Law drives teens off road
Campus Times
February 13, 1998
Imagine a 16-year-old boy in high school. He is getting ready to start
dating girls and he has to ask mommy if she is free on Friday night so she
can drive him and his date around town.
Starting July 1, most teenagers will have to do this. The new Brady-Jared
Teen Drivers Safety Act passed by the California Legislature will take effect
and all 16-year-old teenagers who apply for their permits after that date
will have to abide by the new laws, which includes asking parents to supervise
their dates or any other social outings that require driving a car.
However, teenagers 16 years old will be able to receive their licenses
just like they have been for many years. But now, a few new rules go along
with that new responsibility.
Instead of having a permit for only 30 days like it is right now, starting
on July 1 permit holders will have to hold on to their permits a little
bit longer than usual, six months. A completion of 50 hours of supervised
driving (10 of those hours have to be at night) with parental or guardian
supervision and not being able to drive between the hours of midnight and
5 a.m. are just a few of the new rules.
The most dramatic change of this is the fact that a 16-year-old cannot
drive anyone under 20 around unless he or she is supervised by an adult
20 or older.
Now, are the rules getting a little bit out of control and tedious?
What the new act is trying to avoid is teens driving with teens. Knowing
the teens today, they probably will not abide by the new laws anyhow, so
why have them at all?
What happens on that big prom night in high school? A night that is
supposed to be so special between two people, now it can be special between
boy, girl and a supervised driver. But what difference does that rule really
make when the poor kid has to be out of the driver's seat come midnight
anyway?
It is not like these teenagers are out drinking and driving. Legally,
they are too young to be doing that, so what is the real problem here?
These new laws just make things more complicated and making more complicated
laws will help prevent teen accidents from occurring. What is really going
to happen is it is going to take parents away from their already busy schedules
and with more and more single parent families, most parents cannot afford
it.
If parents were seriously asked how much easier it is on them to not
have to worry about picking up their younger kids from school or taking
them to some sort of after school practice because they have their teens
to rely on, they would realize what they have been taken for granted all
these years. Or what about having a big sister pick up a little brother
from second grade, all that sort of innocent activity will have to stop
and mom will have to leave work to pick up the kids.
Getting your license is such a huge responsibility into adulthood and
all of these laws and regulations take that away. The laws were just fine
the way they were, there was no need for any change. Accidents happen everyday
and we doubt this law is going to stop that.
