I Didn't Have to Drive DD15 to School Today!!

[DawnCt1]

I would want to send my college age child to school with as much driving experience under his belt as possible.

It's strange to me that so many people want to wait until their kids are 17 or 18.....18 year olds are ADULTS! Hello -- many are already out on their own, driving to school or jobs.

I'd want my son to have his permit ASAP, then drive me everywhere to get the experience... it will be like having my own personal chauffeur.

By the time I was 18, I was doing multiple hour road trips back and forth from college.

My Dad was letting me drive with him in the passenger seat from the time I was 11 or 12. Was it a good idea? I certainly don't think so. Teens can have a lot of driving experience driving with their parents in the passenger seat with a learner's permit. Few colleges allow freshmen to take cars to colleged anyway. Teens may be legally adults at 18, but neurologically, they have a ways to go, particularly boys.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

My Dad was letting me drive with him in the passenger seat from the time I was 11 or 12. Was it a good idea? I certainly don't think so. Teens can have a lot of driving experience driving with their parents in the passenger seat with a learner's permit. Few colleges allow freshmen to take cars to colleged anyway. Teens may be legally adults at 18, but neurologically, they have a ways to go, particularly boys.

My DD goes to college about 100 miles from home. She turned 18 her Freshmen year, and couldn't have her car there. I'm not sure when she was supposed to get "at home" driving experience once she left for college. She's a sophomore and has her car there now. She hardly uses it there because most of what she does is on campus (two or 3 jobs), and her car isn't parked nearby. I'm not thrilled about her driving home (altho, she doesn't come home often)...I'm not thrilled about my 21 yr old driving home from work late at night either...but I also wasn't thrilled about her going into a city to take the train home.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm a little puzzled by those who say that teens shouldn't have driver's licenses. Didn't your teens ever have part-time jobs or activities? Assuming that they were in a district with the traditional summer off, did they stay at home all summer? Or did you cart them around?

 

[DawnCt1]

I'm a little puzzled by those who say that teens shouldn't have driver's licenses. Didn't your teens ever have part-time jobs or activities? Assuming that they were in a district with the traditional summer off, did they stay at home all summer? Or did you cart them around?

Not 'teens", but 15 and 16 year olds. Delaying a teen from getting their license from 16 to 17, reduces their chances of a fatal accident by 100%. I read that years ago from a USAA magazine. Since then I have heard the same thing many times and have known of tragedies involving 16 year old drivers.
I carted my kids around when they were kids, a couple of more years isn't that difficult.

 

[allison443]

Not 'teens", but 15 and 16 year olds. Delaying a teen from getting their license from 16 to 17, reduces their chances of a fatal accident by 100%. I read that years ago from a USAA magazine. Since then I have heard the same thing many times and have known of tragedies involving 16 year old drivers.
I carted my kids around when they were kids, a couple of more years isn't that difficult.

Doesn't "reducing their chances of a fatal accident by 100%" mean that the chances of a fatal accident are totally eliminated? So a driver who gets their license at 17 will NEVER have a fatal accident?
Living in NJ where the driving age is 17 I can tell you that sadly that is not true. Kids who get their license at 17 certainly do get in fatal accidents.

So what does that statistic mean? Since you have quoted it twice I am curious because I really don't understand it.

 

[aprilgail2]

Even when children attended private schools, the public school district they resided in had to provide bus transportation for them.. Doesn't your district work that way?

Thats exactly how it is here- even if your kids go to private school the pu blic schol had to provide them a bus for free just like all the other kids--no need for a parent to have to drive them to school.....though many did because the private school kids bus stop is across from the public school kids bus stop and they get made fun of all the time for their little uniforms they make them wear.

I was in college when I got my license- my first few months of college I had to take a public bus to get to school or hitchhike (which is what I did most of the time- I am so not a public bus person!) My daughter won't be driving in high school either as she will be a senior at 16 nor will she be getting rides to school because they do not allow kids to drive other kids to school, they have a guard at the gate making sure it is one kid per car....of course you can drop them off down the block and they can wlak but they can't enter the parking lot or exit the parking lot with any passengers in the car.

 

[Planogirl]

Not 'teens", but 15 and 16 year olds. Delaying a teen from getting their license from 16 to 17, reduces their chances of a fatal accident by 100%. I read that years ago from a USAA magazine. Since then I have heard the same thing many times and have known of tragedies involving 16 year old drivers.
I carted my kids around when they were kids, a couple of more years isn't that difficult.

I've carted mine around too but that never involved jobs and of course dating. Mine will be about 17 before he gets his license so I guess that we fit into that category though.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Thats exactly how it is here- even if your kids go to private school the pu blic schol had to provide them a bus for free just like all the other kids--no need for a parent to have to drive them to school.....though many did because the private school kids bus stop is across from the public school kids bus stop and they get made fun of all the time for their little uniforms they make them wear.

No, the NC Public School System does not provide transportation to private schools.

We got "the call" last night. DS15 starts in car on Monday at 6:15 AM.

 

[golfgal]

I think there might be an exception for a job, but most parents I know just wouldn't let their kids drive at night for those six months if it meant they couldn't legally get themselves home again. I'm sure some kids do it anyway.

If you have your license for 6 months and you have a clean record, you can go to the DMV and get the nine o'clcok restriction taken off. Most kids are as happy when that happens as they were the day they got their license. And it's a big relief for the parents, too!!

If you do get caught, the six months starts over again. If you get caught a second time I think they take your license.

