Where Would You Set The Driving Age?

[Axel]

they really don't let you have a car? there are special parking lots at my campus for just dorm students.

nope. Upperclassmen only. It's to cut back on stupid drivers. Freshman year was shown to be the year with the highest fatality rate due to drunk or reckless driving at UNH (it used to be a notorious party school) so they took away the ability to do so. You can apply for a hardship exception pass, though. I know a girl who has one because her mother is undergoing chemo for cancer and said girl is her mother's main caretaker. So, every weekend she's going to be driving home (3 hours away) to take care of her mother and be with her through her treatment.

Many of the local colleges don't allow freshman to have cars. Keene State, Plymouth State, and Colby-Sawyer are just three I can name off the top of my head in addition to UNH.

 

[Sparx]

nope. Upperclassmen only. It's to cut back on stupid drivers. Freshman year was shown to be the year with the highest fatality rate due to drunk or reckless driving at UNH (it used to be a notorious party school) so they took away the ability to do so. You can apply for a hardship exception pass, though. I know a girl who has one because her mother is undergoing chemo for cancer and said girl is her mother's main caretaker. So, every weekend she's going to be driving home (3 hours away) to take care of her mother and be with her through her treatment.

Many of the local colleges don't allow freshman to have cars. Keene State, Plymouth State, and Colby-Sawyer are just three I can name off the top of my head in addition to UNH.

i can only think of one around here that doesn't, but its a private college that also doesn't allow anyone to live off campus until they're either a) a junior, or b) 21.

 

[Addicted.to.Speed]

I think 16 is a perfect age, because thats when most teens start getting jobs. Idk about you but both of my parents work and if i have to work a shift in the middle of the afternoon, my parents arnt going to drive all the way back home just to drop me off at work...So i say 16 is perfect

 

[AliceinHalloweentown]

Yeah I work stage crew from 3-6pm every day after school for about a month and a half, except fridays. I also work from 9am-1pm on Saturday and 12pm-4pm on Sunday.

Once that month and a half is over, I work running crew from 3-10 or 11 pm after school and from 9am-5pm on Saturdays and I forget Sunday's hours for about 2-3weeks.

Its really tough to get a ride back and forth when my mom is disabled and my dad is on business calls all day. I've gotten stuck at school until midnight, with just my drama teacher watching me.

I cannot wait to be independent this October and never be the last one to leave again.

Oh and I have worked from 9am to 2am before... yeah.. try getting your parents to stay up that late. Thankfully I'd have to leave by midnight with restrictions.

 

[DramaQueen]

Eh, I guess 16 is a good age, as that's when I got my license, but I do still think that's kind of young, I didn't really start driving until I was 17 because I knew at 16 I wasn't ready to be in charge of a CAR!
At 20 I'm really comfortable driving now and I have been for the past couple of year, but when I first started driving it was REALLY stressful and scary!!
I guess it just depends on your level of maturity...but...alas, there is no maturity level test, so they just have to pick a generic age. 16's alright though, just hopefully the people who don't feel comfortable driving, won't drive until they're ready.

 

[SanFranciscan]

My, my, I sure started a firestorm here. My husband and I don't drive anymore and would both need some practice to feel comfortable doing so again. We live on a transit line that sends the streetcar right pass our window, and anyone with a San Francisco zip code is considered a high risk by the insurance companies because this is a crowded city so our ages and prior driving experience would not prevent some pretty hefty rates.

Do I want young people dying in bloody accidents? Oh, heavens no! I want you to live long enough to see your hair start growing lighter and your skin more lined and so forth just like me. I am just very sympathetic to teens who want to escape childhood as badly as I did. I think drivers' education is taught wrong to accomplish that. Gory movies and lectures about responsibility are no match for driving practice, which I think gets too little of the students' class time.

I think 16 year olds who drive like idiots know what they are doing is dangerous. That is why they do it. People in love with risk-taking tend to die very young, which is why drownings also increase among teens.

