Writer's Block: Licensed to Drive
May. 19th, 2009 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkitty[Error: unknown template qotd]
What an incredibly biased question. I hope LJ got a pretty penny for the sponsored ad.
Driving is a dangerous psychomotor activity, no doubt about it. Many teens are not capable of driving safely -- especially in peer groups. In California, we have passed a variety of laws to properly regulate teenage driving. Lower BAC for drunk driving, curfews, bans on cell phone use and texting, etc. This can be and should be a state-by-state issue, not a nationwide piece of Federal legislation written by urbanites.
However there are many isolated parts of the country where being without a car is being locked in one's home. There are many safety issues involved as well in rural areas, from taking an injured or ill relative to the hospital (because there are no paramedics!) to access to health and family services.
There are places in California where getting to the local high school is an hour's drive.
To hell with Allstate. If they don't want to sell insurance for teenaged drivers, fine. Outlawing teenaged driving because it's inconvenient to them is another matter entirely.
This is also a strong step towards a national driver's license and Real ID, the long awaited mandatory identification and registration card without which one will be re-classified as a criminal.
What an incredibly biased question. I hope LJ got a pretty penny for the sponsored ad.
Driving is a dangerous psychomotor activity, no doubt about it. Many teens are not capable of driving safely -- especially in peer groups. In California, we have passed a variety of laws to properly regulate teenage driving. Lower BAC for drunk driving, curfews, bans on cell phone use and texting, etc. This can be and should be a state-by-state issue, not a nationwide piece of Federal legislation written by urbanites.
However there are many isolated parts of the country where being without a car is being locked in one's home. There are many safety issues involved as well in rural areas, from taking an injured or ill relative to the hospital (because there are no paramedics!) to access to health and family services.
There are places in California where getting to the local high school is an hour's drive.
To hell with Allstate. If they don't want to sell insurance for teenaged drivers, fine. Outlawing teenaged driving because it's inconvenient to them is another matter entirely.
This is also a strong step towards a national driver's license and Real ID, the long awaited mandatory identification and registration card without which one will be re-classified as a criminal.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 07:26 pm (UTC)In rural areas, kids are driving large farm machinery before age 16. Kids on farms are farm *workers*.
My opinion is that there is far too much of "you're too young to do x and so we wont let you" around. If you want responsible kids, you must give them real responsibilities. And yes, that means there will be the occasional problem but thats part of it being *real*.
But then there's a lot of this going around for adults these days too.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 06:30 pm (UTC)