[MMike]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/18/teen.drivers.ap/index.html

16 is TOO YOUNG to drive. I only got my license at 18. EVERYONE I know who got their license at 16 was involved in some sort of incident within the first few months.

 

[chicodude]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/18/teen.drivers.ap/index.html

16 is TOO YOUNG to drive. I only got my license at 18. EVERYONE I know who got their license at 16 was involved in some sort of incident within the first few months.

WRONG.

I have had my license for a little under two years, and I have never had an accident.

Some people just suck at driving in general.

 

[MMike]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

no, you are wrong. it depends on a lot of other factors that have a greater impact on driving performance than age does. i have had my license for 4 years (got it when i was 16) and have not had a single accident yet.....

 

[chicodude]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

yea, but I can think of alot of adults that shouldn't be driving either.


Almost like they should have some sort of test for this...

 

[urbaindk]

I think a lot of parents give their kids too much freedom in regards to driving. I got my licence when I was 16 but I wasn't allowed to go anywhere by myself except to run errands or to Boy Scout meetings for at least a year or two.

It seems to me that a lot of parents will buy their kids a car and give them free reign. That is a really bad idea in my opinion.

 

[amateur]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

I'm with you. It's not that 2 years makes a huge difference, but being a legal adult does...

 

[urbaindk]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

So you purpose taking away their ability to develop this maturity? They have to learn somehow. If you lock them up you are just postponing the problem.

 

[Slugman]

I'm sorry, but anyone who has not driven for more than 10 years does not understand how true this study is.

Fine -maybe you are the 1 shining example of perfect teenage driving. However as a general rule - teenagers are NOT good drivers.

If they were, insurance premiums wouldn't be higher for them, and you wouldn't need to be at least 21 (some places 25) to rent a car.

I thought I was a great driver when I was 18 (got my license at 16.5)… but now I know better.

 

[MMike]

The workings inside the human head is very differnt from 16 to 18.... thing generally become a little more "real"..... Driving is more dangerous than voting and yet............

 

[Changleen]

MMike is right.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

its also statistically known that elder drivers are just as dangerous........do we take licenses away from people once they hit a certain age too?

 

[Changleen]

its also statistically known that elder drivers are just as dangerous........do we take licenses away from people once they hit a certain age too?

Yes. Actually quite a few countries retest their elderly population. It's very sensible.

 

[druber]

The overwhelming reason you are a better driver at 18 than at 16 is experience. If you move the legal driving age to 18, then the 18-20 year olds will have more accidents instead of the 16-18 year olds.

That being said, I don't think there is anything wrong with restricting the liscence on a new driver.

Just my $0.02.

 

[BikeGeek]

do we take licenses away from people once they hit a certain age too?

Not until they wipe out their first farmer's market.

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

I agree (generally) ...Although i think i was a pretty damn good driver for 16...I think riding bikes so much prior and driving a stick helps you learn to anticipate things much more as well as understand speed...

16 year old girls with no understanding of either are a scary proposition.

 

[Jeremy R]

Yes. Actually quite a few countries retest their elderly population. It's very sensible.

Yep, they yanked my grandfathers license when his car started looking like a demolition derby car. Driving and Dementia.

 

[buildyourown]

its also statistically known that elder drivers are just as dangerous........do we take licenses away from people once they hit a certain age too?

No, but we should.
Old people can vote so nobody would ever propose the rule.

I'm not sure if it's being 16 that makes 16 year old drivers dangerous, or the lack of experience. Would a 18 yo with no experience be any better? I'm not sure. I had a friend who didn't get her own car until she was in her mid-twenties. She was really scary.

That said, I got my license when I was 16 1/2. My dad made sure I knew how to drive before he even let me take the test. I was in 3 accidents it the first year, 1 of them severe. 2 could be chalked up to inexperience.

 

[kidwoo]

The workings inside the human head is very differnt from 16 to 18.... thing generally become a little more "real"..... ....

