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Why do we let 16-year olds drive?

iamic

iamic

New member
Joined
Sep 29, 2003
Location
San Francisco
Moto(s)
KTM 500 EXC Supermoto
I posted the following in another thread today, but it got me thinking about the young drivers we are all forced to share the road with, and I thought I'd present it to a broader audience to see how you all feel. It is my opinion that teenagers are simply NOT mentally prepared to handle the responsibility of driving and are a great danger to all of us. I realize that, at 25, I'm not exactly old, but I think the differences in attitude between 16 and 25 are astounding.

"I think every teenage driver needs a reality check. I remember all the stupid things me and my friends were capable as teenagers. I strongly feel that allowing sixteen year olds to drive on public roads is foolish and should be stopped. The Germans have the right idea - make them wait until they're 18 and make the process difficult and expensive, therefore (hopefully) weeding out those that have no business on the road. The other day, some freshly-minted punk behind the wheel, out on his lunch parole from Redwood HS or Drake HS, got all fired up and tried to run me off 101 - good thing I was in my SUV (ironic?).

I got my reality check early on in my driving career, as a Marin County Search and Rescue team member. Early one morning, only two weeks after receiving my drivers license, I got a call that I needed to be up on Mt. Tam ASAP - no details, just be there. I pull up to find crowds of Sheriffs, CHPs, firefighters, reporters, and one massive tow truck. That's when I found out exactly what had happened... those of you that are from Marin will probably remember this... a pickup truck with four young, well-liked guys from the community careened off Hwy 1 earlier that morning. The truck had tumbled down the hill something like 300 feet, including a straight fall onto a lower road. SAR was asked to be there to search for bodies (they didn't know how many were originally in the truck) and help to remove what was left in the "truck". As I walked the same trampled path through the manzanita that the truck had taken hours before, I was horrified by the morbid scene. My drive home later that day was one of the slowest drives I have ever taken..."

So, what do you all think?
 
Because we let 18 year olds vote and die in combat...
 
not all 16 year olds are incompetent, immature, irresponsible children.


Using that logic, we shouldn't let half of society drive.
 
Training is key.

A 16 year old is very capable of driving. How the 16 year old is taught to drive makes all the difference.

I don't think the age limit should be increased. Though I would completely support the test being much more difficult.
 
Ya there are lots of 30 year olds that can't drive...driving should'nt have so much to do with age...there are tons and tons of people far over the age of 16 that cannot drive worth garbage. ALL of my experiences with fucktarded drivers i have noticed they are all well over 21 years of age...

Ive been driving for 7 years ...since i was 16...i never have gotten a traffic ticket or been in an accident or been the cause of an accident.
 
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Your thoughts are understandable. The novelty for driving has not died off yet for most high schooler. Also they are with their friends and make dumb choices or when they are in a new car. Its all part of learning how to drive. I mean look at my mom she is 51. 4 major accidents 3 of those where on highways totalled 2 cars and one motorcycle. She is hazard to all motorcyclist and cagers b/c she doesn't look when she changes lanes and she doesn't pay attention to the road. Maybe its just b/c we're azn. Anyway one could also argue what seniors should have their licinse taken away when you reach a certain age.
 
Oh man. They should make the test a lot harder. At the dmv you are allowed to miss 16 pts on your driving test. Almost any dumbass can pass. Everything from taking a turn too fast, rolling threw a stop sign, is a point counted against you. The only time you fail is when you hit the curb or you surpass the limit of 16pts. I got 2 friend that should have their licinse taken away. Both failed the test 2 times. Both have driven without their licinse, and no insurance, Only one of them has their licinse right now and the other is currently driving right now.
 
I nearly got hit by a teen on 24 in Oakland yesterday. She came within inches of hitting me. She started changing lanes and at the same time put her turn signal on. THEN she looked over to my lane. By the time she saw me, she was already halfway in the lane. :mad
 
Lets not pigeonhole this to teens.

Granted, I totalled a car when I was a teenager, but it was in the rain and I was the only vehicle involved. It was due to a lack of experience, I remember drivers ed: they never took us into bad weather or night driving. Hard to know what to do when you've never done it before.

We need more training for drivers. Period.
 
ya i believe driving is a privilege...not a right..too many dumbasses on the road trying to show off their "ricerockets" or "muscle cars." people take for granted that driving is a privilege or dont realize it till their license is suspended or revoked

i agree that the driving restrictions should be a little more strict..harder tests..or something along those lines.

talking on a cell phone/shaving/putting on fake up should be against the law..too many dipshits and dumbasses are too preoccupied with their cells, etc to actually pay attention to their surroundings!

from my experience most accidents involving teens, they are always with their friends trying to impress them..they should enforce the law where you cant have people in your car for the first year or half year of their license.

just my two pennies
 
Well it was a girl driving we can't expect from their driving abilities. :teeth Just playing. Just playing.
 
