Question: Why do we make kids wait until age 16 to drive a car? Are cars dangerous?

[FSogol]

[Throck]

1. Grow up on a farm.

You'll be driving pickups at 14.

[Haggard Celine]

5. Yes.

I've known people whose parents started letting them drive as soon as they could reach the pedals and see over the dash, mostly just around the farm, but maybe to town now and then. My grandmother needed to go out of town one time when my grandfather had to work, and she didn't drive, so he put my mother in the driver's seat and told her she would have to drive the 800 mile round trip. Mom was 12 at the time. She said they pulled over to eat and there was a cop sitting in the restaurant and he looked them over really good, but he he never said a word. Of course this was about 60 years ago, give or take.

[Klaralven]

7. Started driving a tractor at age 6.

As soon as I could operate the hand clutch.

[yagotme]

17. Minnie-Mo? I drove one of those with a hand clutch.

I started on a Farmall H, at age 5. Could barely reach the clutch, gripping the steering wheel, and sitting on the very edge of the seat.

[Klaralven]

20. John Deere Model B

[yagotme]

21. I grew up with the "Red".

Not the "Green".

[Klaralven]

24. They were two different camps.

Later Dad bought a pull-type combine and a Case Model D with enough horsepower to both pull it and run it off the PTO.

[yagotme]

27. Dad had a pull combine, chopper,

2 corn pickers, 3 bottom plow converted to hydraulic lift, 10' disc, and a home made wagon. Had a "blower" to put loose hay into the upper part of the barn. The corn pickers were OLD and one year he couldn't get either of them to work (not without a lot of $). That's the year I drove the H, as he went through the fields and shucked corn by hand (I still have one of the shuckers), and threw it into piles. Then he got me, sat me on the tractor, and I drove from pile to pile, and he threw it in. Took some in to sell, some went through the hammer mill for the milk cows. I didn't know what a vacation was like, until I was 10, when he sold the cows. Milking is a 24/365 job. Cows don't take time off.

[Klaralven]

33. When I first drove tractor, it was for picking up hay windrows

Behind the tractor was a hay rack and a hay loader. Dad and older brother would put down the slings and spread the hay while I drove. It was done at a pretty slow speed, so it was mostly gentle steering. Best not to get into a place where you needed to back up, since it was essentially backing tandem four-wheeled wagons.

I also drove the tractor while oat bundles were pitched onto the hayrack during threshing. That was for a few years before the combine.

[yagotme]

34. Tough working a poor farm back then. n/t

[femmocrat]

2. I think 16 is too young.

Make them graduate from HS at least!

I remember having 16-year old drivers. I was a nervous wreck every time they drove anywhere with friends.

[PatSeg]

16. Yes, I've felt that way for a long time

The difference between a 16 year old and an 18 year old can be profound.

[planetc]

3. Yes, cars are dangerous. Check insurance rates for drivers 16 - (?) 34.

My mom was driving a tractor or some vehicle at 13. But driving through a field whose surface will permit 20 mph top speed is different from driving a car that can drive 140 mph through crowded streets. Drive gently.

[sarisataka]

11. In the insurance world you are an "adult"

At age 25. Prior to that your rate is higher to some degree

[jimfields33]

4. It's like everything. Each kid is different.

Some are probably mature enough to drive at 16 or even a little younger and some should wait to 25. I think parents really should decide.

[Ron Green]

6. I had an adult driver license at 14, many years ago in Texas.

It was a terrible idea.

I think 18 ought to be the law.

[3catwoman3]

8. I have read that 16 is one of the worst possible ages for boys because...

…they are still growing, and their coordination is not all that great as they are adapting to their new bodies.

[TexasBushwhacker]

28. That could be true

Girls generally quit growing in height when they start menstruation, and they generally start menstruation when they hit a certain weight. Childhood obesity has caused the average age of first menses to decline from 12.1 years to 11.9 and the percentage of 10 year olds who have started menstruating has risen from 7% to 10% in the US.

[3catwoman3]

29. Recently retired pediatric nurse practitioner here, so I am...

…well acquainted with the info in your post. One of the common expressions in pediatrics for boys who have a rapid growth spurt is “the 6 inch summer.”

The ages for precocious puberty are now 8 for girls and 9 for boys. Pretty damn young.

