Only in places with awesome public transportation.
If I didn't have a car when I was 16, I would never have been able to work.
No school, no licence
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
If I didn't have a car when I was 16, I would never have been able to work.
Good point; in no way should it reflect the ability to transport to/from work. If it limits even a quarter of the available workplaces, you're forcing kids to drop out even sooner, so they have more time to find a job that's close by.
I know! So many people just don't understand what it actually is. It does make me want to boo them sometimes. That's one of the reasons I like coming here, because lots of people here know what it is like. There's so much misunderstanding and disrespect for those with mental illnesses in the US.
Yeah, this was my thought as well. I remember a kid in my school who dropped out during his senior year after his father passed away. He had several younger siblings and his mom simply was unable to deal with all the medical bills and regular bills and he wanted to work to help support her. I was young so I didn't know all the details at the time and don't know if there was a better solution, but I wonder if it would affect people like this.
Not on an individual basis certainly, because as you said you can have great teen drivers and lousy adult drivers. But statistically speaking the young and the elderly are at the highest risk of being involved in accidents due to lack of experience/poor judgment or impairment of senses/other medical issues respectively, so age does play a part.
That being said, I don't agree with this proposal. If they want to deny on-campus driver's ed. classes to the student that's their prerogative, but they shouldn't have any say in whether a student can get a driver's license or not if they get their training off-campus. All this shit with schools and businesses thinking they should control what people do outside of their walls needs to be opposed wherever possible.
The thing is, though, teenagers are bad drivers because of their lack of experience. Prolonging their chance at experience by a couple of years won't change that.
Now, old people are poor drivers due to fading mental skills and motor skills something where there's no room for improvement.
Now, old people are poor drivers due to fading mental skills and motor skills something where there's no room for improvement.
If anyone is interested, 16 year old in Australia can only have a learner's licence which means that they must have a supervising driver in the car with them. So the only way a 16 year old can drive themselves to work is if someone with a full licence is in the car with them so if this was introduced it would not have much of effect on 16 year olds working.
While I do not agree with this proposal, I would happily endorse a law that lowered the drinking age to 14 and raised the driving age to 19.
Drinking age to 14?? Most people shouldn't drink that are 30!
Agreed. But then, if I had my way, everybody under 35 would be seen and not heard.
Damned kids, think they know everything......
THEY KNOW NOTHING!!!!
Seniors should be required to retake the driving exam. Just as teens can be a menace on the road...so can the q-tips.
However, teens are way way worse. Especially teen/young adult boys.
I really think the driving age should be 18.
If anything then alchohol should be illegal....and weed should be legal. It really would be a happier world. So is everybody on board with this??? Yayyyyyy!!!
You've got my vote!
In the same token, they could also lower the age of consent (as opposed to drinking) to 14, since sex is much, much less damaging then drinking alcohol.
Last edited:
As I said, raising the drivig age wouldn't help anything. Teen drivers are poor due to inexperience. An 18 year old who has never driven isn't any more experienced than a 16 year-old who has never driven. You wouldn't fix the problem. You'd also make an impact on the workforce because it'd be harder for teens to take a job because if they can't drive then they have no reliable transportation to/from a job (unless their parents have open enough schedules/are willing to be the transportation providers or the area the teen works in has sufficent massed-transit.)
The driving age is fine at 16. Mandatory (and stricter) driver's education and maybe tighter fines for teens driving distracted (on phone, eating, etc.) would do a lot more to make teens better drivers than raising the driving age.
(On a superficial note. Not being able to drive at 16 would also have a strong "cultural impact" on American life.)
Older people, however; and again; are bad drives because of biology. Their senses (notably hearing and sight) are more impared than their young counterparts and their motor skills and reaction times are more impared than their younger counterparts due to age. How many door dings have been caused and beauty salons with cars driven through them have prooved this? Older people should have far stricter testing, much stricter standards on passing the eye exam and even having their "up-take" taken into consideration. If a eldery driver is confused by which faucet handle is the "hot" and "cold" then maybe driving shouldn't be for them anymore.
But raising th driving age wouldn't fix anything. There might be a scant fewer accidents but the impact would be fairly small. Teens are inexperienced. There's nothing magical about turning 18 that makes a person more-able to handle driving a car.
Seems to work for Europe.
I find it odd that Americans are qualified to fight and die for their country at 18 but cannot legally enjoy a beer.
What countries? in The Netherlands, the legal drinking age is 16 for light alcoholic drinks like Beer or Breezers, and 18 for things like Whiskey and Cognac.
Why is it odd? The brain isn't fully formed, and addictions are harder to break if someone becomes addicted before then.
Erm... yes! That is indeed what I meant by "Boo!". It was in no way a jumping out and scaring you in an attempt to trigger an anxiety attack kind of "Boo!". Not at all. Nope.
Flagius
Commander
I don't see the problem with this. We already restrict the rights and privileges of those under 18, and since it's in societies interest to educate its citizens I see no reason why something like this shouldn't be implemented. I'd make exceptions for those who drop out and get an equivalency and have jobs of course, as I think it's unreasonable to expect every kid to graduate.
Similar threads
