"Hardship" driver's license for kids under 16?

[chadfromdallas]

Shouldn't you have been paying attention to the road?

Not when I am sitting in the passenger seat

 

[floridaminnie]

Not when I am sitting in the passenger seat

Being a backseat driver.

 

[HappyChickie]

A friend of mine had one of these when we were in high school. She had to take her dad to dyalisis while her mom ran their business. Now that we're older and wiser it probably wasn't the best idea since we were causing havok and chaos when she didn't have to drive her dad.

 

[GoofItUp]

There are 4 kids in my family (ok, so we're not kids anymore) and the older 3 - myself included - all got hardship licenses at 15. I grew up in a small, rural community and we lived on a farm about 20 miles from school. The school bus did not come out to where we lived, so we drove ourselves to school starting at 15. I think it was approved because we lived on a farm, but we were never questioned about it really. I believe the restrictions are a bit tighter now.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with this. But, then again, I was driving on the farm since about 10! And I guess it depends on where you live. I'm 28 and STILL have only driven in the DFW area a couple of times. That much traffic scares me!

 

[chadfromdallas]

Being a backseat driver.

 

[HappyMommy2]

Wow, I am surprised that this exists! I had never heard of such a thing.

What I don't understand is this: the legal driving age (16) is supposed to be there for a reason--that supposedly kids under 16 are not ready for driving privileges yet. So how does "hardship" make a child ready for driving privileges? I can't figure this out at all. It seems that under-16 kids should at least be required to take a particularly rigorous drivers' ed course, and pass a particularly rigorous driving test, before getting a "hardship" license.
I just can't see how having a sick parent or a financial hardship could make a child ready to drive.

 

[christineann]

My son did take a rigorous drivers ed course (the instructor actually told some kids the first day that they were not going to pass and should drop out). He got a waiver after driving for a year. It was used to drive one hour past the regular time, and it was still light outside. He drove only to football practice and his church youth group. He is an excellent driver, is now 20 and has never had a ticket, and is studying to be a police officer.

 

[Michie]

Wow, I am surprised that this exists! I had never heard of such a thing.

What I don't understand is this: the legal driving age (16) is supposed to be there for a reason--that supposedly kids under 16 are not ready for driving privileges yet. So how does "hardship" make a child ready for driving privileges? I can't figure this out at all. It seems that under-16 kids should at least be required to take a particularly rigorous drivers' ed course, and pass a particularly rigorous driving test, before getting a "hardship" license.
I just can't see how having a sick parent or a financial hardship could make a child ready to drive.

I had one for that very reason, a sick parent. Mine was granted in case of emergencies though.

ETA: My father died when I was very young, and then my mother was stricken with cancer when I was 14. We lived in a very small farming community, so it was not like I was driving in a big city. And there were times I did take my mother to the hopsital because we did not have anybody to help us.

Don't people who have had their licenses suspended, can't they drive back and forth to work?