Yeah I was way more relaxed about taking drugs the younger I was. They definitely worked differently.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

Yes. Actually quite a few countries retest their elderly population. It's very sensible.

retest huh?........well, if a 16 year old passes the test, why shouldnt they have a license?.....

in all reality, i believe the problem isnt with age, its with driving tests. they are way to easy, and do not test ones ability to interact with other vehicles in real life situations. car maneuvering will only get you so far...

 

[sam_little]

The biggest problem with 16 year old drivers, I think, is their impressionability. Until you develop strong self esteem and maintain staunch individuality, you are at high risk for going with the group. When you are sixteen, especially if you turn early, that group likely consists of both bright and idiotic individuals. How many times have those of us that have been driving for 10 years put 7 people in a car, or had people lay flat in a truckbed (to avoid being sited, and thus cited, by cops) in the last few years? Not too many, I would guess.

 

[peter6061]

At this point (I'm 34), I agree that restricting licenses would be great, but it would have made getting to school in high school a lot bigger issue. I know we did some stupid things and some of us probably shouldn't be alive because of them, but we learned. I don't think changing the age would do anything, but make the accident rate rise at whatever age it's changed to.

I'm all for restricting new drivers to a year or two before they can have a passenger in the car, and that includes older people who come from other places and somehow pass the test to get a license.

 

[DRB]

No. I am right. In general, 16 year-olds are not mature enough to handle the power they are weilding....

I can make your statement even more accurate by replacing 16 year-olds with 16 year-old BOYS.

I suspect that if you were to break those stats down by gender there would be huge disparity from male to female.

A teenage boy is an accident waiting to happen in all aspects of life.

 

[urbaindk]

The workings inside the human head is very differnt from 16 to 18.... thing generally become a little more "real"..... Driving is more dangerous than voting and yet............

I would argue that it is a continuum and that the differences between a 16 yo brain and an 18 yo brain are mainly due to the experiences gained throughout this 2 year period.

I believe that it is the parent's responsibility to teach their children responsible driving skills and not let their kids out on the road alone until the kid has proven his / herself able to handle this responsibility.

Too many parents yield to the temptation to let their kids drive themselves to soccer practice because it is easier than supervising them. Many parents are lazy and don't provide adequate parental support, supervision, and guidence.

It is not however, the government's business to make a blanket statement regarding all teenage drivers as inherently bad.

 

[kidwoo]

I can make your statement even more accurate by replacing 16 year-olds with 16 year-old BOYS.

I suspect that if you were to break those stats down by gender there would be huge disparity from male to female.

A teenage boy is an accident waiting to happen in all aspects of life.

Meh.

I loaned a pair of red sunglasses to a female friend of mine in high school and she got in an accident running a red light.

She couldn't tell which of the three lights was illuminated...........so of course just kept on driving into the intersection.

I drove too fast when I was in highschool but used my mad drifting skills to my advantage.

 

[binary visions]

I can make your statement even more accurate by replacing 16 year-olds with 16 year-old BOYS.

I suspect that if you were to break those stats down by gender there would be huge disparity from male to female.

Maybe. But personally, I know a lot more girls that were in stupid accidents their first couple/few years of driving than guys.

Not to say that my personal acquaintences are necessarily representative of the general population, but I would be pretty suprised if there were a huge disparity in the numbers. I was scared to get in the car with a lot of the 16 year old girls I knew.

 

[BikeGeek]

The biggest problem with 16 year old drivers, I think, is their impressionability. Until you develop strong self esteem and maintain staunch individuality, you are at high risk for going with the group. When you are sixteen, especially if you turn early, that group likely consists of both bright and idiotic individuals. How many times have those of us that have been driving for 10 years put 7 people in a car, or had people lay flat in a truckbed (to avoid being sited, and thus cited, by cops) in the last few years? Not too many, I would guess.

I believe VA just passed, or is in the process of reviewing, proposed legislation that would place restrictions on how many passengers a new driver can transport, and of what age.

