Posted on 05/19/2006 8:32:12 PM PDT by devane617
May 18, 2006
Albany -- There is talk of raising Georgia's driving age to 17 or 18.
Why? Because so many teenage drivers are killing themselves-- and others. Six thousand teen fatalities in the United States last year. The biggest threat to their well-being seems to be distracted driving. So what can we do to protect them from themselves?
Teens behind the wheel give new meaning to multi-tasking. Phones, CD players, and friends, distract young drivers-- who can least afford it.
Stephanie Phillips has, not one, but two teenage girls. 16-year old Amore is already driving. and 15-year old Charity is just beginning. Stephanie worries about driving distractions. "They're young and they're carefree, and nothing can happen, they think."
They think, but they're wrong. "The accident rate has been basically off the scale." Bill Hammack is the continuing education director at Albany Tech and is in charge of the driver's education program. "They lead the pack when it comes to, statistically, more of them get injured and killed than any other category of people that drive in the United States."
Every day, he and his instructors try to convince teens the importance of focusing on their driving. "Driving is a full-time endeavor, not something that you can pay attention to part of the time. You've got to be on top of the game all the time when you're driving."
In Albany Tech's driver's ed classes, students spend 40 hours learning the rules of driving. "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.
What they're doing when they're driving, he says, is the problem. "Cell phones, I-Pods, changing CDs in their dash player, all those things are big distractions."
Big distractions that worry Stephanie Phillips. "The thing is not getting so caught up in the fun activities going on in the car with your friends, you know, the radio going, the dancing.
So, like many other parents, she has rules. "Seat belts are a must for every person in the car. No speeding. Be off your cell phone, which I think is probably one of the hardest to abide by."
And she's right. "With the cell phone issue, I mean, I answer my cell phone because it rings, and my cell phone is, like, my life," said Amore'.
"Cell phones are right at the top of the list. Or, right now, it's called distracted driving," said Hammack. Distracted driving that we, as parents, are partly responsible for. "I think we have failed. We have not built that pay attention factor into driving because we've been guilty of it ourselves."
So what can be done to make teen drivers safer? "Senate Bill 226 states all 16 year olds must have completed driver's ed before they can be licensed in the state of Georgia," said Hammack.
Beginning January 1st, driver's ed classes will be mandatory to get a Georgia license. "If they don't understand the hazards and how to recognize them, they're never going to be in the position to minimize those hazards or avoid them altogether," he said.
Avoiding hazards is something Amore Brock knows about. "You gotta be aware of that and be aware of your surroundings because anything can happen even if you're doing everything right."
And everything right includes buckling up. "It's just standard, you know. It's seatbelt on and you know if the person beside me doesn't have it on I make sure they have it on," says Charity.
Right now, there are more than 4,000 14 to 16 year olds in Dougherty and Lee Counties alone. They'll soon be on the roads, driving. That affects us all. That's why it's up to us all to help them. "Everyone that comes in contact with these youngsters has got to make them see somehow that the hazards are there and those hazards are 'gonna bite you if you don't accept responsibility as an adult driver," says Hammack.
Adult driving responsibilities that may one day be reserved for adults. "I can see the driver's age, if things don't get better soon, maybe going to 17 or 18 years of age before they're even allowed to drive."
If that happens, Georgia will become the strictest state in the nation for teen driver's licenses. A law change that won't affect the Brock girls, but it could well be the key to saving young drivers' lives.
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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