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I could never fall asleep at night until I heard my two Sons cars pull into the driveway and the doors to their room close. It is only something a Parent can understand.
They are 44 and I still worry about them.........some things never end.
This is the opposite of many of my friends... I have never seen so many 19 and 20 year olds or older that have never driven and have no interest in driving...
This is so true! I am a parent of teens and have definitely seen the same thing with their friends. One of mine got his license as soon as he was eligible and is an exceptional driver. He drives an old Subaru Outback and loves it, he also drives a crew cab truck with a trailer full of equipment for work. I don't worry about him at all. He is 17 now.
My daughter is 19 this month and has only recently received her license. This was because she planned to commute to university daily and we said that's fine, but you must drive yourself. She bought a Volvo and has had no problems. I think she would have happily remained a non-driver had she moved on campus somewhere.
Marc's comments are an insult to many parents and teens. I never raced, my husband never raced and am very confident my kids won't either. As for a graduated system, new drivers may only have immediate family members in their car for the first year, afterwards they may not have more than 2 teen or underage passengers unless they are immediate family members (I cannot remember when they are allowed unlimited passengers), there is also a curfew until age 18. There are serious consequences for receiving a speeding ticket.
This is the opposite of many of my friends... I have never seen so many 19 and 20 year olds or older that have never driven and have no interest in driving...
It's like a whole generation has decided the ability to drive isn't necessary.... I live in the SF Bay Area and a lot of these kids still depend on others to get around...
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I live in a fairly large Texas city. My 20 year old daughter decided to quit her licensing process at 17 and said she hated driving. We tried to push her to get it but she said it made her overly anxious and she would just walk everywhere and get where she needed to go without us because I said I wasn't going to drive her around constantly to friend's houses and other activities. I guess I couldn't argue with that if I wasn't driving her around. I wasn't sure I could drag a 6 foot tall crying teenage girl out to do something she despised. I finally figured out that it was worthless for me to force her when she would probably never go take the driving test at the DPS office anyway nor ever use the darn license.
3 years later she's still not getting her license. We offered to pay for classes...still no bite. She walks or gets a ride or buses with our limited local bus service. It has driven me crazy but I have to give the stubborn kid credit as she has been able to work and get where she needs to go without relying on me for rides. I didn't think she could but she's proven me wrong. I do hope she eventually gets it though. I hope my younger daughter doesn't have this much of a problem getting her license in a few years
A lot of younger people see it as a badge of honor... not driving.
I know a few that get a loft or rent a room in the city and proudly say they are car free... it is even easier if you live in a city like San Francisco where a car can be a major headache in so many ways...
My friends daughter just got her license at 24 after college... she resisted to the very end and finally needed to drive for her new job... plus she needed a clean driving record... so no problems there.
She attended the UC system and having a car is discouraged and some campuses almost ban cars for underclassmen...
This is so true! I am a parent of teens and have definitely seen the same thing with their friends. One of mine got his license as soon as he was eligible and is an exceptional driver. He drives an old Subaru Outback and loves it, he also drives a crew cab truck with a trailer full of equipment for work. I don't worry about him at all. He is 17 now.
My daughter is 19 this month and has only recently received her license. This was because she planned to commute to university daily and we said that's fine, but you must drive yourself. She bought a Volvo and has had no problems. I think she would have happily remained a non-driver had she moved on campus somewhere.
Marc's comments are an insult to many parents and teens. I never raced, my husband never raced and am very confident my kids won't either. As for a graduated system, new drivers may only have immediate family members in their car for the first year, afterwards they may not have more than 2 teen or underage passengers unless they are immediate family members (I cannot remember when they are allowed unlimited passengers), there is also a curfew until age 18. There are serious consequences for receiving a speeding ticket.
I was driving to school with no license for awhile. Tell a 17 year old boy what to do . What are you crazy. A few accidents, a few speeding tickets, and maturity and I have not gotten a ticket in 20 years.
Funny part the only two major accidents I was in I was a passenger with another teen kid. Guess what the kid who we had a major accident at 60 mph, bent frame, totalled car and somehow it still ran and then tried to take off and a cop was chasing us. Is now a Partner in a major Law firm in Manhattan with kids in Ivy League
The other kid who we ended up in a triple roll over at 60 mph where I broke a few bones is a millionaire doctor.
Me I never hurt anyone in an accident but twice got close to getting in trouble, I hit a BMW in an uninsured, uninspected, car with out of state plates not in my name. I had tickets and insurance was high. I bought a car registered in Florida with transfer title issues and owner let me have it for a few months. Luckily the businessman was drunk as a skunk. I hit him when he was at a standstill. He goes your car is uninsured I bet. I go yep, he slurs back I guess I parked my car in front of house and got sideswipped and took off. Funny for me I was in finals week and working 25 hours a week. I was returning from my job at 9pm after doing an all nighter the night before for finals. I actually dozed and rolled into him. I was dead sober and dressed business casual.
