Is It Time To Increase the Minimum Age for a Driver's Liscense

[erpowers]

In the area in which I live there have been two SUV accidents involving teenage drivers in about the last two months. In the first case a teenager flipped an SUV. In the second case a teenage driver was involved in a head on crash in which the teenage driver died. In the second case the teenage driver tried to pass a vehicle in a no passing lane and hit an on coming vehicle. In addition, a person I know told me of an incident in which a teenage driver was driving a vehicle with a flat tire while leaning out of the vehicle he was driving and looking into the car of another teenage driver. I know these stories may seem like only a few incidences, but it is easy to turn on the television and see stories of teenage drivers driving recklessly. In addition, I think teenage drivers have a high accident rate. So, should to minimum driving age be raised to 18 in order to give teenagers more time to actually learn how to drive.

[seabeyond]

1. no. nt

[pipi_k]

2. 18? Make it 21

I was nearly that age when I got my license and it didn't do me any harm

[EndersDame]

10. I did not get mine untill 22 but I think that teens should be able to drive

I think though they should have a longer required training period. Some teens need to work and some already have kidsand a car makes getting around easier

[pipi_k]

31. Just because someone is a parent at 16 or 17

that doesn't mean s/he is capable of driving safely.

and jobs? They can walk, take the bus, carpool, ride a bicycle, etc.


It's not like people don't have options.


When I was 29 I had two children and was going to college. Had a license but no car. Occasionally my dad would let me borrow his. But most times I took the bus.


I don't understand it. People today seem to feel like it's child abuse or something to make their kids do what some of us HAD to do.

[EndersDame]

33. My mom didnt have a car when I was in Highschool

and I understand but I still think that teens should be able to drive , given that it should take a 6mos to a year to get their license .

[pipi_k]

40. But the thing is, I'm not seeing any really good reasons

for giving teens the right to drive.

Using the argument that they have jobs doesn't work. Not as long as there are other ways of getting around.


That's about the only argument there is, besides the one involving opinion. I think some of us here want to see some very valid reason for teens being given the right to operate tons of metal before their brains have had a chance to mature sufficiently...

:shrug:

[CalvinandHobbes]

45. Try taking a bus to work when you live in rural montana!!! nt

[pipi_k]

57. I can't take a bus from where I am, either, but...

there must be other people around from whom it would be possible to get a ride back and forth to work.

In fact, Mr Pip had a part time job driving a neighbor girl around to school and her riding lessons, etc. before she got her license.


Once she got her license, he no longer had to do it. So one day this girl is out driving around with the family's Dominican housekeeper (the lady couldn't speak English, didn't drive). The girl stops at BK or McD's, I forget which. And she's driving down the country road and decides she needs to use two hands on her burger. What does she do? She orders the housekeeper to take the wheel while she (the girl) eats her burger.

Needless to say, the terrified housekeeper steered them into a ditch. They both survived, but the housekeeper sustained massive internal injuries and the SUV was totaled.

Yes, this could happen to anybody, but kids are stupid enough to believe they can get away with it and everything is going to be peachy...

[tammywammy]

58. Try living in a city with no public transportation. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

3. "license".

[cali]

4. no. and your anecdotes prove nothing. horrible idea.

[Ikonoklast]

81. But statistics kept by the government do. Specifically the CDC.

Who is most at risk?

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash.3

Among teen drivers, those at especially high risk for motor vehicle crashes are:

•Males: In 2005, the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was more than one and a half times that of their female counterparts.1
•Teens driving with teen passengers: The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with the number of teen passengers.4
•Newly licensed teens: Crash risk is particularly high during the first year that teenagers are eligible to drive.3

What are the major risk factors?

•Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations.5
•Teens are more likely than older drivers to speed and allow shorter headways (the distance from the front of one vehicle to the front of the next). The presence of male teenage passengers increases the likelihood of this risky driving behavior.6
•Among male drivers between 15 and 20 years of age who were involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 38% were speeding at the time of the crash and 24% had been drinking.7,8
•Compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use. In 2005, 10% of high school students reported they rarely or never wear seat belts when riding with someone else.9 In a national survey of seat belt use among high school students:
Male high school students (12.5%) were more likely than female students (7.8%) to rarely or never wear seat belts.

More at: http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html

[EndersDame]

5. Don't increase the age but the time they take getting the license

A teenager slammed into my car recently. I think they are capable of being good drivers though but they should have to work on getting their licenses a bit longer though(hell I think that for everyone)

disclaimer I am 23 and got my license at 22

[JVS]

19. There is definitely something perverse about a drivers' test that features....

parallel parking and the 3-point turn as the major tasks to be performed.

[EndersDame]

28. The parallel parking was the only thing I had to spend anytime on

The rest of the test I think any idiot could pass.

[RaleighNCDUer]

38. How about a test where they swerve to miss a pop-up dog in the road

while driving 65MPH?

Or a test where they judge the kid's skill at driving while holding a cell in one hand and a Big Mac in the other?

Driving tests are a joke, and do nothing to reflect, or prepare for, real world driving conditions.

[JVS]

42. At 65 mph you just keep going and hit the dog.

swerving is a bad idea and could cause you to lose control of the vehicle or collide with other traffic.

[RaleighNCDUer]

43. Yep. Something that I don't think ever gets mentioned in Drivers Ed.

And it's certainly not a question on the written test.

(on edit) - I had to do that once. I felt just awful. But I lived to feel bad about it.

[TreasonousBastard]

51. Back when I worked part-time for a driving school, I kept...

hearing about other countries where you wwere required to take so many hours of lessons, the driving test was an hour or so long, and you went out into real traffic and a highway. You still might be a crazy driver, but you knew how to handle a car.

(Yeah, I had a few students who insisted on taking the road test, passed it somehow, and it scared the crap out of me that I helped put them on the road.)

[tabbycat31]

41. and I haven't parallel parked since I got my license

[tammywammy]

49. I used to all the time at my old job

We parked parallel along a fence, then a few time since. I only paralleled parked during the "driving test" as instruction, during the course they never even went over it. Up came the test, and he was getting me ready to test on it and I said "I've never done it before," so he showed me how and I wasn't "tested" on it.

The driving test was a joke, as was the driving course. I learned more from my dad.

[rexcat]

6. No...

The problem seems to be with society and poor parenting. From my experiences on the road I would say that most people really don't know how to drive. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get somewhere or they are distracted with their mobile phones. People are much more aggressive on the road and much less courteous. Tailgating seems to be a big issue. All these kids are doing is emulating what their parents do.

[Odin2005]

7. No. Next question?

[nemo137]

8. The plural of "anecdote" is not data.

[MineralMan]

12. +1

[rucky]

9. Not while schools are cutting busing at the same time.

[DaveinJapan]

11. Wow, such quick and vehement rejections...

I have to wonder why.

Is it "teenage rights" or something?

16 isn't the age in other places, 18 is the norm in Japan (for example).

And if you look at statistics, the rental companies have a good idea about who is the most dangerous drivers...they set THEIR rental policies at 25.

Why would that not be a good idea (or something in-between, like 18 for work purposes only, 23 for overall)?

I'm just being a devils advocate here, I LOVED having my license at 16...but then again there's far too much food for thought here to dismiss it out of hand as "stupid".

[taterguy]

16. Because cars are essential for mobility

How else are people supposed to get around?

[pipi_k]

24. The same way they got around when they were 15?

Older friend or relative with a license.

Bicycle

Bus

Oh, and then there's a new invention...it's called FEET.


Seriously...what's wrong with forcing kids to grow up a little first before putting them in control of a couple of tons of moving metal?

having a license is not a "right"

[EndersDame]

29. Some teens have to have jobs and some already have kids

I think though it should take longer to get a license . Any idiot can pass the test.

