states to raise the driving age to 17 or 18.

The safety organization says there is no escaping the fact that car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths and in New Jersey, where the age is 17, the death rate is lower.

Sixteen-year-old Emily Arnold is ready to hit the road for her Driver's Ed class. She can't get her driver's license until she learns the rules of the road.

Emily says, "I've been looking forward to it because I'm tired of asking my parents to drive me around and having to ask my friends for rides. So I'm hoping to get my license pretty soon."

But if the Insurance Institute gets its way, Emily will have to wait another year or two.

Emily doesn't think it's fair to target 16-year-olds.

"Some people are not responsible for driving but that could be any age," she said.

But a 17-year-old Driver's Ed student sees it differently.

Ada Gulizia tells us, "I think kids would be more responsible as they get older and my mom thinks that also. She definitely thinks that kids, if they're older and they get it, that they'll be more responsible."

That's why she's decided to wait until age 17.

Driver's Ed instructor Harv Van Norstraend agrees that older teens are better suited to driving.

He says, "I think it's extremely important that we have safe young drivers in the community and if we start with safe young drivers they grow up then and help everybody drive safely."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety admits that raising the legal driving age is a tough sell but looking at the research it would save lives.

According to Nebraska Highway Safety office, drivers in the youngest age group, 15 to 19, reflect the most fatalities. In 2007, 41 in that age group died in traffic accidents.