Rural teens whiplashed in driving tiff
2001 GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
Bill Osinski - Staff
Sunday, March 18, 2001

Donalsonville --- Viewed from the small-town perspective, necessity is the mother of ignition.

In rural Georgia, young people need to drive if they're going to get anywhere. Many of them have been driving some type of motorized vehicle from the time they were big enough to see above the steering wheel.

So, as the General Assembly approaches the denouement of a session-long debate over tougher teen-driving restrictions --- including nighttime curfews, passenger limits and banning unsupervised 16-year-old drivers in metro Atlanta counties --- it's no surprise that legislators from rural districts are leading the fight against them.

In places like Seminole County, population 9,000, people wonder how and why their kids have been lumped into the discussion.

"We rear our children to manage vehicles at a young age," said Judy Rose, principal of Seminole County High School. "It's a tradition and a necessity."

On the roads of Seminole County, tucked in the southwest corner of Georgia next to Alabama and Florida, there are few hills and fewer curves. In downtown Donalsonville, a parking problem means not being able to pull up under the shade of a magnolia tree on the fringe of the courthouse green.

Rose, who grew up on a Turner County farm and was driving the family pickup around the farm to help feed the cows before she was 12, acknowledged that teenagers in rural areas are not immune from big-city-type problems. "We all have experienced the same tragedies with our teenagers and alcohol, drugs and poor judgment," she said.

Her school may even have experienced more than its share of driving-related crises in recent years. In January, two high school students were killed when the car in which they were riding went through a stop sign on a country road, was struck by another car and exploded into flames. The 20-year-old driver was also killed, and an 18-year-old passenger, who was thrown from the car, remains comatose from his injuries.

About a year ago, another student was killed in a one-car crash while driving with his brother. And in 1998, a high school student driver was involved in a wreck that resulted in the death of his younger brother.

Nevertheless, Rose and others in Seminole County question whether the remedy being promoted by Gov. Roy Barnes, and another proposal by Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and a bipartisan group of senators, would help prevent tragic accidents like those.

"Some solutions, even if well-intended, might make sense for metropolitan Atlanta, but not for here," said Chip Stewart, a Donalsonville attorney who represents teenagers in the county's juvenile court.

For example, among the proposed legislative remedies is a curfew banning teenagers from driving after a certain nighttime hour. "I had a curfew," Stewart said. "And there were times I drove home at 90 miles an hour to make it."

Some young people in Seminole County don't think curfews and other proposed teen driving restrictions are the answer.

At the student parking lot of Seminole County High School, pickups far outnumber hot rods. The student drivers see a difference between driving in the country and in the city.

"People seem to be more aggressive in the bigger cities," said Nick Pumphrey, a senior. "They want to get where they're going 20 minutes ago."

Elizabeth Ponder said most teens would be better drivers if their driving were more strictly monitored by their parents. "The parents need to get out there and start driving more with their teenagers," she said.

Not everyone in Seminole County rejects the idea that stricter legislation could do some good. Melvin Henry, a Seminole county deputy sheriff and the proprietor of a popular Donalsonville restaurant, said what he's seen on the streets has convinced him that something needs to be done.

"Kids don't want to behave. They don't want to listen to parents. They're out all night," he said.

"Teenagers need to know they're going to be held responsible," said Jamie Middleton, a 17-year-old who is being home schooled for her last year of high school. "Now, they think they can get away with it." Eric Gaulden, owner of a Donalsonville furniture store, said the differences between teen driving issues in the city and in the country have diminished in recent years.

"It's changed dramatically," he said. "We've got more traffic and more congestion here now, and the roads are more dangerous. It's gotten to the point where somebody's got to do something about it."

Whatever impact the teen driving debate has on rural Georgia, the tradition of driving at an early age is likely to remain.

Bob Hall, a Seminole County retiree, recalled that he was driving a farm tractor when he was about 6 years old.

"I owned my first car when I was 14," Hall said. "It was a '46 Chevy. I drove it wherever and whenever I wanted. My dog slept in it, so when I wanted to go coon huntin' at night, I just had to crank it up, and I was good to go."