I think it's a great idea. The best training I ever received was getting my learner's permit immediately after I turned 15 and driving for a year with my mom in the car always. Also, my step-dad(PCA Instructor) taught me how to race/auto-cross when I turned 16 which greatly improved my driving abilities. Not only that, but it taught me there was a time and place for going fast and it's only on the track. Another thing that kept me from doing stupid shit was the fact that I bought my first vehicle, there's a lot more responsibility in doing that. But if the kid doesn't buy their own vehicle and mommy and daddy do, sucks for you. Their car, their insurance, their rules. Not only do the driver training/requirements in this country suck, but we give teenagers with little experience in decision making/knowing the consequences keys to 2-ton death mobiles. Invasion of privacy? Naaaahhhh. Since when does anyone under the age of 18 have rights? I never did. If/when I have kids they will have extensive training before they get their license: -tons of on-road time with me in the car -personal training from me(obstacle courses, accident avoidance) -auto-cross training There's no way in hell I'll unleash my 16-year old on the world without knowing how they drive. That's just asking for trouble.
I think that's part of the problem right there: a lot of kids are so used to being under the thumb of helicopter parents and more laws than anyone can know that when given that bit of freedom, be it at the wheel of a car or away at college, they go completely nuts. Better to raise kids to be behaving responsibly for that decade and a half before they start learning to drive, so they'll continue to be reasonable as they get older and have more freedoms.
This. Though, from the beginning of time, every generation has said that the following generation is worse. Yet here we are, enjoying a quality of life unparalleled in history.
I've got no problem with this. Im buying the car for the kid, Im putting them on my insurance, they are not yet 18, they can live with the GPS tracking and camera. It comes off the moment they do all of the following: turn 18, buy the car from me, get the title in their own name, get their own insurance.
Too far. A person has to learn about self responsibility some time. Better when they are still young and impressionable. A person's got to lear about the cost of making mistakes and owning up to them. This takes away all that. Further if fosters resentment and when the time finally comes when no one is literally looking over their shoulder, the whiplash will be that much more dramatic. Who are always the wild people? The Preacher's Kids.
Oh, and the reason teens get in accidents? They don't have much experience driving. At this point in life, I've got a pretty good feel for how long lights stay, how fast that car is coming, and how fast you can take a corner. I've also gotten intimately familiar with the capabilities of my auto. But the way I've gotten that is by driving an '83 Pontiac Phoenix 52 mph on a gravel road, going over a bridge and winding up in the ditch and countless other incidents. Eventually we'll have a freeway system full of timid, listless drivers, blandly herding their cars aimlessly down the road and slowing down for no reason whatsoever, to the detriment of those of us who actually know how to drive.
