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Old 07-10-2009, 06:15 AM
 
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Five teens in Michigan got killed while trying to beat the train. I always thought that the driving age in America should be higher than it is. Who has teen drivers and what are your feelings on teens driving? My kids are very young, but when they become of age, I won't let them drive with other kids. But how enforceable is that? How do you manage your driving teenagers? It worries me.
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Old 07-10-2009, 06:36 AM
 
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Kids should be taught to drive younger if they are capable, but not be given the keys to drive unsupervised until they demonstrate the ability to make responsible decisions under stress.
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Old 07-10-2009, 07:28 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandycat View Post
Five teens in Michigan got killed while trying to beat the train. I always thought that the driving age in America should be higher than it is. Who has teen drivers and what are your feelings on teens driving? My kids are very young, but when they become of age, I won't let them drive with other kids. But how enforceable is that? How do you manage your driving teenagers? It worries me.
My son is 15 and has his learner's permit. He is very inexperienced so we are teaching him very slowly. We currently only let him drive with an adult in the car. We do not let him drive his brothers even though we have to be in the car until he has a regular license.

Once he gets a license we will give him freedom but only for short trips and not with any other kids in the car.

For the most part we do not permit him to be driven by his friends who already have licenses. The only exceptions have been when he is at wrestling tournaments and he has been permitted to go to a fast food restaurant with a team mate. Usually the restaurants are within half a mile of the tournament and we know the kid who is driving.

My feeling is that the longer you can supervise a child's driving the better chance he has of learning to be a good driver by the time he is graduated. I have a 22 year old friend and her parents didn't let her get her license until she was 18 (in Feb of her Sr. year) and then in August she was commuting 35 miles each way to college. She got in a few accidents (minor) her freshman year because of her inexperience. It seems like she would have been better off having a license for 2 years before having to commute 70 miles every day at age 18. Her parents are still protective.
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Old 07-10-2009, 07:48 AM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
44,901 posts, read 59,894,528 times
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I encouraged my kids to get their licenses as soon as they could, it is a rite of passage for our society and I was tired of hauling them around. What I find funny it's the generation behind me (those in their 40's) who advocate raising the driving age. Does this mean that the current generation of 16 year olds are somehow deficient or incapable? Or that the parents are somehow deficient in their parenting skills? Of course, previous generations all got their's at 16 and they were no more mature than today's kids.
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Old 07-10-2009, 08:34 AM
 
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Default Many parents don't do enough to monitor their teens' driving

I'm at my wits end with my neighbor's 16-year-old daughter. Her grandparents bought her a brand-new jeep Cherokee for her birthday. We live on a cul de sac filled with kids and she drives in and out at 40 mph.

I mentioned my concerns to her dad and he said that he had spoken to her about slowing down, but she doesn't listen to him. My neighbor who is and ER physician spoke to him about the kids he's seen over the years who've been hit by cars and offered to speak to the teen about how her life would be changed if she hit and injured/killed a child. Her father said that wouldn't be necessary.

Another neighbor has purchased a little plastic sign that says "Slow Down, Children at Play." She puts it on the roadside near her driveway to led the teen driver know kids are out on their bikes, but she just whizzes by.

All of our kids have been taught bike safety skills. They know to stay on the right side of the road and to look both ways before crossing the street. And of course no one lets their toddlers, little kids on the road by themselves. Still, I'm terrified that one day, she'll fly around one of the sharp curves along our road and hit some kid who has fallen of his bike, or a kid who is riding side-by-side with a friend.

There is nothing we can do from a legal point of view. Because no speed limit is posted on our road drivers can technically go 40 mph. The only way for us to get the speed limit posted to 25 mph would be for the town to commission a traffic study, something it won't do for a road with 12 houses on it.