[TexasBushwhacker]

30. Yeah, many boys literally get growing pains

While boys are growing in height, girls are growing elsewhere. There was a girl in my 5th grade class that wore a D cup bra, and she wasn't obese. I had a friend who had stretch marks on her breasts they grew so fast.

[Claire Oh Nette]

9. Took a joy ride in my stepbrother's car @ 15....

He was out working someplace with his dad, he left his Mustang II in the driveway. I took the muskrat out for a spin, and got caught because I couldn't back the car all the way into our driveway. Hit one of the six tall cypress trees lining the drive, and knocked a taillight out, in front of my neighbors.

Oddly enough, kids today are not in a huge hurry to drive. When we wanted to talk to our friends and hang out, we had to physically go there. My not quite 16 year old nephew and other kids I taught get together whenever they want via social media and their phones.

Permit them at 17, and let them drive at 18. The maturity difference between sophomores behind the wheel and juniors and seniors is huge.

Farm kids excepted....

[Patton French]

10. I believe accidents are a leading cause of death for teens (n/t)

[Caliman73]

12. They are not inherently dangerous, but can certainly be so...

16 is an arbitrary age. Car rental companies will typically not rent to anyone under 25. That is because actuarial tables show that 16-24 is the age range where most vehicle collisions occur. Neuroscience suggests that the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain corelated with executive functions (judgement, decision-making, etc...) is not fully formed until around 25.

A 1.5 to 2 ton metal object with an internal combustion engine sitting driverless in a parking space is not dangerous, but put someone behind the wheel and it certainly can be.

If I may ask, where are you going with this?

[FSogol]

15. Our society recognizes the problems with that, but has no problem allowing 15 year olds to have

semi-automatic handguns. That's quite strange.

[yagotme]

18. Define "have".

According to most, if not nearly all laws in this country, at 15 you have to have an adult present to handle a handgun. KR in WI couldn't legally carry a handgun, as he was 17.

[LeftInTX]

37. I do know where 15 year olds are legally able to own a semi-automatic hand gun

Yesterday's shooter had his parents' gun.

Every now and then, kids who aren't old enough to drive and don't have a driver's license will drive.

[Caliman73]

38. That is what I figured this was about.

As far as I know, there are only 2 states in the Union where it is lawful for a person under 18 to be in possession of a handgun. Delaware and Louisiana. Michigan prohibits sale and possession of a handgun to 18. Furnishing a firearm to a minor is also generally illegal except for licensed hunting.

I am sure there are people who would support minors having access to firearms but the laws on possession are pretty standard.

[LeftInTX]

36. The age has probably evolved over time

16 is probably the age because many kids can legally work at that age.

My grandfather was born around 1900 and he left school at 8th grade as did probably many kids born before WWI. My hunch is many drivers were under 16 back then.

However, I do not know that stats

[Hekate]

13. Brains aren't fully developed. Male impulse control even less so (see: brains). Insurers know this...

… very well — they can read actuarial tables.

[FSogol]

14. Ah, so maybe 15 year old kids shouldn't have semi-automatic hand guns too?

[Hekate]

22. Ya think?

[EX500rider]

26. And where is it legal for 15yo's to purchase and own hand guns exactly?

And I got my learners permit to drive when I was 14

[GusBob]

19. Where I live young ones as young as 12 are allowed to drive

within the exterior boundaries of the rez

[maxsolomon]

23. I see what you're asking, FSogol.

and I agree.

[FSogol]

25. I'm glad a few people caught it. n/t

[DFW]

31. Cars per se aren't dangerous.

Cars with 16 year old kids driving them are potentially very dangerous. I know. I once was one of those 16 year old kids driving one.

Even here in Germany, where the legal driving age is 18, the cemetery in the rural town where my wife’s mom lives has close to 50% of the gravestones for people who died between the ages of 18 and 23. They get some alcohol in them, then go out on the Autobahn at 200 Kph, then get off on to winding rural roads where the speed limit is 50 Kph. After going 200, 50 seems like standing still, so they double it, and think they’re safe until they fatally collide head on with another car, or wrap themselves around the nearest tree.

[Progressive Jones]

32. If I were King, nobody would be driving before 18.

[LeftInTX]

35. Yes