[pipi_k]

35. I already replied above regarding the issue of jobs, but

I guess I can write it again...

Bus. Older relative or friend. Carpool. Bicycle. Feet.



All are nifty ways of getting from one place to the other.


But I do agree with you that it should take longer to get a license. Like two years, at least.

AND...an organized field trip (class, whatever) to the nearest hospital ER or morgue to view victims of car crashes.

Just to really impress upon these kids that they're not out there whizzing around in virtual reality. They're in control of tons of metal, and people get hurt and people die from one teeny little lapse in attention.

The other thing I'm in favor of is computer controlled data readouts of the cars these kids are driving. Vehicular "Big Brother", so to speak. Parents should know at all times where their minor children are, how fast they're driving, etc., and be prepared to deny access to a deadly weapon if their children are not being responsible.

[taterguy]

52. Are you willing to bicycle on the streets where you live?

If not, why subject someone that's presumably less capable to that fate?

[pipi_k]

59. Oh for pete's sake

Bicycling is only ONE of the options.

If the streets are safe, then do it.

If not, then there's the bus.

If no bus, then there are other people. Workmates. Friends or relatives willing to help out.

There are very few people so isolated that they absolutely cannot find an alternate way to work.

[taterguy]

64. Sorry, I have low tolerance for "Do as I say, not as I do"

If there are viable alternatives to cars then why aren't they used more often?

[RaleighNCDUer]

82. Because most people are lazy.

Walking and biking take real effort and time. Using mass transit means adjusting YOUR schedule to THEIR schedule, and it's a hassle. While they may be viable alternatives, they are deemed to be only last resorts.

Driving is the American ideal of having it your way all the time.

[taterguy]

83. I double dog dare you to post that the next time gas goes up to 4.00 a gallon and people complain

[RaleighNCDUer]

86. I did last time, and I will next time.

And if my destination is under 6 miles, I bicycle. I bike to work every day (though I do have to drive to my 2nd job - the one that pays for the car, which I need to get to that job). I only drive when I have to go long distance, or when I have to carry a load or passengers. In fact, as an experiment I quit driving completely for a year, a few years back. Discovered that the mass trasit buses had bike racks, so I could bike to the bus stop, ride into town, then bike to work, and back again - this was when I lived 15 miles from my primary job.

And the transit system pretty much sucks, here, where the buses run one an hour and stop running by 9PM.

It's just a matter of learning to live in the world, rather than trying to shape the world around you.

[taterguy]

92. Must be nice to live in a bucolic city with no traffic issues

:sarcasm: in case you couldn't tell

[RaleighNCDUer]

93. Yeah, no kidding. I do feel obliged to add the caveat that

half the time I ride on the sidewalks because drivers here don't visually recognize the existence of bicycles. We're just plain invisible to them. I've been scared more than once.

Hey, it keeps me young.

[taterguy]

95. Must be nice to live an area with sidewalks

We have a few in my town but they're so sporadic that it's generally safer to stay in the road and take your chances.

PS: Cars see you. They just don't car that you exist since you're not a threat to them.

[DaveinJapan]

26. More reason to support mass transit. ;) nt

[taterguy]

63. What percentage people live in areas where mass transit is viable economically/environmentally?

Since you're an advocate for it I presume you know.

I don't know but I'm not curious enough to Google it.

[seabeyond]

17. I LOVED having my license at 16... works for me. and not quick, this discussion

has been ongoing and have often had thorough, compete, from all angles discussion

i concluded .... no

[Zywiec]

13. No - Is everyone becoming their parents?

Reading this, along with the majority of people on DU thinking the age of consent should be 18, makes me wonder if everyone completely forgot what it was to be a kid.

Let's just lock them up forever and be done with any risk whatsoever to them and society.

:crazy:

[RaleighNCDUer]

50. No, just reflecting on the reality of modern life.

I think the age of consent should be 16. Ditto, the drinking age. And no driving until 18.

