Opinion of Provisional Driver's Licenses

[DownWithTheLeft]

For obvious reasons I disapprove, especially the plan New Jersey puts forth.

The biggest qualm I have is not over hours, but the asisnine restriction they have limited 17 year old drivers to one person outside of the family.  Although I will be the first to admit I hardly ever let this stop me, they actually give tickets for this (I know someone a ticket away from losing their license).  The restriction not only is bad for the environment, its bad for the checkbook as more people have to drive, which increases congestion on the road.

So what do you think?  Should all driver's licenses be equal or no?

[Franzl]

oh I dunno....I guess some of the rules for drivers that are under 18 are stupid...but the general idea behind it, that youngsters learn to drive gradually....is certainly good.

I had to go through an entire year of supervised driving when I was 17...God am I happy that's over. I do feel that I profited from it, though.

[DownWithTheLeft]

oh I dunno....I guess some of the rules for drivers that are under 18 are stupid...but the general idea behind it, that youngsters learn to drive gradually....is certainly good.

I still fail to the logic in this particular restriction in New Jersey though, your putting more cars on the road which causes more congestion, more young drivers, and more chance of an accident

[DownWithTheLeft]

The entire New Jersey system is stupid, but there are a lot of changes to be made if things were to run the way I want them to be.

Anything in particular?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

For obvious reasons I disapprove, especially the plan New Jersey puts forth.

The biggest qualm I have is not over hours, but the asinine restriction they have limited 17 year old drivers to one person outside of the family.  Although I will be the first to admit I hardly ever let this stop me, they actually give tickets for this (I know someone a ticket away from losing their license).  The restriction not only is bad for the environment, its bad for the checkbook as more people have to drive, which increases congestion on the road.

So what do you think?  Should all driver's licenses be equal or no?

The simple fact is that teenage drivers are far more likely to suffer distractions than adult drivers, regardless of experience level.  More passengers means more distraction for the driver.  So it is actually safer to have two 17 year drivers on the road with a friend each that to have one 17 year old driver with three friends in the car.

From a safety point of view, the limit should be zero non-family passengers, but that would mean parents would have to drive their minor kids on dates, and that's not gonna happen.

[Хahar 🤔]

The entire New Jersey system is stupid.

[Хahar 🤔]

The entire New Jersey system is stupid.

AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!  I don't think I've ever heard a bad New Jersey joke, bravo on such a winner.  That one's going in the books...




Don't talk about Jersey.

I aim to please.

[Meeker]

Teen driving deaths dropped 45% the year after we instituted our Intermediate Driver's License.

I can't argue with numbers like that.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm never going to drive, so it doesn't really bother me.

[Хahar 🤔]

     I'm never going to drive, so it doesn't really bother me.

Oh?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm never going to drive, so it doesn't really bother me.

Oh?

     I'm much too nervous to do things that require fine motor skills. I can't even play a song on the flute without practicing it for hours. I would flip out if I had to maneuver 3,000 pounds of steel.

[Хahar 🤔]

     I'm never going to drive, so it doesn't really bother me.

Oh?

     I'm much too nervous to do things that require fine motor skills. I can't even play a song on the flute without practicing it for hours. I would flip out if I had to maneuver 3,000 pounds of steel.

You'll have to sooner or later. It can't be too hard if everyone does it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm never going to drive, so it doesn't really bother me.

Oh?

     I'm much too nervous to do things that require fine motor skills. I can't even play a song on the flute without practicing it for hours. I would flip out if I had to maneuver 3,000 pounds of steel.

You'll have to sooner or later. It can't be too hard if everyone does it.

     Why would I have to? As long as I live in San Francisco, I can use public transportation to go wherever I want.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

     I'm much too nervous to do things that require fine motor skills. I can't even play a song on the flute without practicing it for hours. I would flip out if I had to maneuver 3,000 pounds of steel.

Flipping out isn't what you need to worry about.  Flipping over is.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm much too nervous to do things that require fine motor skills. I can't even play a song on the flute without practicing it for hours. I would flip out if I had to maneuver 3,000 pounds of steel.

Flipping out isn't what you need to worry about.  Flipping over is.

     Ah, but you see, flipping out increases the risk of flipping over, or something like that.

[Erc]

Teen driving deaths dropped 45% the year after we instituted our Intermediate Driver's License.

I can't argue with numbers like that.

The one concern I have about statistics like that, is, of course teen driving deaths are going to drop if you basically prevent teens from driving (in NY, for example, the law change effectively increased the driving age to 16.5, plus put restrictions on 16.5 - 18 driving without extra training).

The unstated statistics that need to be looked at are the accident rates amongst 18-20 year old drivers, a few years down the line.  If they go up substantially (because 18-20 year old drivers are now less experienced than the previous cohort was at the same age), then all the new driving laws have done is pushed a fair amount of the "inexperienced driver" fatalities out of the high school range.

On net, there likely still is a significant increase in safety records amongst inexperienced drivers...though such 45% claims are probably somewhat overstating the actual results of the program.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Apparently they are pretty leinant on taking away provisional licenses.  My friend has two tickets and three accidents and hasn't lost it yet.  I'd be interested to know if anyone knows of this being enforced.  The only people I've known to get tickets for this are kids who don't even look 17

[Dr. Cynic]

Don't Drive. Don't Care.

[Rin-chan]

I think they're a smart idea.  It's an added incentive for new drivers to be careful on the roads.  I do think that the driving time restrictions are a bit ridiculous, but I agree with having points already on the license and not having more than 1 unrelated person in the car with you.  It reduces distractions and kids will drive better knowing they can have their license taken away very easily.

Rin-chan

[MasterJedi]

I approve of them, and maybe old people should have some form of them when they get old enough that their drivin deteriorates enough.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Woo-hoo halfway through my Provisional

[angus]

So what do you think?  Should all driver's licenses be equal or no?

They should all be equal, and no one under 25 should be licensed to drive. 

Back when the congress noticed that drinking while driving was a big problem, they decided to take some action.  They started to apply a "highway funding formula" which basically put pressure on states to raise their drinking ages.  One by one, states started to raise their legal drinking ages.  When my brother, five years my senior, turned old enough to drink, he turned 18.  By the time I came along, the drinking age was 19.  Nowadays it's 21 in all states.  Louisiana was the last holdout, but finally raised its drinking age from 18 to 21 about ten years ago.  (The condition of its roads a testament to the fact that it held out for so long.)  In my opinion, the congress, as usual, had its head up its ass.  It wasn't the drinking age that should have been raised, but the driving age.  We give driver's licenses to folks at 16.  Or at least that's when I got mine, although I had friends who got "hardship" licenses at 15. 

Letting a teenager drive a car, but he can't buy a bottle of Wild Turkey?  That's just bizarre.  I agree that drinking while driving is a problem.  And I had my share of that problem when I was that age.  Broke a few telephone poles, and dented a few cars.  Nearly killed myself and others a few times.  I'm lucky I lived to tell about it.  But I was equally capable of wrecking a car when I was sober.  I had my share of accidents even sober as a nun at that age.  Children do stupid stuff, drunk or sober.  I realize now that the states made the wrong decision.  It wasn't the drinking age that should have been raised, but the driving age.

All licenses should be considered equal--either you can drive or you can't.  But outside the 25 to 65 bracket, folks don't need to be driving.  And, yes, there should probably be an upper limit on driving as well.

[tik 🪀✨]

25? Seriously? I can't even imagine being unable to drive for another 3 years. I likely would never have found a job.. then again, if people couldn't drive until 25, our entire infrastructure would likely be very different.