Second time I got lucky cause when I was 17 I smashed into a monte carlo at 50 mph in NYC doing an illegal U turn. I saw the guy for a split second, big Italian Mafia looking guy. He hit me and dragged me 20 feet and threw me on sidewalk just short of a plate glass window. He did not even brake. I fact after he t-boned me he floored it and was dragging me, I also then floored it as trying to get loose. Very weird being dragged sideways while accelerating forward. Once I was loosed he really took off. It was NYC around 1980 at the height of car theft on a weeknight at midnight. I knew the Monte Carlow was stolen. I bet his boss was pissed. The Montecarlo was almost brand new. And I hit him BOOOm. Bent my frame, blew out my window, car was hopping up and down as so bent and door no longer worked. I got his front end so that car was toast. Funny the owner must have got it back. One witness must have been in shock. Two cars hit each other 50 MPH and take off. I was shocked my car ran. I took off as I had a probation license as in HS and once again car not registered in my name. Also if that was the actual owners car, the big mafia looking guy would have beat me to death with a tire iron. Lucky for me it was stolen.
I got tboned a few years later this time not my fault. But it dragged my car a bit. But the women was attempting to stop not accelerating into the tbone.
At HS the next day kids were impressed. That poor car was cursed as I lent it out to a guy a few weeks later who accidentially hit the United Nations, but that is another story. Apparantly he claimed it just popped up in front of him.
It helps to pick the right car too. Don't get them an SUV because it's "safe". We've had more than 1 set of kids die around here because they were flying around corners in their SUV and it flipped over killing everyone inside. Get them a car. Find one with good safety ratings.
Get them a front wheel drive car. Rear wheel drive is far more fun, but you have to know how to handle it. FWD tends to understeer, which is easily overcome by slowing down. Oversteer however takes skill to get out of. FWD is safer for novices.
If you can, get them a manual transmission. Yes, it's harder, but it takes more concentration and reduces the chance of someone fumbling around with their phone or other crap while driving. My wife used to get mad at me sometimes for not answering calls or texts while driving (when I had a Miata with no Bluetooth). Too bad. I'm driving and I need one hand for the wheel, and another for the shifter. Driving stick makes you pay attention to everything around you more as well. It's not just brake and gas.
It should go without saying too, but a good set of tires goes a long way. And not some off brand Chinese tire you've never heard of either, or some old tires that have been sitting around for 5 years. This is your kid, get decent tires. They don't have to be $1000/set Michelins, but a good set of any American or European tire will do. Having good tread means a lot in rainy/snowy conditions. This is the only part of the car that's in contact with the road, make it count.
With respect.....I have to disagree with your assumption that they " will have an accident......"
I approach it from the other direction, everyone can learn how to avoid accidents, by being a defensive driver, from the very beginning of their training. Note that I said training, by a certified professional driver trainer.....not Mum or Dad.
That's what I was for 14 years, here in Toronto. I trained and evaluated hundreds of people who were hired by the City of Toronto, to drive their vehicles. Buses, dump trucks, fire trucks, garbage trucks, cars and vans and even motor scooters for the Parking Enforcement unit.
The basic concept is that with proper training and practical on the road experience and corrective measures, all adults can become safe drivers. Teenagers have the best reflexes , reaction times and muscle memory......what they don't have is common sense, or impulse control.
Jim B.
Jim:
I think you are losing sight of the fact that not every accident is avoidable, and not every accident is the teenage driver's fault. At 17, my car was t-boned by a 40-year old woman who got impatient to turn left into a shopping center. Nothing I could do about it, no "defensive driving" in the world was going to stop someone from doing something stupid. At 18, I lost an 18-year-old friend to a drunk driver -- 37 years old with two prior convictions -- who was driving the wrong way on an interstate without headlights because he was so blindingly drunk that he didn't even know where he was going. Gennie and a passenger were killed instantly. The drunk driver barely had a concussion. My 16 year old brother was hit head-on by an elderly woman on a curve -- the lights blinded her on the curve and she ran across the center line. The cops tried to write him up for it, because he was 16 -- until my dad pointed out that the tire tracks showed she clearly crossed the line. Then there was the little grey Camry that ran into the back of my son AT A RED LIGHT while the 30-something dad of two got distracted by his GPS -- and tried to blame it on his brakes.
Not everything is defensible and avoidable, as much as we'd like to think so. Sometimes, you DO just get hit by the damn meteor.
Otherwise, I agree with you. That's why my kids both had a professional driver's ed course (required in this state under 18) and behind-the-wheel training, and both took a professional defensive driving class. They drove in every situation, in some of the worst traffic in the nation. Now that they are in their mid-20's, they can drive ANYWHERE now. And know how to change the tire, check the fluids, and change a headlamp bulb. :-)
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