Consent and drinking involve the individual primarily or only. Driving before they are ready can kill not only them but god knows how many others who have nothing to do with them.

[JVS]

14. Sounds like your local teens need to quit being dumbfucks

[Maeve]

15. For some, the age is raised by default

Ohio requires private driving lessons before 18 if you want a license. All of my kids waited because we couldn't afford the lessons (used to be it was taught in school, but not any more). Since we live in town, it wasn't that big an issue until they were ready for college and needed transportation. However, for country kids, especially in a district like mine where there is no busing for high school kids, a car can make a huge difference and determines if they can get an after-school job or not.

[ghurley]

27. It's experience, not age... raise the age to 20, and 20 year olds will be high risk drivers...

Just part of driving on the roads here. It dosn't matter what age you are, experience is what plays into how good of a driver you are. I remember seeing on TV that in China many adults who are learing to drive for the first time have many accidents.

Also, I needed by car to be able to make it back an forth to my job at 16. My parents were at their jobs and couldn't take me. Public transportation where I lived didn't exist. Needed to have a car.

[pipi_k]

48. I was going to mention something about "experience", actually

Say that someone gets his license at 16. By the age of 20, he's had four years of "experience". But...IMO, anyway...he's still not mature enough to realize that four years of "experience" doesn't give him the right to be cocky out on the roads.

Raise the age to 20 or 21. By the time he's got four or five years "experience", the kid has probably also gotten half a brain as well and isn't as likely to be a cocky little shit who thinks he knows everything.

So I don't think it's only age, and I don't think it's only experience. I think it's a combination of the two and how they feed off of each other.

IMO, a 20 year old with 4 years experience is much more dangerous than a 25 year old with 4 years experience.

and even at 25, they're still babies.


As for the Chinese adults...I once worked with a woman who was here from China studying for a degree. We became friends and she wanted me to teach her how to drive a car so she could take the clients out places instead of riding the bus. I tried and tried and tried.

She wanted to take the test before I thought she was ready. We didn't even get out of the parking lot...she was backing up and scraped the car next to her.

She never did get the concept of looking in the mirror when backing up, and it was a fight to get her to stay on one side of the road when we were moving. I chalked it up to cultural differences and the apparent lack of driving rules in the city where she lived in China.

[KG]

18. here in FL i'd be more interested in a maximum age.

i've seen some wierd shit, and know a couple of older folks that i love, but it the fact they still drive really has me worried about them.

[LibDemAlways]

62. I'm with you. I used to work at a travel agency in a strip mall

adjacent to a seniors only community. I saw an elderly woman put her car through the plate glass of a storefront and had numerous close encounters with errant seniors in the parking lot and on the surrounding streets. A few years ago an elderly man caused havoc - including death - at a farmer's market in Santa Monica when he plowed into the crowd. When I saw that my own elderly father was becoming a menace on the road, I stepped up and took over the driving duties. No way was I going to have him injure or kill himself or anyone else.

[Individualist]

84. I don't agree with a maximum age, but

do feel that drivers should be tested each time they renew their licenses once they reach the age of 65 (I'm 66).

[LisaL]

20. Well a little problem is that US in many places doesn't have

good public transportation.

[DefenseLawyer]

21. 45 seems reasonable.

But no later than 65. There's a good 20 year window to get behind the wheel and raise hell. Also, all cars should be replaced with carnival "bumper cars". Yes we will live in a veritable Utopia, with 45-65 year olds moving safely about in their bumper cars. Call Congress right now.

[MineralMan]

22. You had two accidents involving teenagers in your area

in two months. How many accidents were there in your area that did not involve teenage drivers? Expand that to a year.

Your anecdotes demonstrate only that two teenagers in your area were involved in accidents that resulted in deaths. I'm sure there were far more deadly accidents where no teenagers were involved. Do you know that number?