I am also a non-drinker by choice. I never developed a taste for alcohol and can't remember the last alcoholic beverage that I had so it has been years. The reason you don't see the same rates of drunk-driving fatalities among people my age (47) as you do among teens and 20-somethings is that those who had no inhibitions about drinking and driving are less likely to have gotten this old in the first place. I don't think that I am so much wiser than your average teen. I am less willing to take crazy risks than your average teen because teens destined to die young from taking absurd risks are still here so far.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

17 or 18. I got my license when I was 16, and I considered myself to be a good driver. But there were so many kids I went to school with who were driving at 16 that I didn't trust on the road.

 

[KidGoofy]

I live in NJ and I think 17 is a good age but you only get your provisional at that age. So that means you cant drive out of state, can only have 1 non-family member in your car, and cant drive between midnight and 5 in the morning. I think you should get a normal license at that age. And they are supposed to be making a new law that if you are a provisional driver you need a sticker on your car. One reason its stupid is because its telling people your age and there are messed up people who will target them for many different reasons. And I was at a thing called Boys State, and our governor came to talk to us and a kid called him out for not wearing his seat belt and saying he is more inexperienced driver than most teen drivers. Well not the exact words but kind of in the general area

 

[InfalliblexLove]

I think 17 or 18 would be a reasonable age. Here it's 16, but there are some crazy kids who think they're such great drivers, when in reality, they're quite reckless.

 

[disneydance]

In the state of Washington you have to be 15 1/2 to get your permit
To get your liscense you must be 16, have completed Drivers Ed. and passed every single little thing (Finals, Permit Test, 10 Mod. Tests, and 2 Driving Tests) You also must of have had your permit for 6 months, and have 60 hours of Driving Experience Including 10 at Night
There is 1 Exception to getting your Permit you can get it when your 15 if your are enrolled in Drivers Ed.
Also once you get your liscense for the first 6 months you can not have anyone in your car but immediate family unless they have 5 years of driving experience...
On top of that if you get 1 traffic violation in the first year of having your liscense your liscence is suspended and you can't get it back till your 18 and you have to go through the same things again...
Personally I think that is fair enough I mean there aren't many "teenaged" accidents around where I live since you have to go through so much to get your liscense! I think if you have a strict system like this which makes it hard for someone to get there liscence they should be aloud to get it at 16!
I mean I'm 15 and 4 months and already took Drivers Ed. I have passed all the tests for Drivers Ed... and bassically if it wasn't for the fact I'm only 15, don't have my 60 hours yet, and my 6 months I would be ready to get my liscense. I've already tooken the a harder version of the test they have down at the Department of Liscensing and passed it to get my liscense, I've also passed a harder version of the Driving Test at the Department of Liscensing... If it wasn't for the fact of my age I would be aloud to drive... I think reallistically a strict system is needed in place to make things work and if so you should be aloud to get your liscense at 16.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

over here you can get your permit I think at 14 or 15, you start Drivers Ed in 8th grade.

 

[DramaQueen]

over here you can get your permit I think at 14 or 15, you start Drivers Ed in 8th grade.

wow! grade 8! that seems SO young!!!

our system is a 3 step system, when you're 16 you get your G1, you have that for a year (or 8 months if you do driving school) you can only drive with someone who has their full lisence for over 5 years, then you get your G2, which you can drive by yourself after at least a year you can go for your G, then you get your G (full lisence) where you can drive by yourself, anytime, and you can have the legal limit of alcohol in your system.

there are more parameters than just that, but those are the basic rules.
so basically you can have your full lisence by 18, but not a lot of people do. I still have my G2 at 20, because you have 5 years of having your G2 before you HAVE to go for your G....and I'm just too lazy to go for my test. haha

 

[MickeyisBeast]

wow! grade 8! that seems SO young!!!

our system is a 3 step system, when you're 16 you get your G1, you have that for a year (or 8 months if you do driving school) you can only drive with someone who has their full lisence for over 5 years, then you get your G2, which you can drive by yourself after at least a year you can go for your G, then you get your G (full lisence) where you can drive by yourself, anytime, and you can have the legal limit of alcohol in your system.

there are more parameters than just that, but those are the basic rules.
so basically you can have your full lisence by 18, but not a lot of people do. I still have my G2 at 20, because you have 5 years of having your G2 before you HAVE to go for your G....and I'm just too lazy to go for my test. haha

I know! I think it is way too young considering how immature a lot of these kids are.

