TEEN DRIVING: OUR READERS RESPOND
Glen Gibbs, Gene Olinyk, Susan H. Boyle, M.D., Holly Becknell, Tom Murphy, Betty Goetz, Suzanne Murphy, Peter M. Snow, Cynthia Babka, Keith Kuhl and David Garramone - For the Journal-Constitution
Thursday, December 7, 2000

Driver's ed, tougher tests favored

Thank you for all your articles on teen driving and for having the town meetings. I will definitely attend the one in my area, which is Norcross.

I would like to see the following changes regarding teen driving: Raise the age to 17; require driver's education in order to get a license; and make the driving test realistic and harder --- actually have the test take place on city streets, as they do in England.

I lived in England for two years and had to take a driving test on the streets. If you exceeded the speed limit, you failed. Failing to do certain other things during the test also resulted in automatic failure.

It was hard, and many people fail on their first try. As a result, drivers in England are better trained.

A large part of my worry in allowing teenagers to drive is that they have to come in contact with the rest of the drivers. So many drivers of all ages drive recklessly --- speeding, running red lights, not signaling and cutting in and out of lanes hazardously, to name a few. I think we need to get to the root of the driving problem, which is that drivers don't obey the driving laws. We need to place cameras on the stop lights to catch people running red lights. We need billboards to remind drivers to be courteous of other drivers, and just let someone in!

We need drivers to be more careful and realize that their stupidity and carelessness in driving could hurt themselves, as well as others. I would volunteer my time and energy to do something to help if I just knew what to do.

SUZANNE MURPHY, Norcross

DUI, carelessness don't qualify as accidents

I am a parent of a 16-year-old male who drives.

An accident is when a tree falls on your car or a rock flies off the road and hits your windshield.

Driving under the influence of any drug --- be it alcohol or any other substance --- and running off the road or killing someone is not an accident.

Driving too fast for conditions and crashing your vehicle is not an accident.

Having too many friends in the car and taking your attention off your driving and running your car off the road is not an accident.

Responsibility starts at home. It is a lesson that must be taught and abided by. Lacking responsibility causes severe penalties.

Either we take personal responsibility seriously or we shall all suffer the consequences. I do feel, however, that the state should mandate driver's education through the schools. It is time to let the private driving schools teach adults who need the training and the schools to teach the children.

Raising the driving age is not the answer. Better training and being responsible are.

PETER M. SNOW, Dacula

Higher driving age, patience would help

Moving to Atlanta from New Jersey, where the minimum driving age is 17, I am shocked that parents throughout the state continue to oppose the raising of Georgia's driving age.

At least 23 metro Atlanta teenagers have been killed in car crashes this year. Many of these senseless deaths were caused because of a lack of maturity and driving experience behind the wheel.

It is extremely easy to obtain a Georgia driver's license since the test takes place in a parking lot as opposed to an actual highway situation. In addition, there is no requirement for any driver's education classes. All of this sets the stage for more of our precious teens to die on our roads.

Yet parents still cite the need for teens to help with driving chores. They still continue to give them the keys to the family car or their own vehicles to attend late-night parties, movies or mall visits to save them the inconvenience of a parent drop-off or pickup.

Yes, one year and driver's education classes can make a big difference in the driving ability of a teenager. Check the statistics of teenage accident deaths in other states with a higher age requirement. Parents, please be inconvenienced for a short 12 months so you will never have to face the heartache so many parents have had to in metro Atlanta this year.

CYNTHIA BABKA, Duluth

Parents should monitor kids' driving abilities

This subject has gotten a lot of press this past year, and I do not agree with raising the age to drive to 17. I do not think you can just put an age on driving and say, OK, you are old enough.

I think parents should monitor the progress of their teenagers as to driving abilities. If parents do not feel comfortable teaching their teens to drive and operate a vehicle, they should enroll them in a driving class.

My son is 9, and, when I know he is ready to take the wheel, (it might be when he is 13, 15 or 18 years old), I will let him drive. I know he will have lots of miles with me in the vehicle before I let him drive solo. He will have to prove to me that he can handle the vehicle in all types of situations.

More laws are not going to solve the problem of accidents. I also believe that the driving test should be done on the road, not on a driving course. We don't drive daily on a course, we drive on the roads.

