Georgia Laws

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I would love to see fines in the many hundreds if not thousands of dollars for people who cause accidents because they're using their cells while driving. This one law alone in a year would make me happy.

Yeah, I agree 100%. I have a 15 year old daughter who will be abiding by the laws of our previous state and will only be allowed to get her learner's permit at age 16, and then GA law requires driver's ed and a year wait to get a license. One condition we've set for her is that she may not use her cell phone in any manner while driving until she turns 18 years old, and then only with a hands free.

If I catch her (I have the cell records with dates/times) breaking that rule, she will not be able to drive any car that I own or for which I pay the insurance. Parents have to teach their children even without a law.

[SEAandATL]

#1-Overturn the blue law.

Also, I don't know about making it mandatory to recycle, but I would like the see more recycling bins in public places.

The driving and texting law would be a good idea too.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Yeah, I agree 100%. I have a 15 year old daughter who will be abiding by the laws of our previous state and will only be allowed to get her learner's permit at age 16, and then GA law requires driver's ed and a year wait to get a license. One condition we've set for her is that she may not use her cell phone in any manner while driving until she turns 18 years old, and then only with a hands free.

If I catch her (I have the cell records with dates/times) breaking that rule, she will not be able to drive any car that I own or for which I pay the insurance. Parents have to teach their children even without a law.

BRAVO to you!

http://bestsmileys.com/clapping/2.gif (broken link)

Now if we can get the remaining 95% of parents who are not as smart as you (at least in the way they enforce their rules) on board with that type of mentality, the roads will be that much safer!

[lilmusket]

I think driver's licenses should be available only to adults 18 and older. In most of Europe and Canada, thats how it works.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

I think driver's licenses should be available only to adults 18 and older. In most of Europe and Canada, thats how it works.

Yeah, that's how it was when I grew up in NYC. No one under 18 could get a license in NYC or Long Island, except at age 17 if you passed drivers ed.

My wife and I think getting a learners permit at age 15 is absurd. Maybe in south Georgia it makes some kind of sense because of farms, but in the Atanta area.....are you kidding? Letting some kid who was 14 the day before and is now 15 years old behind the wheel....um...no thanks.

My children are all waiting until they turn 16 for a learner's permit, which by effect means they cannot get their driver's license until age 17. That's reasonable to me.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by neil0311

If I catch her (I have the cell records with dates/times) breaking that rule, she will not be able to drive any car that I own or for which I pay the insurance. Parents have to teach their children even without a law.

My parents wouldn't let me drive at all until I could pay for my own insurance, which is why I worked 15 hours/week all though high school.

I think your approach is admirable, though. But your daughter is still getting off easy.

[southgeorgia]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Maybe in south Georgia it makes some kind of sense because of farms, but in the Atanta area.....are you kidding?

I started driving tractors and farm trucks on the highway at age 11. I was given my first truck at age 12; a jacked up C20 w/o power steering and a three-speed in the column. Since we disregard licensing laws anyway, I say go ahead and change it to 18.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by southgeorgia

I started driving tractors and farm trucks on the highway at age 11. I was given my first truck at age 12; a jacked up C20 w/o power steering and a three-speed in the column. Since we disregard licensing laws anyway, I say go ahead and change it to 18.

And I'm sure you realize that what you did or can do on a farm in the country isn't the same thing as what you can do in Cobb County or any other crowded urban/suburban area. Personally, I wouldn't set the bad example of letting my child drive a vehicle at 11 years old, even if the nearest car was 100 miles away, but that's just me. I do think Georgia needs to update the law and raise the permit age to 16 and the license age to 17, at least in the Atlanta metro counties.

Most crowded northeastern states have either moved the age up or at least have different rules for the more rural parts of the state. New York has done this for years with no junior operator licenses for anyone in the New York City metropolitan area.