Teen Car Accidents - this is frustrating...

Freak

Okay, I don't want to put a downer on the place, but this has really been pissing me off. I love being able to drive, or should I say, be driven around by my friends, but sometimes I think the government should be a lot more strict about handing out licenses.

In the last nine days, there have been two very serious crashes, involving three cars in total, all driven by teenagers. Worst part is how close to home it hits me.

The first one was a kid driving a two-seater Mazda with three passengers, piss drunk, at 170 KPH. He skidded off the road and ended up rolling the car a few dozen times, killing all four teens inside. One of these was a girl in my grade 7 class, four months pregnant. I never knew her that well, but that just made me sick.

The second happened this past weekend, no alcohol, just terrible driving. A girl I know very well (our student council president no less), who EVERYONE has noticed is just a sad sad sad excuse for a driver, caused a head-on collision after drifting over the yellow line on the highway. She only suffered minor injuries, but the two girls she collided with (who I also know very well) are in critical condition with comas and broken bodies at the local hospital. It just angers me, and makes me horrified, and upset, and many other things.

Again, I hate to sound morbid like this, but does anyone else agree that kids need a lot more driving prep? I still hear all the time from kids that "the road laws are too strict on them."

Miakal

Yeah, I would've never agreed with this when I was 16, but I really think kids need to wait until their 18 before driving. I'm not even sure how old you have to be in Canada but here in the states it's typically 16. Kids really need better training. Further then that....I think at the age of 16 they are just not ready for it. When I and everyone else that I knew was 16 we were super ####ing crazy and irresponsible, the acne and anti-depressant medication effecting our brain like bees in a split can of Natural Ice beer.

whaddapiece

In Michigan, you used to get your full license at 16, obtaining a driver's permit was at 15, after completing driver's ed. That's how it was for me. But now, you still get your license at 16, but there are restrictions such as you cannot drive with more than one peer in the car (under age 25 I believe) at a time, and you cannot be on the road between the hours of 12 midnight and 5 A.M., I believe. You can't get your full-privilege license until your're 18. Now I know when I was 16, I was always driving around a car-full of my friends. While we never got into trouble, I understand the strictness of the new law. Also, I don't know if it's just in Michigan, but drunk driving laws just got real tough lately. Someone correct me if they know of this stuff better than I do. I'll tell you this -- the road test was somewhat challenging, but the written test was a breeze, and I know some people that shouldn't have a license that do. It was waaaaay too easy. Hell, I didn't even miss one question the last time I had to renew my license. So you tell me...

DMW

I don't think teens need more training to drive because I think they're fully capable of driving a car. They just aren't mature enough to understand and handle the responsiblity of it. As Miakal said, there's no way I would have said this when I was 16, but now I look back at all the stupid ass stuff my friends and I did when we first got our licenses and realize that we probably should not of been driving.

About three or four kids dies in my high school during my four years and they were all in car accidents, and none of them were drug or alcohol related. For all the talk about people being to old to drive, the numbers clearly show that teens are infinitly more dangerous. It would be a major damper on high school life, but I think the driving age should be 18.

Platinium Pubu

I think that some kids can handle the responsibility of driving. Kids are taught the dangers of reckless driving, but I don't think it is drilled into their heads enough. I think if the laws were stricter, especially the laws that would take you license away, then kids would drive better. I'm 18, and I have only had my license for like 2 months at most now, however I have been driving since I was 16. Around when I was 16 and a half, I started to drive on my own with just my permit. I did realize the stupidity of it, and that I would get screwed if I got caught, so I drove carefully. And up to like September, I didn't have a permit or license to drive with, but I still drove. A car that wasn't insured and with an expired inspection sticker no-less either. So I do appreciate having my license, and I am careful. I only do stupid sh*t like speed when there is no one else on the road.

Quack Handle

16 is too young I think, but in the U.K you can start to practice at 17 with an adult in the car, and by the time you've learnt you're 18.

Reilly

Yes, I know quite a lot of people (Males of course) who drive crazily fast, at any possible moment. To look great, of course.

And a lot of them are great drivers, but nomatter how great you are it makes no difference if youre piss drunk and decide to over take a bus going around a bend.

Thats the way it works in N. Ireland right now, boy racers is the IN thing. Souped up Peujeots driving at 120mph with a bunch of people crushed into the back seat. ####ing idiots, really.

Not only am I pissed with the government for not changing anything, but Im also super pissed with the amount of idiots who are killing themselves and other people to be remembered for that moment.

Give it time