Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/to-drive-or-not-to-drive

Comment #3239

2013-09-06T13:22:50Z

In PA you an get your permit at 16 but must wait 6 months and have 65 hours of driving under your belt before you can test for your junior license. With your junior license you can't drive between 11 PM and 5 AM. You can also only have 1 non-adult passenger for the first 6 months. If you take Driver's Ed (both classwork and behind-the-wheel) you can get your senior license after having your junior one for a year. My kids both got their senior licenses at about 17 1/2 instead of waiting until 18.

Comment #3238

2013-09-02T01:19:57Z

I don't know what the laws in NH are now, but back in 1980, you could get your license on the day you turned 16. Currently, in CT, you can't get your permit until you are 16 and then you have to wait at least 4 months to get your license. That cuts off 4 months of drivers from the data. You would think that gap would then be made up at the 17 year old data point, but that appears not to be the case, in fact the gap widens.

From my perspective, there does not appear to be a reluctance by kids or their parents to get licenses. The school has to have a lottery system for parking spaces because they have more drivers than spaces. I think it would be interesting to see the data by state and correlate it with driving laws (maybe they did that, but I can't access the study).

Comment #3237

2013-08-28T05:57:21Z

Oh, more good intentions! But yet another barrier. You'd think they were trying to keep teens off the road. Oh, wait....

Comment #3236

2013-08-28T01:08:23Z

#6 is related to #1. Many states now have an hours requirement - you must drive a certain number of hours with a licensed adult before you can get your full license.

Comment #3235

2013-08-26T11:01:41Z

Sorry. That "true" was referring to D's comment, and Dad-o's sneaked in between them. But it's also true that insurance costs have gone through the roof for young drivers. Though I do wonder -- wasn't the price quite reasonable as long as our kids were driving "family cars"? I seem to recall it only got expensive once we had three cars, so that a teen had to be designated the primary driver on the third.

Comment #3234

2013-08-26T10:56:33Z

True, but it still leaves me wondering why parents put up with remaining chauffeurs longer than necessary.

Limited parking space at our school worked well under the then-current rules, because kids worked out efficient carpools. With restrictions now on having unrelated passengers, it must be very difficult.

Comment #3233

2013-08-26T10:49:39Z

On the expense side of the ledger I would suggest that the cost of adding a teenager to the insurance of existing cars in the household could well be what is being referred to.

Comment #3232

2013-08-26T01:09:42Z

You have to also consider parents who are willing to continue to drive kids everywhere and restricted parking spaces at schools.