DEBATE: Should 16-year-olds be allowed to drive?

Um...You're exaggerating just a bit I think Ryujin. I don't know if the economy would necessarily tank if 16/17 couldn't drive, I'm sure it would put a plenty big hole in it though. 16/17 would still get jobs, perhaps not as many of them, but plenty would find a way around it. Money just wouldn't be flowing around from used cars being bought (and new ones for the richer and/or less financialy intelligent families) and from car insurance. And a lot of kids wouldn't be paying for gas either, or anything else related to maintenance of their car... When in college I don't think you generally have to drive there. I live in San Diego, and even though UCSD requires a great amonut of parking (mostly for faculty) I usually see most students taking the bus, biking, or just walking to the campus. Most everyone lives either in the dorms or in the very nearby apartments, so you don't usually need to drive. However, when in college you generally like to be able to get around the city to do various things with friends...I doubt it really affect working age that much, if much at all.
Yeah...US public transportation, for the most part, sucks. San Diego still has a somewhat decent system, sort of, not really though. we have a trolley that runs around downtown, but I don't travel downtown...we have a train system for those needing to commute very long distances, like 1hr commutes...but I don't need that. Taxis ain't cheap, and the bus comes around...not too often... So yeah...cars are a must to move from point A to point B usually...
Anyways, good fun again :p

Umm, my brother is going to a community college here, and it is about half an hour away, not bad for just driving... He has no need to live on campus, so he's still living here. He also would not have enough money to live on the campus. He is 17 year's old, will be 18 about 2 weeks after he starts college. With the rules you guys want, he would not be able to go to college... And even if you live on campus, around here, buses don't come to near our house, nor do taxis, if he lived on campus, every time he wanted to come home or go somewhere, he'd have to call his parents... Come on, when you're 17 you shouldn't have to rely on parents to drive you around, and usually at 16 or 17 if you have a curfew it's alot later, like 11 PM-1 AM, now if I were 17, my parents would let me stay out until 12 or 1, but they certainly don't want to come pick me up or drive me around at that time...

And about the economy, I was just thinking about people not getting jobs until they're older, but what you said about not buying gas or cars is true too, making it even worse...

Another example. My dad is 49. He'll be able to retire when he is 58 or 60. If he hadn't started driving or working until 20 or 22, he wouldn't be able to retire until he is 65 or so, and that really sucks...

I don't think many people are responsible until they are in their late 20's or into their 30's, but you can't not let people drive until they're 30, that's just ridiculous :eek:

And I know most of you were saying 18, but I saw a couple people saying they think even 20 was too early, which is who I'm directing these posts to...

Just a in-a-hurry-reply again;

Deker, a good point with the crappy public transport there.
But I thought we were talking more about the troubles coming with young people getting licenses. Also, a country like the US should be spending money on issues like this (creating decent public transport structures) instead of fighting wa... *gets beaten up by everyone* :D

Also, who said about giving the license to people over 30 or something? lol.

So yea, hasty fast point being that even if it would be necessary doesn't make it safe and logic. Build the damn buses and railroads instead of forcing people drive that are too young for it. (sorry if I'm going offtopic again, but yea..that's the origin of the problem as I see it)

Public transport structures ... well the only solutions available now without a tax increase would be creating more bus routes, but buses are quite unreliable. Major cities usually have good public transportation (well maybe NYC only ... ). Installing subways in big metropolitan areas will take years and there's bound to be a lot more traffic and aggravation during that time. The US is just too spread out to have some sort of efficient public transport system. We have like long range buses and stuff like that but that's not going to help those stuck in the middle of suburbian hell.

*BLAM off-topic* Instead of wasting money on trying to create an expensive and inefficient transport structure, the US could start using money to invest in a Wi-Fi network for big cities. I walked around Manhattan today and I spotted a few Verizon Broadband HotSpot locations (Wi-Fi enabled areas), unfortunately it's availabe to Verizon customers only.

But think about it, a wired city where you can even walk into a McDonalds and have a LAN party with friends ... :eek:

while i do feel 16 is a bit young for a child to have a license...i do think it is a good idea to properly train young people to drive responsibly.

i think they should extend the driver's training course if they are going to allow 16 year old people to drive. i think that a 3 month summer course is hardly sufficient time to "train" someone for the responsibility that comes with opperating a large vehicle. perhaps if the course was more strict and in depth in preparing them for both the technical and emotional aspects.. we would be planting a stronger driving ethic in them and possibly allow them to take it more seriously.
there is also the consideration that:
getting a license at a young age does often encourage youth to enter the work force in an attempt to purchase a car to go with their new found freedom. a car payment coupled with an extremely high insurance rate will usually keep them out of too much trouble. (although...youth will be youth...they always find trouble if they want it bad enough)

so perhaps a much longer, more strict course would aid.

*shrugs*

maybe..

Originally posted by Ryujin
Another example. My dad is 49. He'll be able to retire when he is 58 or 60. If he hadn't started driving or working until 20 or 22, he wouldn't be able to retire until he is 65 or so, and that really sucks...

you dont retire untill youre about 65 in denmark...

and if you call a cab, they cab will come no matter where it is?? but hell yeah.. caps are expensive so that is no decent daily transport.. theres a lot of different aspects in a matter like this, as there is in so many other things..