Other issues such as buying a car for your teen, and curfews should be left up to the parents. I was not allowed a car until I was 18, and I had to buy it. My parents set a curfew for when I had to be home and controlled who I could have in the car with me. I was taught that driving is a privilege, not a right, and I still believe that to this day.

KEITH KUHL, Dacula

Parents should be liable for kids' misconduct

Much has been said about how to address teen driving. These are my thoughts. You can legislate all you want, but it basically comes down to parental responsibility.

Just because a child reaches the legal age to drive does not mean that he or she is ready to drive. Parents must make that determination. Nothing irks me more than wasting the Legislature's time enacting laws to do the job of parents.

Parents should be held criminally liable for the actions of their underage children. Maybe this will force more to take a greater interest in their children's extracurricular activities. An underage drinking party was held either without the parent's knowledge or with it. In either case, parents should be held criminally liable for children getting intoxicated on their property. I believe this law applies to bartenders who sell to patrons who ultimately have an accident after leaving a bar. Maybe more parents will review how they address these problems if the threat of lawsuits looms over their heads.

Schools should be required to conduct driver's education, with emphasis on drinking and driving. When I was in high school, I viewed numerous movies showing the consequences of drinking. The movies weren't pretty, but they drove home the point.

Driver's education should emphasize defensive driving, with several hours of on-the-road training.

Lastly, the cities in the metro area need to do more to enforce driving laws. When the average speed on interstates is 15 miles above the posted limit, one has to conclude that the local law enforcement agencies are either powerless or totally inept at enforcing the laws. People drive fast because no one will stop them. Police are more interested in stopping people from using the HOV lanes illegally as the rest of the world flashes by at 75 miles per hour.

DAVID GARRAMONE, Berkeley Lake

Train, train and check; a contract also helps

We used two different approaches with our teenage daughters, but they had one common denominator --- no new, high-powered cars to call their own. A family car of the good reliable transportation variety was available for their use most of the time, but with parental discretion.

One daughter learned from Dad on an automatic, mastered the straight shift and went through a commercial driver's education program for insurance purposes since it was not available at her high school.

We felt comfortable when she first soloed in our old Toyota truck.

The second daughter was not so eager to drive and was at a disadvantage in having to learn from scratch on a manual transmission vehicle --- that was all we had at the time.

After our instruction and driver's education at school, we knew that she was still not road-ready. We paid an off-duty police officer to provide additional on-the-road instruction. The one-to-one instruction was exactly what she needed. We still rode around with her quite a bit before letting her head to school in our eighty-something Honda station wagon.

We also had a signed contract limiting times of use and the number of people allowed in the car while she was driving.

BETTY GOETZ, Lilburn

Adults' bad example is root of the problem

Your request for comments about teenage driving prompts me to suggest that the problem is more "us" than "them."

By "us," I mean all adults, but particularly parents. We all know that children, including teens, pattern much of their behavior based on what they see from their parents and other adults.

Therefore, the greatest influence we can have on teenage driving is not from legislation, law enforcement or technology, but through modifying our own driving behavior. If we would all drive at or below the legal speed limit, fasten our seat belts and conscientiously follow the rules about passing, double lines, stop signs, traffic lights and avoiding tailgating, our children would be exposed constantly to the good driving habits that will save their lives, and possibly our own.

We all too frequently expect others to modify their behavior without some effort on our part, i.e., no change of our behavior. In driving around Atlanta, imagine the benefit that would come from setting a good example for our children on the highways.

To all adults, and especially parents, the problem is more "us" than "them" and the only driver we can really control is "us."

TOM MURPHY, Gainesville

Mandatory driver's ed would solve problems

The problem with teen drivers is the lack of knowledge. Georgia does not require driver's education classes statewide, and that is one of the major flaws Georgia teens face.

When they reach the age of 15, they are given a permit that will allow them time in a car with a parent or friend older than 19. Then, at 16, they are given a class D driver's license that places them under slight restrictions, such as a statewide curfew that prohibits them from being out between 1 and 5 a.m.

More than 80 percent of all 16-year-old-driver crashes are caused by driver error, and 41 percent are single-vehicle accidents.

These statistics show that Georgia's teen drivers are inexperienced and, therefore, account for the teen fatality rate due to motor vehicle wrecks.

