Thread: Feds May Raise Driving Age for Teens

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

I know a lot of kids who have afterschool or weekend jobs - how do they get to work if they only have a learners permit which requires a passenger who is a icensed driver over 18... or is it 21 ?

Do like I did, parents dropped me off.

We are discussing whether or not there should be a universal age to begin driving in the US ...

From the first post : What do you think? Should there be a standard minimum driving age across the country, or should states get to decide what’s appropriate for their teens?

... since people are not confined to their own state to drive my opinion is that it's a good idea.

Therefore if it where a push to restrict permitted drivers to drive in their own state or localilties that would be a different issue ... and I would support that.

Originally Posted by iluvmybaby

Once again, maturity isnt a number, its dependent on a person. Lets make laws stricter- require drivers ed, require restricted licenses, require stricter laws. But lets judge the maturity of the person by the person, not by the physical number

:

Originally Posted by Breezin

but honestly how many would?

I would love too. I see a driver's licence just being another thing to take away when kids misbehave.

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

But this law takes the decision out of the hands of the parents ... and into the hands of the goverment.

I have a fourteen year old. He could ( if it applied here ) get a permit at 14 - it is my call to say NO. If his grades are good and he proves he is responsible thru the summer he *might* be allowed his permit when he turns 15. This means that he only drives with a responsible adult in the car - my choice of adult - mom, dad, aunt becky. Disobedience results in loss of car keys. He will be riding the bus to school until at least his Junior year ... my decision - the parent. NOT "Big Daddy" Goverment.

If that were true then why not make the legal age 10? Seriously do we really want 14 year olds on the road?

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Feds May Raise Driving Age for Teens
By Seth Fiegerman

To any teenagers reading this: Enjoy your driving privileges while you can.

New legislation is currently being considered in the Senate that would rewrite America’s driving laws for teens. If approved, states would be forced to conform to a national minimum driving age, much in the same way that we now have a national drinking age. Under the new law, teens would not be able to receive a learner’s permit until they turned 16 and could not receive a full driver’s license until at least 18.

“Three Democratic senators are pushing legislation to create a national graduated driver licensing (GDL) law. They say it would replace a patchwork of state laws with a single national standard that encompasses proven safety policies for novice drivers,” USA Today reports.

Right now, some states like Iowa and Kansas allow teens to get learner’s permits when they are 14. That may sound too young to some but others like Rob Foss, the director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers, point out that driving is much different in these rural states. “Driving in New Jersey is a completely different thing than driving in Nebraska or Idaho. You have states where people learn to drive on the farm at 12 or 13. You can't have the same rules in those states as in states like Connecticut or New Jersey,” he told USA Today.

Last week, we reported on a movement in South Carolina to restrict driver’s licenses for teens who drop out of school or miss too many classes. Several readers noted then that they do not think kids should be able to get behind the wheel of a car until they are at least 16 and one commenter actually suggested the age should be 25. That certainly seems a bit extreme to us, but the underlying question is valid: When are kids really mature enough to drive? Oddly enough, for some states, the minimum age to get a learner’s permit is 14 1/2 or 15 1/2. The six-month increment seems strange to us, and it’s probably annoying for the traffic cop who is forced to do math when writing a teen a ticket.

What do you think? Should there be a standard minimum driving age across the country, or should states get to decide what’s appropriate for their teens?

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/fa..._ven=msnetzero

I understand the train of thought there is a national drinkign age why not driving asa well. Especially since city and rural driving are so different. I mean were talking about driving it's a privelage not a right.
Then the parent would have to make the decision as to wether or not 16 is old enough for thier child to go get a perment.

This is unrelated; however I have noticed an interesting trend in our dental office. Our standing policy is that up unitl the age of 18 a child must be accompanied by an adult to recieve treatment of any kind. We are finding that 15, 16, and 17 year olds are showing up for dental visits (sometimes thier first exam) and they are by themselves...since they can drive on thier own. We have to turn them around a reappoint because they came on thier own..maybe the mentality of "I'm old enough to drive" make them believe they can show up for important medical visits on thier own as well.

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

How many people are resisting the proposed ban on cell phones and texting while driving ?? It "interferes with their rights"...

How many people resist restrictions of older drivers - who can be quite dangerous - but wait they can vote and have a powerful lobby

How many people drink and drive ... by your reasoning we should outlaw booze - wait, tried that - didn't work out so well....


BTW- the 1% or 2% i was refering to was the PARENTS who don't usually let a 14/15 year old drive.... not the kids themselves.