My point is that your anecdotes are essentially meaningless when it comes to making rules regarding the age at which people should get their drivers licenses.

You think that teenage drivers have high accident rates. Why not look up that information and actually know?

How many teenage drivers in your area have a perfect driving record and have never had an accident? What percentage of teenage drivers does that make up?

What you are proposing is based on nothing but knee-jerk opinion. Investigate further, please, then report back with some real data.

[erpowers]

37. Motor Vehicles are Leading Cause of Death Among Teenagers

According to the website that is linked to below "motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers". The link has other statistics involving teenage driving.

http://www.rmiia.org/Auto/Teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.htm

[MineralMan]

47. Now...that's data...

[slackmaster]

23. SUVs are not appropriate for inexperienced drivers

I have been driving for 35 years, and it took me several months to get comfortable with mine.

[JVS]

55. This is true. Unfortunately, the used car market is now awash with these favorites of the 90's

[slackmaster]

78. Anyone who allows a teenager to drive one is irresponsible IMO

Just my opinion FWIW.

[newfie11]

25. you can get a license at age 14 in SD

But it is a rural state.

[Kalyke]

30. Who can afford the insurance on a 16-year-old?

The effective driving age will be 18 in a few years as insurance for teens flies out the roof (even more than now) because parents and/or teens won't be able to afford to make insurance payments.

Might as well make it 18.

:shrug:

[LibDemAlways]

77. You have a good point. I have a 16-year-old. She took 50 hours of

professional driving instruction to the tune of almost 2 grand. She's a straight A student. She passed her driving test with ease yesterday, but she won't be able to drive for awhile longer. Because of her age, the insurance premium on my car will triple when I add her to the policy and I'm in no hurry to do it.

I wouldn't mind at all if the driving age was raised to 18, but am practical enough to recognize that there are circumstances in which younger teens might have to drive - i.e. to get to a job.

[justabob]

32. I'd rather see more intensive driver's ed

There are way too many bad drivers of all ages on the roads. I think people should have to retest at various times even after they get their license too. I wouldn't mind raising the age, but as noted above, in many areas it just isnt practical. It would be more expensive starting out, but better all the way around, and going forward, if people(of all ages) were better trained in driving IMHO.

[Mariana]

56. Most of those lousy drivers are capable of driving well

and would breeze through the test. They CHOOSE to run red lights/blow through stop signs/cut people off/speed/tailgate/jabber on the cellphone/put on makeup/whatever. They do know better and they wouldn't do any of this during a driving test.

I don't have a problem with periodic retesting to weed out the folks who are truly incapable of driving decently anymore for whatever reason, though.

[angryfirelord]

34. I'd say the main issue is the test

Raising the driving age is unfair to those who are good drivers. I got my license when I was 17 and three years later, I've never been in an accident. The problem in my opinion stems from how the driving test is conducted. When I went for my test, all I had to do was parallel park (which I hardly use since I don't live in the city) and drive around an industrial park at 25-30MPH. Hardly a real world driving situation. The tests need to be a lot more rigorous with at least a minimum of driving on the highway.

I also agree with the above that the time between the permit and the license is an issue. My mom made sure I did the mandated 50 hours of driving. But for most of my peers at the time, they were lucky to get in 10 hours. The grace period should be at least a year.

[Captain Hilts]

36. New/teenaged drivers and SUVs - Not a good combination. nt

[tjwash]

39. We need a maximum age more than we need to raise the minimum age.

And neither scenario is very likely to happen.

[Romulox]

44. Young people are already so infantalized today. What about getting to their JOBs?

At 16, I needed a car to get to my job which I also needed.

[Common Sense Party]

91. Teens don't have jobs any more.

They're too busy with sports, clubs, extracurricular activities, etc. in their overscheduled lives.

Plus, it's all immigrants working the minimum-wage jobs now.

Broad brush? Yeah. But pretty accurate in MANY places.