Anyway, we are all about following the rules while driving so DD won't be allowed to drive herself anywhere at night if she can't get home by 9pm.

Our state has restrictions too but there are exceptions for school activities and work.

Ct recently changed the laws but when DSs were 16, they could have gotten their licenses. They didn't. I had read the insurance statistics that said, if you can delay a child from getting their license from 16 to 17, you reduce their chance of a fatal car accident by 100%. Most in our home did not get their license until they were almost 18. When they were 16, we didn't allow them to ride with newly licensed drivers either. Delaying the license with the first one is the biggest challenge, after that, the older ones do not want their younger siblings driving at a younger age because they didn't. It just becomes a house rule. Here is John Rosemond's column this week. I agree with it.
There are also school buses, or one could walk to school. I never did get parents having to drive kids to school, unless they are on their way to work and they want to be sure they get there before they leave the house.

This study is flawed because it compares 16 year old drivers to 17 year old drivers NOT first year drivers. A 17 year old first year driver has the same accident rate as a 16 year old first year driver. This is comparing a 16 year old first year driver to a 17 year old driver that has had a license for a year. HUGE difference.

DS (16) only has his Learner's Permit now and he was parent taught before receiving that. I'm considering signing him up with a driving school for the rest but only because time is a problem. I do want him driving, he has a lot of activities and I hope that he'll get a job next summer. I can't drive him back and forth and we don't have public transportation so I see no other option.

I had to laugh at the comment from Rosemond that teens should not be driving because cars are more powerful nowadays. Does anyone remember muscle cars? As for teens in Europe being happier, maybe so but I'd want to see his stats first before I'd buy that.

WOW, you can self teach kids before 18? In MN kids can't get their permit before 18 unless they take a state approved driver's education class and pass the permit test.

DS17 had a camera in his car for a year, provided by our insurance company, that monitored his driving behavior and emailed a weekly report to us. It watched for excessive speed, sudden driving movements, etc. DS set the camera off 3 times in a year-once was for a spin out on an icy road and the two other times were for taking a turn too sharp--those happened within about 5 minutes of each other when he got lost coming home from dropping Dad off at work. It was REALLY nice to be able to know for sure that he is a safe driver.

This is the system we had:

http://www.amfam.com/microsites/teen-safe-driver/default.asp

 

[cruisnfamily]

Thats exactly how it is here- even if your kids go to private school the pu blic schol had to provide them a bus for free just like all the other kids--no need for a parent to have to drive them to school.....though many did because the private school kids bus stop is across from the public school kids bus stop and they get made fun of all the time for their little uniforms they make them wear.

I was in college when I got my license- my first few months of college I had to take a public bus to get to school or hitchhike (which is what I did most of the time- I am so not a public bus person!) My daughter won't be driving in high school either as she will be a senior at 16 nor will she be getting rides to school because they do not allow kids to drive other kids to school, they have a guard at the gate making sure it is one kid per car....of course you can drop them off down the block and they can wlak but they can't enter the parking lot or exit the parking lot with any passengers in the car.

Why? That's odd, never heard of that before.

 

[Topper]

Ct recently changed the laws but when DSs were 16, they could have gotten their licenses. They didn't. I had read the insurance statistics that said, if you can delay a child from getting their license from 16 to 17, you reduce their chance of a fatal car accident by 100%. Most in our home did not get their license until they were almost 18. When they were 16, we didn't allow them to ride with newly licensed drivers either. Delaying the license with the first one is the biggest challenge, after that, the older ones do not want their younger siblings driving at a younger age because they didn't. It just becomes a house rule. Here is John Rosemond's column this week. I agree with it.
There are also school buses, or one could walk to school. I never did get parents having to drive kids to school, unless they are on their way to work and they want to be sure they get there before they leave the house.

Did you know that if you delay a 16yo from getting their license from 16 to 98, you reduce the chance of a fatal car accident by 100%? (unless they drive illegally without a license)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I agree with this. And the best way to get a sense of that is to have your teen get that permit, and have them drive, drive, drive with you. Then you have to factor in what kind of kid you have to figure out the correct time for a license. That's the real wild card.

I wasn't talking about that kind of maturity.

I'm talking about overall maturity. I.e. I had a friend going through a messy divorce and one of her sons began to treat her in a fashion similar to how his dad did. He was obnoxious, selfish, and downright mean and behaved like a spoiled brat.

The only reason he got his license was b/c of his age (her words--she was so weakend by how he and her husband treated her that she didn't feel that "no" was a possible answer). In any case, if any of my kids opted to behave like that, I have no intentions of driving them to get a license.

When they can demonstrate they are mature enough to earn the privilege, is when they will go.

For some reason, I think he may have either already had driver's ed--or he may have already had a permit b/c she was distinctly speaking of a driver's license.

 

[DVCLiz]

DD's friend had a conflict this morning, so back to carpool for me!!

Still, it's been very nice and a sign of the times to come. DD drove us this morning and she is doing fine - another month to go and I'll have a new driver in the family!!!

 

[DVCLiz]

No, the NC Public School System does not provide transportation to private schools.

We got "the call" last night. DS15 starts in car on Monday at 6:15 AM.

Woo Hoo!!! Have fun....

 

[allison443]

DD's friend had a conflict this morning, so back to carpool for me!!

I guess they survived yesterday! It was nice while it lasted!

 

[DVCLiz]

I guess they survived yesterday! It was nice while it lasted!

I hope it will last all month - the friend's conflict is only on Fridays so maybe I can still get 4 days in pjs out of it.