18 is the age in denmark, and i think that suits a license just fine.. thats when you get all the other sh*t in your face.. pay taxes and all that.. the legal age, or whatever its called.. thats also when you start working seriously and all that.. mostly.. not all the time of course..

and Ryujin .. apperently your brother DOES need to live at the campus if he didnt have license.. otherwise he wouldnt get there after what i hear from your post... i know a license is a big help, + a freedom that is a must ^_^ but i still think 16 is to young for most people.. again, not all..

im not attacking you directly Ryujin ... just pointing some stuff out.. dont take it personal and go wild on flaming me

OK, now I'll throw in my long-winded opinion here:
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About 10 years ago, in the state I'm in in the US (Iowa), you could get a learning permit when you were 14. This learning permit allowed you to drive while you had any number of people with you, as long as one of them was a family member of at least 21. When you turned 15, you could get a school permit, which allowed you to drive from home to school functions, and back home. You had to stay on the most direct route. This did not require adult supervision, and you could have passengers as far as I know. Before you got your drivers license at 16, you must have first passed a drivers education course, which was about 40 hours of class time, and 10 hours of driving time. During this time, they encouraged you to drive as much as possible with your parents. The day you turned 16, you could have a full and unrestricted drivers licence. These rules have of course tightened since I was that age, but it's not a whole lot more restrictive.

Now for the opinon. I think 16-year-olds should be allowed to drive. I think 15-year-olds should be allowed to drive. I think 14-year-olds should be allowed to drive. Why? Well I live in the rural United States. I grew up in a town of 195 people. I had a 5-mile one-way drive to school every day. If I wanted a job, it was a 70-mile roundtrip drive. We have no such thing as taxis, buses, subways, trains, or anything even remotely resembling public transportation. In my town, we did not have a restaurant, nor a gas station. If you needed milk and gas, you had to drive at least 12 miles roundtrip. We are in a highly saturated farming community. The kids that grow up on farms can drive the family tractors into town if they are hauling grain...I've yet to see an age limit on that. I know of kids that are 10 and 11 that haul the grain into the local elevator. Where I grew up, a drivers license is a NECESSITY to someone who is 16 years old. Around here, you need a job. We are much more traditional here, and parents pretty much force you to get a job at 15. I was working from the age of 12 at a local chicken house picking eggs. When I turned 16, my route every day consisted of a nearly 80 road miles. From home, to school, to work, to home. I would leave for school at 7:30, and arrive back home at maybe 1:00 or 2:00 AM every weekday. On the weekends, I stayed with my father, who lived in the town where I worked, so I simply had a 4-mile drive every day. And of course, my school district consisted of 4 different towns, and every town served a purpose in the school. It was 12 miles from the high school to the football field. They took exactly 1 pep-bus to the football games, and you were lucky if there was an empty seat. If you wanted at all to be a supporter of your team, you had to drive to those games. Very few of my high school friends lived anywhere near me, most were over 30 minutes away. If I couldn't have had a full license when I was 16, my social life would have been destroyed. If I couldn't have a full license when I was 16, I couldn't have had a full-time job. If I didn't have a license, I would probably have committed stupid crimes completely out of boredom. The most exciting thing to do in my town growing up was to go fishing. We didn't have a bowling alley, we didn't have a movie theater, we didn't have ANYTHING! You city folks are spoiled, yes spoiled.

I've since moved away from my home town, to a rather large city by Iowa standards (12,000 people). We still don't have a bus. There is a single taxi, but it's simply an elderly transport for those wanting a ride to the senior center. There is a train, but it hauls grain and that is it. Even in this town, I believe it is necessary for kids aged 16 to have a drivers license.

When I was going to college, my daily drive was over 100 miles. I spent almost 2 hours on the road every day to get from home to school, back home, to work, and back home again. I was only 18 then. If I could not have gotten a full license until I was 18, there is absolutely no way I would have survived that drive every day.

I will absolutely agree though that it is dangerous for 16-year-olds to drive. I've been in 3 accidents. 1 was a week after I got my first car. I hit a telephone pole at about 50 miles per hour, luckily came out OK. When I was 18, I sideswiped a car in the 2-lane in town, because I was talking on my cell phone. When I was 19, I rear-ended a car because I was hollering at some women. People will do stupid things behind the wheel no matter what age, but 16-year-olds lack the experience to know better. I know many 16-year-olds who drive much better than most people in their 70's and up.

I think it is important for states to set their own laws on driving license ages and restrictions, as it is now. I don't think we need the federal government to step in and say "This is how it is".

Lol, Casual, he does, I was saying IF he didn't and couldn't until he was older... ;) And Taxis DON'T come here at all, lol...

The REAL question is: Should OLD (senior citizens) people be allowed to drive?

yes! i happen to like larger cars myself and accidents occur at lower speeds :-).






(disregard....my insanity)