[scheming daemons]

46. I say... increase it to 18... and EVERYONE over 70 must be retested every 2 years

Those under 18 and those over 70 are responsible for most accidents that don't involve alcohol.

[SidDithers]

53. Do they have graduated licensing in the US?...

In Ontario, we've got a system where there are different grades of licenses for new drivers. 12 months (or 8 if driver instruction is taken) with G1, then 12 months with G2, then G.

With G1 they must:
* maintain a zero blood alcohol level while driving;
* be accompanied by a fully licensed driver, who has at least four years driving experience, and a blood alcohol level of less than .05 per cent, in case he/she needs to take over the wheel;
* ensure the accompanying driver is the only other person in the front seat;
* ensure the number of passengers in the vehicle is limited to the number of working seat belts;
* refrain from driving on Ontario's "400-series" highways or on high speed expressways such as the Queen Elizabeth Way, Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway, E.C. Row Expressway and the Conestoga Parkway;
* refrain from driving between midnight and 5:00 a.m.


With G2 they must:
* maintain a zero blood alcohol level while driving;
* ensure the number of passengers in the vehicle is limited to the number of working seat belts.


Then they can pass the G2 driving test and get a full and unrestricted license.

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/gradu/index.shtml

Sid

[strategery blunder]

73. Some states do, and some don't.

The state that I live in, Washington, does have graduated licensing. I think it's a good idea, myself.

Most of the law governing drivers are passed on the state level; occasionally the federal Congress will pass a law mandating that states change their laws on pain of losing federal highway funding.

[ddeclue]

54. NO - It is time to make licenses require SKILLS to get and formal training.

A private pilot's license requires 40 hours of instruction from a licensed instructor along with an in depth written test and a comprehensive practical (flight) exam and a medical exam. If the instructor doesn't think you are ready he won't sign you off to take the tests either.

Getting a driver's license is far too easy and having parents who are bad drivers teach their children to be bad drivers is pointless.

It's not about age, it's about skill, respect for others and a healthy respect for the risks involved.

[Ghost Dog]

66. That sounds very similar to the process involved in qualifying

for a (car) driving licence here in (countries I know in) Europe. At age >=18.

Edit: BUT, here in Spain at least (France, Italy similar, I think), kids of 15-16 (or even 14?) start out riding small-engined bikes and scooters, without needing any training or licence. Far too many are killed or maimed, and/or do the same to others.

[ddeclue]

74. Actually some clarifications:

If you go part 141 you can get your pilot's license in as little as 35 hours.

Most people do part 61 which requires a minimum of 40.

The national average is actually somewhere around 70.

My own license required 70.

The reality is that even then there is something called "the killing zone" between getting your private pilot's license and the point at which accident rates fall off substantially (around 350 hours). The best thing safety wise to do is to immediately go on to higher ratings and get an instrument rating and then a commercial rating.

Auto drivers should have to spend a minimum of 100 hours behind the wheel with a trained instructor in my mind.

[A HERETIC I AM]

68. Agreed. The driver education system in this country is deplorable and should be more like

getting a private pilots license. It is my understanding the German and English (and perhaps most European) systems are similar to getting a pilots license.

Extended periods of "restricted" licensing, longer periods of observed driving by a qualified instructor, more extensive testing, etc are needed.

I graduated High School in 1977 and in those days in Dade County, FL, you took drivers ed at high school. The instructor took us out on the freeway exactly once, with very little to zero instruction on how to interact with heavy trucks, hard acceleration/merging or highway driving techniques.

I'm also of the opinion that if a young person, say 25 or younger, purchases a high performance motorcycle (a "crotch rocket") or a high performance car that it should be a requirement they attend a performance riding/driving school.

It isn't the age. It's the level of instruction.

[Maru Kitteh]

60. A Bio professor at our University says we should move the drinking age to 14 and driving to 25

Let them get the party party drunk thing out of their system and let the frontal lobe finish developing before you arm them with a 3,500 lb missile with a steering wheel.

