Teen Driving Restrictions: Is It Time To Back Off?
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Libraries as well as the Internet are crammed with articles exploring every aspect of teen driving. From researching the best driver education program to addressing the issues of speeding and drunk driving, parents have access to an abundance of advice on how to keep their young drivers safe. Maybe too much.
For a teenager turning sixteen, a driver’s license is a sacred rite of passage, a tangible symbol of those important first steps toward independence. For parents, the issuance of a driver’s license can be a concern- cum -nightmare, a real life video with flashing lights and wailing sirens that ends unhappily ever after in the hospital emergency room. With teen driving horror stories abounding, methods to monitor behind-the-wheel behavior are constantly being researched and reviewed by everyone from parents to politicians, with the word “restriction” playing a prominent part.
More and more states are being called on to raise the legal driving age from sixteen to seventeen or even eighteen. Researchers at the University of Utah have developed an error proof automobile ignition key that actually prevents teenagers from talking on cell phones or sending text messages while driving. And ticketed teen drivers in the Pittsburg area are required to attend a “reality education” program: teens who have committed any moving violation from excessive speeding to an illegal U-turn must tour the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburg and meet with young drivers who were involved in serious car crashes. Other attempts, like the Checkpoints Program, establish driving restrictions for newly licensed teens during their first year. Parents simply set limits on driving conditions that frequently put their kids at risk—night driving, bad weather, high speed roads and multiple passengers. More sophisticated programs even feature signed agreements between parents and teens, and provide supporting videos and periodic newsletters.
In the last decade, technology has also played an operative role in behavior legislation. The development of devices like the LandAirSea GPS Tracking Key has proven to be a compact cure-all for parental anxiety and a threat to inalienable teenage rights. By knowing where their kids have driven and at what speed, parents are often able to correct potentially serious problems before they have a chance to escalate, not to mention a particular peace of mind that comes with knowing where their teens are going. Acceptance of this product, however, has prompted words like “privacy” and “constitutionality” to rise up and challenge the good intentions of parents who care.
In a recent interview with a high school senior regarding the moral ramifications of GPS tracking, Steve Moehling, Vice-President of Sales for LandAirSea Systems, Inc., defended his company’s strongest selling product by observing, “…it is common wisdom among teenagers that parents are only interested in spying or intruding in their lives. As parents, we recognize that life experiences are not fully understood during the teenage years. I truly believe that the significant majority of parents using this device are truly concerned about the welfare of their children.”
Are heaping more restrictions on teens and more closely monitoring their driving the solution to reducing the number of accidents and fatalities among young people between the ages of 16 and 19?
There will always be teens (and adults) who believe they are invincible and immune to disaster when they climb behind the wheel, and no amount of societal intervention will change their way of thinking.
And those who share the roads with reckless drivers will always be at risk. Immaturity and inexperience can result in a head-on collision with reality for teen drivers. Effective programs, combined with effective technology, can result in a better shot at their future.
Tags: Restrictions, Teen Driving
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