 

[marypops!]

It's 18 here I believe. I wouldn't mind if it was lowered to 16, but I don't plan on driving anytime soon...

Here's something about texting while driving:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8203120.stm

Be warned the video is graphic. But it's also a news article.

 

[imabrat]

In PA, you can get your learner's permit at age 16. You have to wait 6 months (with or without driver's ed) and accumulate 50 driving hours, and then you can go for your full license.

I got my permit 3 months after my birthday, and I can go for my license at the end of January. But because it's like Siberia here (covered in snow) from the months of October until March, I won't be going for my license until April. I'm still not ready for this whole driving thing yet. I go slow enough that the truckers all pass me.

 

[NateLovesNikons]

i'm 17 and have had my license for about 4 months. i have friends who got it at 16 though, we have a law that you cant drive people who arent of your immediate family within the first 6 months you have your license, which is a good rule because your friends might distract you while driving easier the first 6 months of driving,

 

[SanFranciscan]

Your responses are very interesting. I read the teen section because I like to know what young people are thinking. If there were a section for retirees, I would probably read that too although I am far from 65.

While I was working photographing baseball games, one of the managers over 50 was always complaining that he was tired of having to babysit 22-year-olds kids with no sense of responsibility and said that he was glad that I was there. I never had any trouble working with younger co-workers, the youngest of whom was 17, because I let it be known that I did not see them as children and would not accept them acting as if they were. I do the same at my current job at the state university where the age range for workers has been everything from teen college students to people already retired from other jobs and where the personnel manager was advised to hire older workers because we would be more reliable. I would let the young ones know that if they are old enough to get paid for the job they are old enough to do it right. So far they have behaved accordingly.

I think that that is the way teen driving should be handled too. If you are old enough to drive, you are old enough to take responsibility for what you do on the road. I think that would stop more speed demons than discriminatory licensing requirements. I am not in favor of letting a reckless driver get off just because he or she is young. I let that person sit in jail for what he or she did. I just hate to see young people scapegoated because old people have a lot of accidents too so my risk of a traffic accident will go up as I age, but we don't have restrictions on people over 65 because that is recognized as discrimination.

I am going to move over into the parks section and look for something happy to talk about. I need a cheering up.

 

[imabrat]

I think that that is the way teen driving should be handled too. If you are old enough to drive, you are old enough to take responsibility for what you do on the road. I think that would stop more speed demons than discriminatory licensing requirements. I am not in favor of letting a reckless driver get off just because he or she is young. I let that person sit in jail for what he or she did. I just hate to see young people scapegoated because old people have a lot of accidents too so my risk of a traffic accident will go up as I age, but we don't have restrictions on people over 65 because that is recognized as discrimination.

That is exactly why the driving age should be 18. The system likes to go easy on minors, they don't want some kid sitting in a jail cell. At 18, you are legally on your own. Mommy and Daddy won't be able to bail you out, you either need to pay the damages or sit in jail. It may inconvenience young drivers, but people need to cover their behinds too.

 

[Sparx]

That is exactly why the driving age should be 18. The system likes to go easy on minors, they don't want some kid sitting in a jail cell. At 18, you are legally on your own. Mommy and Daddy won't be able to bail you out, you either need to pay the damages or sit in jail. It may inconvenience young drivers, but people need to cover their behinds too.

the huge gaping hole in that plan is the fact that if people are terrible drivers when they're learning how to drive, then the 18 year olds will be terrible drivers becuase they will be inexperienced.

and the juvenile justice system covers all under the age of 21.

 

[mherzlovesdisney]

ok here in pa i think its 16
the should make it 15 but you must to a maturatity test one that is like would you do this and that and you should have to pass this test no matter what age you are