It has merit.

[kctim]

61. Yes

my son just got his license on his 18th birthday and still has a few more months until I let him drive alone.
Teen drivers suck.

[Orsino]

65. Putting a lethal weapon in the hands of a minor is a risky proposition.

I would have no problem with delaying the driver's license until the driver is old enough to be tried as an adult.

[deadmessengers]

67. No, but we should make it harder, more expensive, and easier to lose.

Driving shouldn't be as easy as we make it here in the US.

[lukasahero]

69. No - 20 yrs ago when I was in high school

kids died or were seriously injured driving cars. At least 2 kids I knew died. Half a dozen were seriously injured. This is not a new phenomenon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

85. No kids I remember were ever killed driving in my HS.

I went through school on military bases overseas, where the driving age was 18.

There were more pregnancies than car accidents in my schools.

And the drinking age was 16, for beer and wine.

[lukasahero]

87. Everything's backwards! lol

Drinking age was 18, driving 16. And, as far as I know, there were few, if any, pregnancies. At least few, if any, that were carried to term anyway...

I lived in a rural area. Kids are stupid, they make mistakes, they drive too fast, they don't pay attention. And we needed cars to get to work. We can't protect them forever.

[Autumn]

70. No n/t

[rvablue]

71. No make it more difficult and entirely ban cell phones.

Nobody needs to talk on the phone while driving.

If you want to take a call, pull over.

From what I've seen, "bad driving" isn't necessarily based on age.

[madmom]

72. No, but I do think they need to revise the lesson plan. I have often told

my hubby, when I see people (not just teenagers) driving recklessly, "it's a good thing I wasn't their teacher because they would no be driving" We make it too easy to get a driver's license there are many people with one who should definitely not have one!

When I see people passing on a double yellow line or swerving in and out of traffic, just to name a few things, it makes me want to cut my license into pieces.

[rd_kent]

75. No, but we need to make the driving test harder and enforce responsibilty!

The driving test now is a joke! And the under 18 driver should have a "provisional" license. One that can be taken away for the slightest infraction.

[Greyhound]

76. Or how about a sane idea, like making certain that everybody that drives knows how to drive and

if you want to drive a specialized vehicle, say and 8,000 lb truck with limited speed, handling, and visibility, you should have to qualify for another license proving you know how to drive that, too?

[Avalux]

79. No. Parents need to enforce rules and have their kids sign contracts.

That's exactly what we've done. Rules were written (no drinking or drugs, no phone calls or texting while driving) and a serious discussion took place, then the kids signed the form. If any of the rules are violated, driving privileges are suspended. The use of cell phones has certainly complicated teenage driving and that seems, to me, to be the biggest issue right now.

[surrealAmerican]

80. It's unlikely to help much.

The inexperienced drivers would be older, but that's not likely to mean they'd be better drivers.

It would be better to require more comprehensive driver education as a requirement for a license at any age.

[Jennicut]

88. I didn't get my license until I was 20 and I think I am a better driver for it.

But in today's world where tons of teens have jobs and buses don't go everywhere, its unrealistic. And I was looked at strangely for not wanting to get my license. (I was afraid and nervous to take the driving test but passed fine).

[KamaAina]

89. Sounds to me like it's time to decrease the number of SUVs on the road

in addition to being gas-guzzlers and barely fitting into parking spaces, their high centers of gravity make them prone to rollovers.

[Common Sense Party]

90. No, 16 is still fine, BUT they should definitely increase the hours

behind the wheel with a competent instructor. Teens need more practice in real-life driving.

[treestar]

94. Yes, the age was chosen so teens could help out on the farm

By driving the trucks around.

In days where there was not that much traffic.

12 year olds can physically drive. It's the maturity factor, realizing that the three ton or whatever machine is moving at so many feet per second.

Maybe they can leave it in rural areas, but in urban areas, the maturity required is now above 16.