Why don't kids like cars?

One of the links that FriedGreenCorrado posted had a good point - graduated licensing. A huge part of the reason why many of my friends got their licenses was because they didn't want their parents driving them and their friends to the movies or to a party or whatever. But nowadays, so many states/provinces won't let a 17 year old have another young person in the car with them so if you and your friends want to go to the movies your parents still have to drive you. If you can't borrow your parents car on a friday night and go pick up 4 friends and just go cruise around looking for parties, a huge incentive for getting your license disappears.

I also wonder if the article is blaming a lack of 17 year olds with licenses on the teens when they should be blaming adults. Another article FGC posted says that in 1996 Florida started forcing new drivers to wait 6 months to take the driving test after getting a learners permit, then in 2000 increased that to a year. If other states are doing the same, you're decreasing the possibility that a randomly surveyed 17 year old can legally have a license. If you don't go to the DMV on your 16th birthday, you will have at least one day as a 17 year old where you can't legally have your license. If parents use incentives/threats like "I realize you just turned 16, but you can't get your learner's permit until you raise your math grade to a B", if the next report card doesn't come out for 4 months then that teen can't have a license until they're a third of the way through being a 17 year old. The article should have mentioned some of these factors instead of blaming everything on the kids.

I also think the parents should be forcing the kids to get their licenses too, by simply refusing to chaufeur their kids around everywhere once they're eligible to get their licenses. Of course, that's very easy for me to say since I don't have kids and have no idea how hard it really is to deal with teenagers.

Bob

friedgreencorrado wrote: I have a hypothesis..traffic congestion. With all the jobs going away in rural communities, more of us live in the cities. And the cities are *packed*. The kids, as they ride with us, see us cursing, having close calls (or in the case of non-enthusiasts, crashes), getting stuck in traffic jams..and think that driving is nothing but a constant struggle to survive. IMO, a lot of these kids don't see a drivers' licence as "freedom" like I did when I got mine..they see it as a "responsibility". And not in the sense of being a responsible driver, but in the sense of "..yeah, I can't get the job without having a stupid berkeleying car..."

I think you may be on to something. I spent most of the last year work on contract at an insurance company that is 52 miles from my house. That may not seem like a long distance to some of you, but it was 52 miles of San Francisco Bay area rush our traffic. As much as I like driving, after close to an hour and a half each way of urban stop and go, I really didn't want to drive another centimeter after I got home. In October, I started a new job where I take the train to less than a block from the office. The job is downtown San Francisco where a monthly parking space cost more than a train pass. Since I stopped navigating rush-hour traffic everyday, I really enjoy driving again.

I didn't get my license until I was 18 simply because I had no car to drive and no time to get a job to get money for a car. I played soccer, ran track, did quiz bowl plus a bunch of clubs in school.

My girlfriend did not get her license until this year and she is 20. Her brother was in a really bad wreck in his Mustang killing his friend an putting him in a coma that has lasted 8 years. That whole event kinda traumatized her for a long while. Funny thing is she does love cars particularly old ones and goes to car shows with me.

I didn't get my permit till 5 months after I turned 16, and my licsence till a month before I turned 18, on account of "punishment for bad grades". The only reason I got my liscence when I did was my mom thought my permit expired when I turned 18, not 21. After that I wasn't allowed to drive till graduation.

It didn't help that "my" car was either being used by my sister or in the shop till the tuesday after graduation.

In reply to Schmidlap:

Dude, you may be onto something with your comments about graduated licensing. I'd been thinking from my own POV as a gearhead, where nothing would have held me back, regardless of the hoops I had to jump through. I can see that to a regular kid, the lack of party machine might be a deal-breaker.

As far as your other comment, well...
I'm the parent of a teen. This issue can be kinda tough. On one hand, I want her starting to be independent..but OTOH, as an enthusiast I know without a doubt that it's berkeleying DANGEROUS out there (we live in Atlanta Metro), and I'm worried that if I send her out there against her will, I'm giving her a death sentence. I actually feel fortunate that she only chooses to drive in surburban traffic (or takes her turn through the rural sections of a road trip), and leaves it to me or her mom (or her older boyfriend) if she's got to drive on the Interstates around here. It kind of splits the difference between my desire to get her out on her own, and the other desire to insure she doesn't die.

Joking aside, I really don't know how to explain to somebody without kids just how primal and powerful that feeling is..you never really look at anything the same way again. I think a lot of parents get sucked into that feeling, and just can't let their kids go.