If parents are so worried about their teen drivers, the answer is not to raise the driving age to 17 but to provide driver's education classes in our public and private schools.

Raising the driving age will place more stress on parents as they will have to be a taxi for one more year. If Georgia adopts a mandatory driver's education requirement, we may be able to help our teens better understand the laws of the road and reduce their inexperience.

HOLLY BECKNELL, Snellville

Poor public transit means don't raise age

I am opposed to raising the driving age, despite the danger of inexperience and immaturity, for the following reasons:

In much of the metro area, there is simply no safe alternative to transportation by private vehicle. In my neighborhood, there are no contiguous sidewalks, no bike lanes and no public transportation.

The primary developmental task of adolescence is the successful transition to full independence. Without access to their own transportation, teens remain dependent for longer periods, unable to take part in after-school jobs and other activities and unable to learn what it means to take care of an important piece of property.

I don't believe it is the role of the government to, once again, usurp our roles as guides to our children.

A much better alternative, until proper pedestrian-public transportation is available, would be more stringent, more intensive driver training and qualification.

Parents, with the help of watchful neighbors, should also be encouraged to practice discretion with regard to the readiness of their own teens to take the wheel.

SUSAN H. BOYLE, M.D., Duluth

State's test to get a license is laughable

It is especially heartbreaking to learn of another young person dying in a traffic accident. Although responsibility to prepare our teens to obtain a license lies with parents, our legislators have the responsibility and duty to define and regulate the terms by which persons are granted a license to drive on our roads and highways.

I commend our leaders for addressing the issue. However, they are entirely on the wrong track by proposing to raise the age limit. The debate as to the appropriate age takes the focus off the place it should be --- their back yard --- the driving tests! The tests to obtain a license in Georgia are laughable and should be a concern for everyone, including those of us who will be sharing the roadways with the teens.

If the standards that have to be met by applicants are not raised, nothing will change regardless of the age limit. No amount of driver's education will produce the desired results, unless the training is designed to pass a tough test. People do not behave much differently as they age. Split-second decisions, reckless behavior and speeding are factors not governed by age but by character.

Raising the bar on driver tests will force most parents to invest time and money to ensure their teens are prepared. Other teens would have to postpone their application a year or two. It would raise the teens' awareness and appreciation of the responsibilities associated with driving. They would understand it is a privilege earned, not a right granted, upon reaching a certain age.

Our universities have entrance requirements, some more difficult than others. Some students work hard and get the proper guidance to enter the best; others settle for something less; and some just want to party. The long-term results are predictable.

Likewise, raising the standard in driver tests would separate teens who have prepared and are ready to assume the responsibilities from those who simply want to drive to the next party.

Legislators, wake up! Age is not the answer. Take responsibility to properly test drivers before you ask our teens to become responsible drivers.

GENE OLINYK, Lawrenceville

Tougher tests would improve driving overall

I have read a lot lately about teen driving. I think that instead of focusing our concerns on one special group of people, we need to improve the driving skills and habits of all Georgia drivers.

You can't listen to the morning commute without hearing about accidents. Most of the accidents occur because the middle-aged drivers decide that the other lane is going faster than their lane and want to be in the fast lane. Unfortunately, they don't care that there is already someone coming up behind them in that lane.

We don't signal, we don't stop for stop signs, we don't stop for red lights.

I wonder about the people who whine about teen drivers. What kind of example are they setting for teens to follow?

There is talk about making teen drivers' tests harder. Good. But don't do it just for teens. Do it for everyone. Make them take a street driving test. Make the written tests harder, but do it for all Georgia drivers.

I am also in favor of making people retake the tests when they need to renew their Georgia driver's licenses. Rotate every four years. One time, you retake the written test, and the next time, you do the driver's road test. This way every eight years you are refreshed on what the Georgia road regulations are.

I would also be in favor of increasing the cost of a Georgia license by 10 or 15 dollars to subsidize the extra manpower that would be needed to administer this. Let's focus on all Georgia drivers, and get the adults to set the example for the teens, instead of punishing our children for imitating what they are seeing the adults do.

I'd also recommend that parents put more controls on their children with teen driving contracts and responsible monitoring of their teens driving habits. Don't rely on government to do their jobs for them. I'm 43 and married with three kids, ages 17, 14 and 13.

GLEN GIBBS, Snellville