Posted on 05/19/2006 8:32:12 PM PDT by devane617
Most city-dwellers don't *need* a car nor to know how to drive. It's a convenience and we're a lazy, gluttonous, obese society full of whining liberals.
A job is not like driving which can get you and others killed. You can start paying taxes as soon as you drop from the womb. Be a parent? So can 11 and 12 year olds if their bodies are matured enough. Drudge just had a story on one girl that young in the UK about a month ago. The military has standards: you have to be at least 17 (with parental consent).
Life isn't that dangerous by itself. Stupidity is dangerous. Teens don't need to be on the road after dark without justifiable cause (leaving work). Safety, especially with driving which is NOT A RIGHT, should be the first priority.
" "Most of them, believe it or not, know how to drive. The big challenge is getting them to pay attention to what they're doing when they're driving," says Hammack."
Truer words never spoken. Constant checks - in the mirrrors - a routine- defensive driving skills developed over time and experience - get them into agressive driving classes - let them find out on a controlled course what they are capable of or not.
" let them find out on a controlled course what they are capable of or not."
WITHOUT YOU ON THERE @sses.
They get to find out for them selves - That is a profound and wakening experience ... was for me anyway! Many years ago and ongoing.
You might not like a pulpwood truck hitting your daughter on her bike but it might just as well hit her in a car. She'd still be dead.
She's a kid. Movies are not a right or life requirement. Perhaps you should move if you're afraid for your daughter's safety or inconvenience?
You said -- "I have always thought 16 was to young to drive. I believe the driving age should be raised to at least 17."
Well, here in Texas (when I drive around, visiting down here), I see a lot of Hispanic drivers doing the craziest things on the road (like going the wrong way down a one-way street; turning left from the middle lane when on a one-way street, speeding, not staying in their lane [my daughter says they take their half out of the middle of the road...], guzzling a cold one [or two or three...] in rush hour traffic, and all sorts of other hazardous driving actions).
I would take those drivers off the road, first -- before I would take the teens off the road. I don't think they "know" how to drive, while -- at least -- the teens *do* know how.
Regards,
Star Traveler
No Skip Barber, Bondurant or Barber seal of approval? No License. Period!
Their instructors do a hell of a job deflating some Fast & Furious wannabe's ego.
Raising the minimum driving age will cause more problems than it will solve. I received my learner’s permit at 15 1/2 in Los Angeles. I grew up watching my parents drive, and when I took the wheel I felt comfortable, even in rush hour traffic. When I turned 16 I got my license, but no car, I used either of my parents’ cars when I needed to go somewhere. My father has a Mustang with a manual transmission, he tossed me the keys one day after getting my license, I got in, and drove away like I had been driving a stick for years (I have never stalled it). I am now 21, and I have never gotten a ticket (not even parking), or been in an accident (people have almost hit me). I have also driven a fair share Thailand and Ecuador, and if any of you have driven in a third world country, you know how it can be. Growing up in Los Angeles has helped my driving skills a lot; I am horrified to see what passes as “driving” in other states.
This summer I will turn 22, and I will purchase my first car. I don’t think I would be the driver I am today if the age restrictions were raised. If anything there should be a maximum driving age, generally old people are oblivious to what is going on, and put others at risk. I know two people killed in separate incidences by old drivers that shouldn’t have been on the road, but no one killed by teenagers.
I'm all for tougher testing, stricter road rules, probationary periods, etc. for young drivers. Scrutiny with teeth will give some of the hotheads a timeout before they hurt someone.
But completely revoking all kids' driving privileges isn't reasonable scrutiny, it's conviction by demographic without a trial.
Vehicles of first year drivers should be required to display brightly colored decals on all sides to let the rest of us know who to watch out for.
I meant "or Russell seal of approval"
I was told it is against the law to take someone's license from them. Only the State can do that.
My 18 1/2 year old son was killed in a car accident. When is old enough?
Too young to drive? That's subjective to the individual in question. Too young to insure? FACT! Man, it's just plain astronomical to insure a child. Painfully, so. I don't know how I'll manage to insure my son when he's old enough and save extra for his college. I may give him a choice between the two and let him work and save for school on his own. I already have the college plan and by then it will be paid off for many years, but there's always extra expenses.
We'll see, but I think he will be intimately familiar with the terms "Pedestrian" and "Public Transportation". Heck, gas will be $12 a gallon by then anyways, if the Chinese allow us our ration at all...
They talk about this every year in Georgia and it never happens. This story is garbage, the legislature is only in session from January to March.
"but it could well be the key to saving young drivers' lives."
This sounds like the same tripe the "ban guns" crowd tries to feed the American public.
"Well with the current crop I can't say I blame them. I'm only 25 and I don't care much for teenagers today. When I go to any social setting there's always some 15 or 16 yr old idiot making an ass of himself along with several other friends"
that is not age specific
More nanny-state crap, IMO.
There is one big difference between video games and real life. You can always restart a video game if you make a mistake. Dead is dead in real life.
60s.
In Kansas they can drive at 14. With a lot of restriction.
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