When the eggheads confirm what we know intuitively. (teen driving)

[Franklinnoble]

My kid's not getting his driver's license until he's 18. Maybe later. There's NO way he's responsible enough yet.

[Fritz]

16 yrs: no non-family members allowed in vehicle
16 yrs, 3 months: no more than 1 non-family member
16 yrs, 6 months: no more than 3 non-family members
17: no restrictions


Virginia has done something like this as well. I think it is

16 - no more than 1 non-family member
17 - no more than 3 non-family members (the double date rule)

[Franklinnoble]

Fuck. Seriously, the timestamp bug has to go.

Read the sig.

[Ben E Lou]

New medical research helps explain why. The part of the brain that weighs risks and controls impulsive behavior isn't fully developed until about age 25, according to the National Institutes of Health. Some state legislators and safety activists question whether 16-year-olds should be licensed to drive.From this (long) article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-02-28-teen-drive-cover-usat_x.htm?csp=19_wxia


Over the years, I've had this conversation with more than one parent.

PARENT: You really don't think I ought to let him drive yet?

BEN: Nope. Especially since he plays {insert sport}. He doesn't get out of practice until you're home from work anyway, right? If it were my child, I'd be picking him up from practice every day still.

PARENT: But it is legal, and all his friends are driving. He'll hate me!

BEN: Maybe so, but explain it to him, take your lumps now, and he'll appreciate you later. If I were Benevolent Dictator of this state, I'd raise the driving age to at *least* 18, if not higher.

PARENT: But he passed Drivers' Ed with flying colors!

BEN: Let's make no mistake here. I'm not talking one iota about ability. Put you, me, and him on a driving track with cones in test conditions, and he might prove to have better driving *ability* than either one of us. My worry about that age has nothing to do with ability, and everything to do with decision-making skills at his age.
Georgia has enacted some "stair-step" laws that bring privileges in slowly for young people. I don't know the exact ages and restrictions, but it is something along these lines....

16 yrs: no non-family members allowed in vehicle
16 yrs, 3 months: no more than 1 non-family member
16 yrs, 6 months: no more than 3 non-family members
17: no restrictions

Still, it is not enough.

[albionmoonlight]

Worst. Timestamp. Bug. Ever.

[Desnudo]

What's really need is better education for beginning drivers. Our current drivers-ed system is inadequate to train people to drive well.

[Ben E Lou]

What's really need is better education for beginning drivers. Our current drivers-ed system is inadequate to train people to drive well.I agree that we need better education. However, I don't think it would help with what I perceive (and the eggheads now have confirmed) is the biggest problem: decision-making abilities. I know some kids that can drive circles around me, ability-wise, but they take risks that I'd never *DREAM* of taking. Keep in mind, when the average teenager hears that "64% of teens that drive over 90 mph have an accident that involves a serious injury" or whatever, they say to themselves, "Well, I'm one of the 36% who is a better driver. It won't happen to me."

[rkmsuf]

Driving is experience based. Whether you get your experience at 16,17, 18 or 19 probably won't make much difference. No drivers ed is going to adequately make sure you are prepared for the road.

[sterlingice]

When I was about 16 1/2 (I never really pushed hard to drive at 16) and in Driver's Ed, I was godawful at driving. I just didn't have a system set up in my mind to keep track of everything on the road. But I somehow passed my test. Passing a driving test is just too easy... *sigh*

SI

[KevinNU7]

I have to stay I did some stupid things in my car until about Freshman year of college, I totally see where SkyDog is going with this.

[Fonzie]

I don't think the question here has anything to do with driving ability - 16 year olds can have excellent driving skills. Rather, the issue here has to do with making sound judgments and impulse control while driving. In this area the evidence has been fairly clear cut for quite some time that brain regions involved in judgment and impulse control (the ventromedial and orbitofrontal cortices) are not fully myelinated (myelin provides the insulation around the neural axons necessary for cells to communicate) until the early 20's.

With this as background the argument to push back the legal driving age might have some merit.

[JeeberD]

In Germany you have to be 18 to get a license, you must take a driving course, and the written and driving tests are both much more difficult. Hell, my father (who always aces just about every test he ever took) nearly failed his written test over there when he tried to get his international drivers license.

Drivers over in Germany are much better than over here, and I think their drivers education system has a lot to do with it...

[Lathum]

When I look back on the way I drove when I was 17 and the things I did I am amazed I am still alive. And that was before cell-phones and CD players.

[Coffee Warlord]

While we're at it, I'm still of the opinion the legal drinking age should be lowered a couple years underneath the driving age.

[JeeberD]

While we're at it, I'm still of the opinion the legal drinking age should be lowered a couple years underneath the driving age.

Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber alles! :p

[Desnudo]

I agree that we need better education. However, I don't think it would help with what I perceive (and the eggheads now have confirmed) is the biggest problem: decision-making abilities. I know some kids that can drive circles around me, ability-wise, but they take risks that I'd never *DREAM* of taking. Keep in mind, when the average teenager hears that "64% of teens that drive over 90 mph have an accident that involves a serious injury" or whatever, they say to themselves, "Well, I'm one of the 36% who is a better driver. It won't happen to me."

I wonder what the percentage of olders drivers that drive over 90 MPH injured in accidents is? You need comparitive statistics for arguments like that. I'm sure it's pretty high considering American roads aren't built for that kind of speed and everyone else is driving 65-75.

You don't have a fully developed sense of risk until you're 25 as an aside.

[wbatl1]

[QUOTE=SkyDog]

16 yrs: no non-family members allowed in vehicle
16 yrs, 3 months: no more than 1 non-family member
16 yrs, 6 months: no more than 3 non-family members
17: no restrictions[QUOTE]

Just to quickly correct the law. The time starts when you receive your class D provisional liscense. The age does not matter.

1st 6 months of license-NO non-family.
Remainder of Class D license-MAX 3 non-family.

Also, there are much stricter laws about speeding and DUI for the Class D than the Class C license.

[tategter]

At what point do decision making skills start to deminish? I live in an area full of people in god's waiting room and take my life in my hands on the road every day. Get these people around a high school around 3pm and you are just asking for a pileup.

[VPI97]

I was a horrible driver at 16...so bad that the state of Virginia eventually decided not to let me drive until I was 17. http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif