I have a fifteen year old who would love nothing better but to drive herself to school. She could drive herself to her sporting event practice area better. Our school district do not have on-site tennis courts on her HS campus, so a few students get rides from other students or their coach. Instead asking dad or mom to take her to a certain convenient store to hang out with her friends, she could simply drive herself to that location. It is the "rite" of passage to teenage hood.
I read an article: http://www.hutchnews.com/Todaystop/drive2008-09-08T20-52-55 about a group who wants to raise the driving age from 16 to 17 or even 18. From a parents standpoint, that would be great! But as a teen that would be pure torture! The teen would have to rely on parents or other older youths to drive them places.
Also in the article a group of professors want to lower the drinking age to 18. That would be a recipe for disaster to make a move like that. The drinking age should remain at 21. Around in your rural areas (where I live) that restriction pretty much is not applied. Kids around here drink freely as either an adult or even parents buy their kids beer or worse. I guess they figure since when they were teens they think their youth should have the stuff too.
WRONG!! Currently in this area there is a coalition to prevent underage drinking from going on. I hope that they can convince parents and the kids that drinking liquor be it beer is a drug. Parents should be concerned about the well-being of their child.
My fifteen year old has taken driver's education this past summer and is constantly telling us that juniors do not ride the bus to school they all take a car. Our HS to located 5 miles south of town on a highway. If the HS was in town, as mine was, I would have no problem of her driving to school. But a few years back three teenagers ranging from an age of fifteen to sixteen were driving just a mile south of the school. The teen driver either looked down or was distracted and a huge truck crashed into them headon. The driver of the truck survived and the girls did not. I always think about that accident! So I think twice before handing the car keys to my teen.
Then there are teens who have not taken driver's education and can drive because they can get a farmer's permit at the age of 14. Some of those younger ones drive and I shake my head. How can their parents let them? They don't seem that responsible at all.
How do we, as parents, know who is matured to drive and who is not? In my own case, I was a sixteen year old driver and got into two quick accidents within three months. My parents insurance rates increased a lot. I was on high risk insurance. So I didn't get to drive until I was eighteen. Are some fourteen year olds as responsible as sixteen or eighteen year olds?
This is a topic that has been discussed for years. By the time that the governement passes laws to not allow age sixteen or younger to drive my teen will be going out of the door driving herself to school.
Then there's the matter of cell phone/texting among teens and driving. Now that scares me!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I saw that story on another news website.
Here in Missouri we have a law that restricts the number of teenagers that can be in a car. Too many accidents happen when kids are distracted with not only cell phones, but each other.
Our son is about to turn 16 (at the end of October) and he still hasn't read the friver's manual and asked to take the test for a learner's permit. Frankly, I am not going to push him into it...
A1 was over 16 1/2 when she got her license. It was kind of nice to wait a little longer. A2 has her restricted/farm permit but does not drive out of town. She does go back and forth to sports and play practice here in town. Yes I stressed as A1 drove 23 miles in the dark, late at night.
That's such a hard call, as there is such a wide variety of maturity levels in kids. When my kids can't even remember to brush their teeth, the thought of driving really scares me.
I wish the school district would take a tough stance on driving. They pulled back on activity buses a long time ago d/t the lack of any kids needing them. These were buses that would take kids to Anthony after school to practice tennis or what have you or take you home at 5:30p after practices. I took the bus nearly every day to and from school with the help of these activity buses. I can't help but think that it probably saved a life or two that we won't know about. It would help reduce the carbon footprint as well!
Yeah, I wish that S could wait as long as A1...that would be good. It would be nice if they had activity buses to and from Anthony. She could/and has grabbed a ride with her tennis coach but she'd rather ride with her friends.
It WOULD be stressful to wonder how they would be driving at night. Anything from another driver to deer crossing the road makes me nervous about her driving at night.
Post a Comment