 

[chicodude]

I can make your statement even more accurate by replacing 16 year-olds with 16 year-old BOYS.

I suspect that if you were to break those stats down by gender there would be huge disparity from male to female.

A teenage boy is an accident waiting to happen in all aspects of life.

BWhahahaha.....Yea so?


I find that must guys that get into accidents do so because they are doing something stupid.

Girls are usually not paying attention.

 

[urbaindk]

I believe VA just passed, or is in the process of reviewing, proposed legislation that would place restrictions on how many passengers a new driver can transport, and of what age.

This is probably a good law. It goes along with what I was saying with parental responsibilities. Don't let your kids go out doing who knows what with who knows who in a 3000+ lb missile.

 

[BikeGeek]

I find that must guys that get into accidents do so because they are doing something stupid.

One of the only things I remember about an "incident" in high school are the words "go faster, see if we can catch some air."

 

[PonySoldier]

I believe VA just passed, or is in the process of reviewing, proposed legislation that would place restrictions on how many passengers a new driver can transport, and of what age.

Colorado has done this...it is an excellent idea ...

 

[chicodude]

One of the only things I remember about an "incident" in high school are the words "go faster, see if we can catch some air."

Did it yesterday.


NEXT

 

[Ciaran]

I'm sorry, but anyone who has not driven for more than 10 years does not understand how true this study is.

Fine -maybe you are the 1 shining example of perfect teenage driving. However as a general rule - teenagers are NOT good drivers.

If they were, insurance premiums wouldn't be higher for them, and you wouldn't need to be at least 21 (some places 25) to rent a car.

I thought I was a great driver when I was 18 (got my license at 16.5)… but now I know better.

I agree 100%

Also, notice how the only ones defending teen drivers are teens.

Sorry kiddos, in this case the phrase "You'll understand when you get older" does apply. And there are plenty of studies that show how dangerous teen drivers are.

Did it yesterday.


NEXT

THIS ^^^ is a perfect example of one of the reasons why teen drivers are dangerous.

IMO the minimum driving age should be 18, and it should be harder to get a license as well.

 

[F.O.G]

I think it comes down to the parents of the child to teach them the proper way to drive and respect the power of a vehicle. My first vehicle was a 450hp 1970 pick up. I could have done all sorts of stupid things that would have killed me, but I was taught to respect the "Privilege" of driving given to me by my parents. I'm not saying that I was perfect in any way, just that I knew that if I were to do something stupid I would loose the truck.

 

[urbaindk]

Also, notice how the only ones defending teen drivers are teens.

Not quite. Last time I checked I was 33.

 

[Ciaran]

Not quite. Last time I checked I was 33.

OK, I'll rephrase that...

Notice how MOST of the ones defending the teens are other teens.

 

[chicodude]

THIS ^^^ is a perfect example of one of the reasons why teen drivers are dangerous.

IMO the minimum driving age should be 18, and it should be harder to get a license as well.

But I am in complete control when it happens. I did it at 6 o clock in the morning on a deserted road.

I like it when adults look down their noses at kids and tell us it's all our faults, and all that jazz. I see lots of adults get in accidents too.

I am not defending anyone else my age, I just like to argue.

 

[urbaindk]

OK, I'll rephrase that...

Notice how MOST of the ones defending the teens are other teens.

Thanks, I like to think that I am slightly more articulate than your run of the mill 16 yo and was feeling ever so slightly insulted.

 

[Changleen]

In Switzerland the driving test includes controlling a skid on sheet ice and CPR. That's a real driving test! :thumbs:

 

[amateur]

But I am in complete control when it happens. I did it at 6 o clock in the morning on a deserted road

Right....

As a teenager, I'm all for raising the age and the restrictions. I know I did a lot of dumb stuff and still do. I by no means think I am a good driver, however I think my experience in the desert and offroad has made me better able to anticipate the actions of others and made me more able to react accordingly.

As for the male vs. female comment, I know that I've just about soiled myself in more cars with females driving than males. As a whole, they seem to be less aware of the risks involved.