by A Student
I’d be interested in hearing if the new CT teen driving laws enacted in August 2008 have changed the amount of crashes/deaths/etc. that teenagers have.
I turned 16 in March 2009. I didn’t get my learner’s permit until the end of April. Now, I still don’t have my driver’s license. I’d rather wait until I’m 18 instead of dealing with all of the restrictions.
The question is, what magically happens at age 18 that makes a new driver good enough to have all the restrictions lifted? I might wait all the way until I’m 18 to get my license. I might be 18, but I’ll still be a brand new, inexperienced driver with no restrictions whatsoever.
I worry about other people who suddenly have all the restrictions lifted, abusing the “freedom”, and getting into trouble. The new laws MIGHT decrease problems age 16-17, but what about 18-on?
I just don’t think it’s fair that every single teen driver has to deal with ever-tougher driving laws because of previous generations screwing up. I go THE speed limit at all times, come to COMPLETE stops under all circumstances, try my best to stay smack in the middle of the lines, treat the car extremely gently, NEVER use ANY electronic devices… yet, older people who speed, slow’n go at stop signs, cut lines on curves, and use cell phones while driving result in swerving all over the road and have the reaction time of an 80-year-old pay less insurance. That’s fantastic, don’t you think? At least higher grades bring down the cost a little bit.
Anyway, another reason I’m waiting so long is that I do not feel “entitled” to a license and car. It’s just automatic for me… whenever I think about spending money, I worry about how I’m going to obtain it by default. So, when thinking about the license, I worry about the over $1,000 dollars that insurance will cost per year just for me in my car. I paid for most of my laptop’s cost a few years ago, now I’m shelling out $113 for a new motherboard. The reason I’m simply getting a new motherboard and not a whole new computer is because I want to have money for an air conditioner for my bedroom. I also bought my Wii, most of the games for it, computer accessories, the desk for the family desktop computer I’m typing on right now, the printer that’s connected to this computer, am paying for parts for my ATV…. My parents spend very little money on me outside of the essentials (food, clothes, school supplies, cosmetics), but that’s OK — it’s how I choose to keep it.
I bought a $500 car, a 1987 gray Nissan Sentra, from Stephanie Corey’s mom. I thought that Mariah could drive it in her senior year at the Academy. But it wasn’t the Mazda Miata she wanted. I asked her if I should have a radio and DVD put in but she said don’t bother because I’m going to roll it anyway. A month or two later we got a call from Mariah on her cell phone on Route 197 heading from Dudley. She was returning from working at the sandwich place in Dudley at about 11PM on a Sunday night. She had rolled the car about a half a mile into Woodstock and was a little shook. A car coming the other way forced her to glance off the steep bank next to the road and she did a 360 roll landing on all four tires. She had been wearing her seat belt. So Becki and I drove a mile or two to the scene of the accident and I drove the Sentra back with one flat tire slowly. The end of the story is that I ended up driving the Sentra to work with a smashed in roof and the back window popped out. Had to get a new rear-view mirror for the front window also. Loved that car… ’til winter.
Mariah with Stephanie Corey’s kid, Nathan, last summer.