Why is the legal adult age in AL 19?

[trailblazer11]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

And you can't rent a car until you're 25. I don't suppose that's a law, but rental car company policy.

Actually, Enterprise now allows you to rent a car at 21 in every state (for an extra "Young Renters Fee"), with New York and Michigan allowing people as young as 18 to rent a car. Government employees are also allowed to rent as young as 18 with proof of employment. I think it's pretty neat!
Source: https://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/...1iZTc3Tm0%3D#/

And @zenjenn, I definitely agree with your reply about giving adolescents more autonomy. I hate that I'm now able to vote, but I still have to ask (most of) my teachers if I can use the restroom. HCS also just spent a bucketload of money to revamp our library at my school, and yet we've never been allowed to go before school, after school, or during lunch hours because they want to keep us watched and corralled in one location (we basically only get to go if our teacher uses the library for a lesson). I swear, if they would actually let me go to the library when I have a free moment, I would never leave! Why pay for this stuff if students never get to use it? But that's a whole other issue...

I know a lot of people my age are very irresponsible, but if we're allowed to determine the future of our country and society by voting (which is a huge deal if you think about it), why can't we make other important decisions? I'm currently looking for a car for college, but I can't test drive any vehicles because I can't sign a contract in AL (and it's hard to find a time that my parents can go that isn't a Saturday). It's a small complaint, but frustrating nevertheless.

I guess changing the Age of Majority will come just as soon as our much-needed lottery I appreciate everyone's insight!

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by trailblazer11

I'm currently looking for a car for college, but I can't test drive any vehicles because I can't sign a contract in AL (and it's hard to find a time that my parents can go that isn't a Saturday). It's a small complaint, but frustrating nevertheless.

I guess changing the Age of Majority will come just as soon as our much-needed lottery I appreciate everyone's insight!

If you are 18 you could get married. Then you could sign a contact.

As far as the lottery goes that is a can of worms. What guarantee do you have that will solve anything. Even if was earmarked for schools the state would simply divert existing money away from education and spend it on something else. In other words the net gain for schools might be zero.

I believe state lotteries are very regressive. In other words lower income people tend to spend a larger
percentage of their income on them than high income people. This is the opposite of regular income taxes where they tend to be progressive. In other words higher income earners have a higher tax rate than lower income earners.

The lottery Is a Tax — An Inefficient, Regressive and Exploitative Tax
The lottery Is a Tax -- An Inefficient, Regressive and Exploitative Tax

[zenjenn]

That's interesting trailblazer - I went shopping for cars last year (my first time doing so in Alabama) and I was surprised that no one so much as asked to even glance at my driver's license before letting me test drive cars, and I sure as heck didn't have to sign anything to do so. I realized heck - I could have a suspended license for all they knew! Seemed strange. But there it was. Multiple dealerships.

Of course, I'm 40. But in California they needed a copy of your DL and for you to sign a liability release before you could test drive, if I recall.

[trailblazer11]

I guess it just depends on the dealer - I think the bigger they are, the stricter they are on the rules. I've been to small dealerships that have let me test drive their cars.
My buddy bought his college car last month, and even though he was 18 and actually worked at the dealership as a car porter, they STILL wouldn't let him test drive it without a co-signer because he wasn't 19, so he had to wait for a day his granddad could come out and almost lost the car because of all that fuss.

[harry chickpea]

Name the dealership. I'll be sure to avoid them.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Therein lies a lot of my beef with MADD. By getting laws passed that chipped away at the legal definition of age of majority, it opened the door to all sorts of abuse. (Yes, I am aware that car rental companies are private and can do what they want.)

It won't be too many years before other age-related restrictions will occur. Hard liquor at age 25 and up, cigarettes only at the same age, banks demanding home buyers be a certain number of years old, etc.

The rental car policy is WAY before the drinking age went to 21. It has long been done because of an unusual number of accidents caused by drivers under 25, especially males more than females. Many rental companies actually will rent to under 25, but they have to pay a hefty extra fee.

And actually, until the 1960s/70s, every state except NY had a drinking age of 21 (NY was 18). It then quickly became 18 for awhile for most states the same reasons I give below for voting at 18, though some states only let 18-21 drink a lower alcohol beer called "3.2 beer"

Originally Posted by trailblazer11

Actually, Enterprise now allows you to rent a car at 21 in every state (for an extra "Young Renters Fee"), with New York and Michigan allowing people as young as 18 to rent a car. Government employees are also allowed to rent as young as 18 with proof of employment. I think it's pretty neat!
Source: https://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/...1iZTc3Tm0%3D#/

And @zenjenn, I definitely agree with your reply about giving adolescents more autonomy. I hate that I'm now able to vote, but I still have to ask (most of) my teachers if I can use the restroom. HCS also just spent a bucketload of money to revamp our library at my school, and yet we've never been allowed to go before school, after school, or during lunch hours because they want to keep us watched and corralled in one location (we basically only get to go if our teacher uses the library for a lesson). I swear, if they would actually let me go to the library when I have a free moment, I would never leave! Why pay for this stuff if students never get to use it? But that's a whole other issue...

I know a lot of people my age are very irresponsible, but if we're allowed to determine the future of our country and society by voting (which is a huge deal if you think about it), why can't we make other important decisions? I'm currently looking for a car for college, but I can't test drive any vehicles because I can't sign a contract in AL (and it's hard to find a time that my parents can go that isn't a Saturday). It's a small complaint, but frustrating nevertheless.

I guess changing the Age of Majority will come just as soon as our much-needed lottery I appreciate everyone's insight!

The voting age being 18 is an accident of fate of sorts. It was actually 21, but during the 60s, youth rightly argued that how can they be forced to go to war at 18 when they can't vote (or drink for that matter, see above)? The voting issue became kind of a Vietnam-era draft version of "taxation without representation". It actually took a Consitutional Amendment that passed in 1971 after a couple of years to lower the voting age to 18.

PS I don't know this all from first-hand experience, just well read, I was only a very very little kid in the late 60s and 1970s.

[Julius_Barkley]

Basically i think it's cause the court did not pass a bill to lower the age. Children always feel like they are already adults once they hit 18, and tying them to laws until 19 only calls for more resistance and violence. According to me, most countries should even consider lowering the age from the common 18 to 16, cause honestly, in our current generation, by 16 a child knows pretty much everything that adults know.