Driving Age

[Jam930]

I think more training is necessary. 16 crash often because they're new to it.

There is a general reckless attitude with teenagers though, but... that's sort of a result of the shiny new drivers license so whatever.

[Tasselfoot]

i was 17 when i got my licence... and was in a huge crash 3 months later. partially my fault, partially the fact it was POURING rain.

but, as i said in some other thread... i've gone 3 years w/o so much as a parking ticket (ever since the crash).

[evilbutterfly]

I think, if anything, driving age should be lowered. Think about what whorlichan said. She thinks it's good to get the extra practice and driving and such. If you lower it, then it won't be as big of a deal to people and they will have been driving all their life. It'll be like riding a bike for them. Kids don't get into crazy bike wrecks, for the most part, right? I'm not saying that 5 year olds should be able to drive, but I do think it might as well be lowered.

But if they do lower it, make the restrictions last longer. Like, you can get your learner's permit when you're 13 or so, but you can't get your full license until you're 16. That way you've got 3 years of driving with a parent to learn. Also, younger kids have fewer places to go. The big deal about getting your license at 16 is that you can suddenly go all over the place with your friends and be free, especially if your rich parents get you a car. Younger kids are still in a phase where they depend a lot on their parents and aren't really ready for the freedom, so they don't try to run away like that. If the lower teens (13-14) could drive, they probably wouldn't see it as such a big deal. That way they wouldn't be so rushed to learn and rushed to pass the tests and whatnot. They would learn it slowly but learn it well, and would be better drivers. But whatever, they can leave it at 16 if they want.

And for the record, I'm 17. I don't have my license because I suck at driving, mostly because I focus so much on the rules that I worry and forget to do basic stuff, like watching the road. =\

[Tasselfoot]

oh yea... other notes: Whorli is a terrible driver. i fear for my life when in the car with her....

i'm quite content with all of the rules set in place for driving. PA raised their info for people born in 1984+ (i missed the grandfathering by 2 months... but, i still managed after alot of complaining).

and, i really don't care much about driving since i live in Manhattan and walk everywhere.

[zildjian133]

All that matters is experience. Here you get your permit at 15, license at 16... But its mainly parents faults for not giving their kids that much experience, especially my friend, he blows hardcore at driving and I want to die when I'm in the car when his parents let him drive but its only because he doesn't have the right amount of experience.... so raising the age limits wouldn't do much unless you lowered the permit limit and raised the license limit: 14yrs old for permit and 17yrs old for a license. That way you'd get experience, because when you first start driving is the least amount of time you'd get because your parents hate the fact that you're going to disregard a tree and accidentally cause your parents to buy a new car.

[Jam930]

All that matters is experience. Here you get your permit at 15, license at 16... But its mainly parents faults for not giving their kids that much experience, especially my friend, he blows hardcore at driving and I want to die when I'm in the car when his parents let him drive but its only because he doesn't have the right amount of experience.... so raising the age limits wouldn't do much unless you lowered the permit limit and raised the license limit: 14yrs old for permit and 17yrs old for a license. That way you'd get experience, because when you first start driving is the least amount of time you'd get because your parents hate the fact that you're going to disregard a tree and accidentally cause your parents to buy a new car.

I just bolded what didn't make much sense to me.

...wow

You WANT to die when your friend is driving?

So you're saying:

--It's the parents fault that the kids don't get enough experience in order to regard a tree which needs to be avoided in order to prevent having them buy a new car... and by the way I want to die whenever my friend's parents let him drive.--


Well experience comes through driving... you can't have experience driving before you start driving because... that would simply be a paradox.

We should just go to driving "camp" or school for a while to get a liscence and they'll grade us over the period of a semester or something and let us loose to drive.

No offense intended. lol, you just really ran that whole thing together in a way that's hard to understand.

[Lupin_the_3rd]

I believe the driving age is fine. It's a lot less common to see an inexperienced driver randomly crash, than a drunk driver. Unless they extended the driving age past 18 (which I find ridiculous), there wouldn't be a drastic drop in car related accidents per year.

It's stupid decisions made by stupid teenagers which causes these deaths, not inexperience. Experience would certainly help, but it's not going to stop kids from speeding down a neighborhood at 70 miles an hour to impress their friends. This, and the influence of drugs are what cause most of these accidents.

[Enigma-7]

It doesnt matter how old you are. It matters wether you can actually drive or not.

[Squeek]

Enigma, that logic is extremely flawed.

Any idiot can push a pedal down a little bit and not move the wheel at all. Driving is not about that. Driving is about being able to intepret situations as they occur. You cannot do this without experience.

Also, teenage mentality will screw with your driving skills a lot. You need to grow out of that mentality and mature more before you can really learn to drive safely under any circumstance.

~Squeek

[zildjian133]

i got bolded

[The_Q]

See : Libertarian

Yep, that's my view. Screw the restriction, it's screwing with my free trade.

Q

[IAMTHEEVILBEAN]

The driving age needs to go up to 20 for two reasons.

1) I hate driving, and would love to have my parents cart me around for another 5 years.

2) Most american teenagers cannot be trusted with this big of a responsibility.

[Jpec07]

Keep the driving age where it's at. I just got my license and I don't want it taken away...

[CypherToorima]

I'm pretty sure that if you got your license already, they won't take it away

[Jpec07]

You're probably right. I don't see why they should increase the age, though, even if I didn't already have my license. Inexperience, while a very important thing to keep in mind, will keep people from getting their licenses at their road tests. If the examiner even sees the slightest sign of an abundance of inexperience, than the person is failed (at least that's how it works up here). Why, then are teens such bad drivers? Inexperience wouldn't cause an accident, if a person is truly inexperienced they'd get onto the road and freak out every time a red light happened. In my opinion, the number 1 cause of accidents in teenage driving outside of drugs and alcohol is pride. People my age start driving and, after trying a few of the things they were told not to do while they were learning how to drive, begin to think that on the road they are invincible (sp?). Obviously they are wrong. I push the limits sometimes; the speed limit is whatever everyone else is doing, and certain stop signs are more like "slow down so you can see if anything's coming" signs. Granted, this isn't exactly these aren't exactly the safest driving habits, but yeah, I'm still here, writing this. Why did I go off on that tangent? I'm cocky about driving, I'll admit. I feel pride about how good I am. I'm not invincible, but then again I'm probably not going to die by breaking one or two rules every now and then. Can you now see the attitude we newly-licensed teens carry? The rules of the road are there for a reason; so that people won't get into accidents. It is ignorance and pride that cause most accidents in teenagers, not inexperience...
(and my thesis in that whole shpiel just changed, but oh well)