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Originally Posted by bouncertime
I agree with Blur, raising the age for a drivers License is not going to help, it will only change the statistics.
The first thing they need to do is bring drivers edjucation classes back to the school system. For some reason kids nowadays are not getting the same training they did when I was in school. There is no easy cure for teenage stupidity while driving, but moving the driving age will only make things worse. Atleast now they have more control over who trains them on how to drive.
This should be a federal law, it should be illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to operate a cell phone while driving a moving vehicle. And illegal for anyone to use a cell phone while driving without a hands free type device. And they need to enforce it, this law went into effect back in July for CA, but I still see people holding their cell phones while driving all the time.
This one is not going to be like by many, but I don't think anyone with less than 2 years of driving experince should be driving a car with power to weight ratio of 14/1 or less. Unless they have been through a professional performance driving course. How many times have you heard of a kid killing themselves or others driving a car that is faster than they can handle.
I am sure others have more they can add.
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It's not always the power that's so dangerous. Sometimes its the likelihood that it will roll or that the car is underpowered and the driver feels the need to show off. It's dangerous for someone to question the ego of a Civic Si driver because that 17-year-old will go nuts and try to weave through traffic. While examples like Hogan's son exist where a ridiculously fast Supra with a drunk driver decides to Hollywood at night (3 independent cases of stupid: drinking, showing off or Hollywooding, driving fast at night), there are plenty of middle class high school students that are driving hand-me-downs with equal or greater threats to other drivers.*
Quote:
Originally Posted by bouncertime
Yes that is very true, which is why this is a difficult subject to find a cure for. I have witnessed many adults who you wonder how they got a drivers license and teenagers who drive better than most adults.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyman 08
The real problem is Matruity and Experience.
Responsibility (Maturity) helps you to keep from doing things in a car you know you shouldn't. Like doing burnouts in the middle of a crowded freeway. Drag racing because someone revved his engine up at the stoplight next to you etc., and realizing you don't have the experience and are more careful when you drive.
Experience, helps you to not make bad decisions when driving. like when to pull out when a car is coming, how to drive in the rain, at night etc... all which the more you do the better you get at it.
Raising the driving age may help in the Maturity part (I know several immature 50 year olds), but not the experience part. that is why I feel a graduated system is better, give you more experience before you are released to venture out on your own.
Edit:
I forgot a big one, Learning respect.. Respect the rules of the road and the danger that can lurk around every corner. Just because the guy in front of you makes that illegal turn, or runs the redlight, does not mean it is OK for you to do the same.
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Respect is a very important one. It is important to respect other drivers as well as the law. Even if sometimes the enforcers of the law—the same guys that wrote you that parking ticket for letting your bumper 3 inches too close to the intersection—are sometimes tools, it is important for you to respect that the law is a disembodied authority that keeps people safe. The law, at the same time, is not infallible. If you do not like a local traffic law, lobby your city hall to change it for everyone. It isn't safe to just act like the law is the way you want it to be, and so often it is that wrongful behavior that leads to accidents.
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Originally Posted by Dragoneye
It should be MUCH HARDER to aquire a license...but the age should not be raised -- it won't do anything. Like Blur said -- you don't suddenly gain the ability to drive safe at any age. And like Skyman said: It takes 1)training/experience, 2)maturity, and 3)common sense. None of which are directly, and undoubtedly linked to age.
1) Experience: raising the age would delay the time it takes to get experience behind the wheel; it's just going to take that much longer to get experience if you have to wait.......
2) Maturity: admittidly, it is generally true that the older you get, the more mature you get...but there are enough teenagers who ARE mature enough to drive that they end up being 'punished' under this generalization.
3) Common-Sense: If you don't have it, it's going to be har to get it...age has nothing to do with this beyond the mid-teen years.
If you raise the age...it's just going to raise the age of those people who are constantly dying in stupid car crashes. The only REAL way to eliminate the problem is to properly train people to drive...not the scare-tactics-1970's-videos that they shove down your throat in these bogus "courses"...actually TEACH people how to drive. Make it mandatory, make it all-conclusive, and make the test harder to pass (both road and paper).
This will weed out anybody not qualified to drive. From 16 to 90+. If you're a good driver, then there's nothing to worry or get upset about: you'll pass. But if you fit the stereo typical 16 year old, or even a middle-aged person who takes stupid risks and endangers others on the road...you won't pass. Good.
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Common sense is not as common as its name implies.
*I am playing the devil's advocate. For future reference, I will note this over and over again. Sometimes I will agree with you even though I am posting contrary material.