Young people and driving

[Ed62]

During the past 3 weekends in the Chicago area, there have been 3 fatal accidents involving teens. The latest was when a 22 year old young woman had 8 teens in her car. She had been drinking to the point of intoxication. She hit a tree, killing 4 teens, and leaving the other 4 in critical condition. She was listed as serious.

What is the answer to people getting killed like that? Should the age for licensing be raised, or should there be restrictions on driving until a certain age is reached??

Ed

[Russianwolf]

During the past 3 weekends in the Chicago area, there have been 3 fatal accidents involving teens. The latest was when a 22 year old young woman had 8 teens in her car. She had been drinking to the point of intoxication. She hit a tree, killing 4 teens, and leaving the other 4 in critical condition. She was listed as serious.

What is the answer to people getting killed like that? Should the age for licensing be raised, or should there be restrictions on driving until a certain age is reached??

Ed

So are you saying the 22 year old was too young to be driving? that maybe we should restrict driving to those over 25?

It's sad, and the young woman is going to be charged with at least 4 counts of vehicular man slaughter for her poor dicision. But honestly, there is no solution. People will make poor dicisions no matter what rules you put in place.

[LCHIEN]

During the past 3 weekends in the Chicago area, there have been 3 fatal accidents involving teens. The latest was when a 22 year old young woman had 8 teens in her car. She had been drinking to the point of intoxication. She hit a tree, killing 4 teens, and leaving the other 4 in critical condition. She was listed as serious.

What is the answer to people getting killed like that? Should the age for licensing be raised, or should there be restrictions on driving until a certain age is reached??

Ed

Lets pass a law making it illegal to drive while drunk, and illegal to operate a vehicle where all the passengers are not wearing seatbelts. And maybe one where it's illegal to carry too many people in one car.

Oh. we already have laws like that.

What good will passing more laws do? They don't obey the ones we already have. At the age of 22 they should have the maturity to obey those laws.

I think we should increase the penalties. Death penalty to those who drive drunk, have a fatality accident and don't die doing so. (tongue in cheek, maybe.)

[gad5264]

Guys, this really opens my eyes. My oldest passed her test yesterday to get her temporary permit and is now 6 months away from getting her liscense. I often thought it would be nice for her to be able to drive and get herself where she needs to be. However, her driving by herself and taking her younger sister with her is going to scare the CRAP out of me.

[LarryG]

I don't think it's an age issue (although I wouldn't want to have to share the roads with drivers younger than are currently out there) but rather a training and experience issue. A 30 year old with a fresh driver's license might be more mature in general than a 22 YO, but he'd still have essentially zero time behind the wheel.

I think the answer is that we MUST start treating driving more like the privilege it is, and less like the Constitutionally-guaranteed right that a lot of people apparently assume it to be. The first step would be to make it MUCH harder to get a license. Right now if you can pass a simple multiple-choice test and keep it between the lines for a disinterested, half-asleep observer during your check ride, they turn you loose on the roads with an implied, "Good luck, try not to kill anyone." That's just nuts.

[LCHIEN]

There was a study pubished recently, that said (surprise) that young drivers are statistically 2 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident when there is another teen in the car and 5 times more likely to have a fatal accident when there are two or more teens in the car. Probably a combination of (1) distractions and (2) showing off.

[jackellis]

In California teens under 18 can't drive with another teenager in the car except in very limited circumstances.

I agree with Larry. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

OTOH, let those of us with gray hair not forget about some of the dumb things we did behind the wheel as teens My mother's Chevelle went into the shop for bent pushrods on at least three occasions as my brother and I pushed the envelope.

Friends of ours who are pilots have required their two teenage sons to log driving time and accumulate 50 hours (dual with parent in car) before they can take their road test. I like that idea. In Germany, it costs about $1500 for the mandatory instruction you have to take before you can be issued a license.

[Tequila]

The answer is that you can't stop people from doing stupid things, and every now and then somebody's going to die. It's not because she's young. It's not because she's a woman. It's because she did something foolish that's already illegal.

That may sound blunt, but I think that the 98% of us with some sense have to deal with enough laws created for the irresponsible 2% that get on the news every night.

[Ed62]

I'm not saying the age for getting a license should be higher or not. As was pointed out, teens driving were much more likely to have accidents when with their peers. Do we need new laws? Do we need to edit the laws we have? IMHO, maybe. If it takes changing the law to allow only the teen to drive with someone over ___ years of age to save lives, it would be a good thing if it only saved a few lives each year. At least that's my opinion.

Ed

[LinuxRandal]

Just one more point, AGE has NOTHING to do with Maturity. I've seen a 15 year old, that was more responsible then the 30 year old, who was left, supposably in charge. That isn't the only example I could come up with, just the one that sticks with me.

[crokett]

What Tequila said. More laws won't make a difference.

When I was a teenager one of my best friends had a deal where dad paid for insurance so long as there were no tickets or accidents. My buddy got a ticket and had to start paying his premiums. After a few months of basically working to pay his insurance he went back to dad and promised to have a clean record from then on. He was 16 then and AFIK has not gotten a ticket since. I do know he is still one of the safest drivers I know.

[Warren]

A little culling is healthy for the herd. I never minded the accidents where only the idiots were killed. It was the one's where the idiot killed or maimed an innocent that left me livid.

I always thought that an isolated road should be set aside for the exclusive use of drunk and other "bullet proof" drivers, and the self-proclaimed "good drivers." An area where the gene pool would be self-policing, if you will. No pesky stop signs or speed limits, just a couple of bars, selling unlimited adult beverages, some power poles and maybe a large tree or two. Throw an "ess" turn or two in the mix and the sit back and watch the mayhem from a safe distance.

The wrinkle is that most of the people who should avail themselves of such services don't know who they are.

[Russianwolf]

What Tequila said. More laws won't make a difference.

When I was a teenager one of my best friends had a deal where dad paid for insurance so long as there were no tickets or accidents. My buddy got a ticket and had to start paying his premiums. After a few months of basically working to pay his insurance he went back to dad and promised to have a clean record from then on. He was 16 then and AFIK has not gotten a ticket since. I do know he is still one of the safest drivers I know.

I had to buy my car and pay my insurance from day one. And to this day, I THANK my mother for it.

My friends drove like idiots and treated their cars like disposable items. I drove a nice small pickup with a 4 banger and only made a poor dicision once. The insurance increase convinced me not to be stupid any more.

Maybe if parents went back to "you can get your license, but what are you going to drive?" way of thinking.

[Tom Slick]

with respect to age/laws it makes me wonder if an 18yo with a new license is less likely to have an accident then a 16yo with a new license. is an 18yo with a license for 2 years more likely to get in an accident then a 20yo with a license for 2 years?

IMHO it all has to do with experience and not age. I could have easily operated a car responsibly when I was 13, the time I was taught to drive.

This 22yo girl made a terrible mistake reguardless of her age and driving experience. driving drunk has nothing to do with experience, it has to do with a wrong decision.

[jackellis]

driving drunk has nothing to do with experience, it has to do with a wrong decision.

This is a BIG issue in general aviation, where poor decision-making is responsible for nearly all the accidents. Most pilots are a lot older than 18, but it doesn't stop them from doing stupid things like flying in bad weather, running out of fuel, or overloading the airplane.