I think I was actually a better driver at 16 than I am today. Back then, I knew that if I crashed the car my Dad and his insurance were going to end up paying for repairs and I'd never be allowed to drive again. Ever. These days, I've got a pocket full of money, my own insurance, and places I need to be right now! I like to think I'm still a pretty good driver, but I'm not as alert/paranoid as I was when I was a kid...

Personally, I think we need tougher licensing standards for people of any age, not just teenagers... I almost got creamed the other day by a car that nearly ran a red light. Was it driven by a kid? Nope, an older Asian woman.
 
I am so sorry, that now my own kids drive in the same maniac way that I used to ride my bikes and in my 1st truck. I owned nothing but m/c's til I got out of the Navy and rode them like I was on the racetrack (but safely, I wouldn't be here tellin' ya this if I wasn't safe), and that's the way I also drove my truck, totin' the kids back and forth to school. Riding people's asses, because I could brake quicker than they could (still had my reflexes), and I wanted to get home as soon as possible. I so regret that now, because I now see how my boys drive and it scares me.

It is because they learn how to drive by watching their parents, and they get used to the way the parents drive, including endangering themselves. Automobiles have become such an integral part of our society, that the learning of even this, driver safety, begins at such a young age.
 
wiffledaddy said:
Training is key.

A 16 year old is very capable of driving. How the 16 year old is taught to drive makes all the difference.

I don't think the age limit should be increased. Though I would completely support the test being much more difficult.
Click to expand...

werd :thumbup

I remember when I got my license back in the day, and the training was shit for nothing. The training is a bit more intense now, which it should be. You can't nanny every damn aspect of life, and driveing a vehicle is a major aspect of everyday american life.

I drive motorcycles and small cars. So the only problem I have right now with teenage drivers, is that there is going to be a dearth of SUV going on the secondary market and teens WILL be buying these monsters and then rolling on the highways. That means any mistake they make could be potentially fatal to the victim of their bad driving. I think we should keep teens in sedans until they're past 21 or some such arbitrary age. Just the thought of all those hormonal maniacs behind the wheel of an SUV makes me cringe. :(
 
mikev said:
Lets not pigeonhole this to teens.

We need more training for drivers. Period.
Click to expand...


I also nearly got hit by an older lady shortly after at the 24-680 interchange. She kept going and didn't notice me until she was fully in my lane. I got no apologetic wave or anything. She then tried some evasive action. :rolleyes I hope she enjoys her relocated mirror. :laughing
 
You bring up some interesting thoughts, Mike. I think teens should still be allowed to drive at 16. I have to agree with those above that there are those who are irresponsible, but the vast majority of teens are pretty decent drivers. And it's not just teens that are dangerous for sure.

I would definitely be for making the tests more difficult: both written and driving. That might help and not just with teens.
 
Teens before 18 should be with someone (adult) when they drive for one and secondly and more importantly older peeps should not be allowed to drive cos I fear a 70+ year old dude in his '70 ford way more than a 16 year old in a golf.

And the harder driving test should be for every one. The CA driving test is just a joke. You can only fail if you are a public danger. Driving school should be mandatory.

In addition to what Highways have to be re-designed. Just go in Europe for a while and you'll see why. Actually, just as an example, on highways over there, the entrance of the freeway is located AFTER the exit so cars don't have to cross each one another. How many times have I seen drivers smahing or just scaring each one another because #1 was coming off the highway and #2 was coming on and they had to merge on the same entry/exit lane. It's such a stupid design it just drives me nuts sometimes.
 
The issue isn't that the drivers are 16, the issue is that they don't have experience and driving is still a novelty. If you change the driving age to 18, you're still going to have the same thing happening.

That said, I'm 19 years old, drive a V8 Mustang, and I've been in three accidents - not one of which were my fault. First I got rearended by a lady in a 7-series BMW in Pacific Heights on my way to drop off a paper at school (University High School if any of you know it :cool) - she was putting on her makeup in the rearview mirror and plowed into me while I was at a stop sign. The second time, I was making a left turn on a green arrow off of Van Ness, and two mid-20's guys in their car ran their red through a bus stop and hit me in the side - this resulted in a chase through the city that ended at the Metreon. The third, a teenage girl ran a stop sign and clipped my rear - had to chase her down and box her in to get her information.

The problem, obviously, isn't age - it's the idiots that we let on the road that don't take it seriously and don't pay attention. The even bigger problem I see developing now is that people run from accidents and from responsibility, which just makes me sick.
 
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