Ban cell and texting while driving? Love it. Seniors to get retested for hearing a eye sight to maintain driving licences? No brainer. I don't drink and drive.

Teens learn dangers of texting while driving
By Lisa Rathke, Associated Press Writer Sun May 16, 3:48 pm ET

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. – Kamy Mayott has been told that texting while driving is dangerous. But the 15-year-old didn't know just how dangerous until she navigated a golf cart through an obstacle course while texting and took out a whole row of orange cones. "It definitely taught me to be careful and not to text while driving because I'm going to kill somebody," Mayott said.

So far 25 states have banned texting while driving, but many are going a step further, sending kids through similar courses, so they can see the errors, accidents and fatalities they could cause. Officials hope the reality will alleviate the temptation to send an electronic message to a friend while behind the wheel. "It's pretty eye opening for the kids," said David Teater, senior director of transportation initiatives for the National Safety Council in Itasca, Ill. "They're very unsuccessful at texting and navigating the cones."

The NSC estimates that 28 percent of crashes — or 1.6 million per year — are caused by cell phone use, either talking or texting.

Drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to be in a crash, while drivers who text increase that risk to 8 to 23 times, the NRC said.

People shouldn't be messing with cell phones when they're trying to drive," said Drew Bloom, captain of the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicle enforcement, who brought the obstacle course idea to Vermont after hearing about it in North Carolina. "We're finding a 400 percent average increase in driving errors. ... So when you have a 400 percent increase in amount of mistakes you're making and your reaction time slows dramatically, the proof is in data."

The teens drive through the course once, and then a second time while texting to a friend on the side lines. It gives them hands-on experience that authorities hope will sink in. "If we can reach one teen out of five teens who won't text and drive then they could possibly save their life in the future," said Sgt. Jeff Gordon, public information office for the Highway Patrol in North Carolina, which has seen a rise in teen fatalities.

Motor vehicle departments and driver's education courses around the country hope to plant the no texting message early, while teens are just learning the rules of the road. "This age group from 15 to 20 represents about 15 percent of licensed drivers in Vermont yet they're involved in almost 30 percent of the crashes. So they're prone to crashing anyway. If you add texting and electronic devices and those sorts of things then the probability goes up dramatically," said Skip Allen, executive director of the Youth Safety Council in Vermont, which passed a law this month banning texting while driving.

The Turn Off Texting campaign brought the golf cart event to five schools in Vermont this spring, and plans to get to three more before the end of the school year.

Many teen drivers, who must be accompanied by a parent in the car until they get their licenses, already are prohibited from texting. "It's a big no, no," said Corissa Peterson, 16, of Hartford. "I put my phone on silent and put it in my step dad's pocket."

Trever Nadeau, 16, of Sharon, sometimes brings his cell phone with him but doesn't answer.

After running through the obstacle course, he said he won't text. "I did horrible. I got like one mistake the first time, eleven the second," Nadeau said.

Hannah Chambers, 16, already knew something about the dangers of texting while driving. Her older cousin went off the road and hit a tree while texting.

But the 16-year-old was still surprised at how hard it was to text and navigate through the tight turns, and stop signs. If she's in a car with a driver who texts, she tells them to pull over or hand the phone to her to send the message. "The driver needs to pay attention to the road not their cell phone," she said.

___

On the Net: Turn Off Texting, http://www.turnofftexting.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100516/..._while_driving

If you haven't seen this already -- just a warning imho it's pretty graphic

PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad [HD]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0LCmStIw9E

In South Dakota kids get their license after they graduate 8th grade. They take a summer driving school (which honestly is a joke) and if they pass they are able to get their license. Those parents are giving these kids keys and turning them loose in their vehicles. My husband and I were floored when we went to our sons 7th grade basketball game and one of the kids who played on the other team got into a car after the game and drove off, alone. Who turns their 7th grader loose in a car? I personally think 14 is too young and we were torn as to whether our son would get his at 14. We came to the compromise that he could get his license but we were not turning him loose in our vehicles alone. He could drive, as long as an adult was in with him. I don't think they are mature enough to drive alone at this age.

I agree - 14 is too young to be set loose on the road. Mine certainly won't be.

I live in a small town that I am completely comfortable driving in, but when I take trips to New Orleans,

Hate NO traffic - even as a passenger - those people are c-r-a-z-y ! DH has to crive - even Becca won't do it.

The minimum age should be standard across the board.

Agreed ... but 18 is a bit much. I know people we graduated from HS and were in college before their 18th birthday. 16 - with limited permitted privleges - until a certain level of experience is logged.