I wish her parents would take the car away for a week or two to force her to think about the importance of driving safety, but that's not likely to happen.
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Old 07-10-2009, 08:44 AM
 
Location: Denver 'burbs
24,012 posts, read 28,340,050 times
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After a rash of accidents killing cars full of teens several years ago, my state now has a graduated license system. Permits can be obtained at 15 if enrolled in driver's education class (schools do not offer so these must be privately obtained but they are not mandatory); DL's may be obtained 1 full year after obtaining a permit (with driver's ed and 50 hours logged driving experience, 10 of that night driving); for the first 6 months, the teen is not permitted to have any non-related peers in the vehicle while driving; for the second 6 months the teen is limited to 1 non-related peer. Cell phones are not permitted to be used until 17. I believe there are nighttime curfews also. There will always be irresponsible drivers (not all of them are teens) but as a parent I as also shocked at how many parents don't enforce the rules for their kids. Many kids completely disregard the graduated rules and still drive around with kids. A car full of inexperienced teen drivers can be a recipe for disaster. When my DD got her license she knew if she broke the rules, the car would no longer be available for her to drive. DS understands the same. Driving is not a right in this house but a privilege.
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Old 07-10-2009, 09:37 AM
 
758 posts, read 1,865,638 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maciesmom View Post
After a rash of accidents killing cars full of teens several years ago, my state now has a graduated license system. Permits can be obtained at 15 if enrolled in driver's education class (schools do not offer so these must be privately obtained but they are not mandatory); DL's may be obtained 1 full year after obtaining a permit (with driver's ed and 50 hours logged driving experience, 10 of that night driving); for the first 6 months, the teen is not permitted to have any non-related peers in the vehicle while driving; for the second 6 months the teen is limited to 1 non-related peer. Cell phones are not permitted to be used until 17. I believe there are nighttime curfews also. There will always be irresponsible drivers (not all of them are teens) but as a parent I as also shocked at how many parents don't enforce the rules for their kids. Many kids completely disregard the graduated rules and still drive around with kids. A car full of inexperienced teen drivers can be a recipe for disaster. When my DD got her license she knew if she broke the rules, the car would no longer be available for her to drive. DS understands the same. Driving is not a right in this house but a privilege.

We have the same system in Michigan but it obviously didn't help this situation.

DD will have her license in Sept. I'm hoping we have taught her the importance of following the rules of the road, and as long as she is driving our car she will not have any passengers the first year and also if any rules are broken she loses the priviledge of driving.

I think I worry most about winter time. This winter she displayed no fear or nervousness about driving in the snow, which could be good or bad. I think a little fear keeps you focused and alert and no fear may make you a little cocky.
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Old 07-10-2009, 09:49 AM
 
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,307 posts, read 38,666,280 times
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I learned more about driving in an old Jeep out in the country with my grandfather than I ever did from drivers ed. If you want your kids to be good drivers, first you must be a good driver and second you must invest the time with them to teach them what you know.
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Old 07-10-2009, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Denver 'burbs
24,012 posts, read 28,340,050 times
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These stories are horrible but they will always be there because there is no way to legislate cockiness or stupidity. Teen's brains are wired to think "it can't happen to me"...that's why parents need to be on top of the rules. Even so, things will happen. I have noticed a lot fewer teen deaths around here since that law was enacted but they still happen.
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Old 07-10-2009, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Denver 'burbs
24,012 posts, read 28,340,050 times
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Quote:
I learned more about driving in an old Jeep out in the country with my grandfather than I ever did from drivers ed.
Probably true - with all the mobility in the last decades, many teens don't have this option any more. Not to mention the rash of people buying brand new cars (and too much car - a few years back there was a kid at the HS who had a new Hummer) for their teens. At the moment neither of my kids has a car - we did have an old car that DD was able to drive her senior year but that car has since gone by the wayside. Both kids know that even if I won the lottery tomorrow (assuming I would ever play!), they would not get brand new cars. I want them focused on driving not whether anyone sees them in such and such a car or worrying about a ding in the HS parking lot.
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