Reply #112: driving safely is safer for everyone, not just for teenagers

[0rganism]

Most of what I've learned from experience and seen others learn has jack to do with the kind of restrictions proposed. How to put chains on quick so they don't flap around and fall off, how to drive stick without frying the clutch, what is a safe following distance, how to drive safely in bad weather, how to steer on ice, how to identify potential hazards, and so on. None of that is what was on the agenda.

Unless you're a race car driver, cop, or a stuntman or one of a very few other such professions, driving 80+ is not one of your life skills. You don't typically need to do it, you won't get paid extra for it, and usually doing so just endangers every living thing -- yourself included -- in the vicinity. And even if you do have one of those odd professions, you can still wear a seatbelt. And the stereo? Tell me you don't think more experienced drivers have enhanced super-hearing powers! What kind of experience is going to justify an earth-rattling subwoofer?

What the restrictions are designed to protect against is reckless behavior. We drive around like cars are an extension of our bodies, when in fact they're extremely complex, mass-produced, heavy, fast-moving machines, zooming around with plenty of kinetic energy and dancing a high-risk tango with other such machines, that didn't even exist as such until about 100 years ago. Humanity has fallen in love with the car, we've designed our cities, laws, and lifestyles around them, but that doesn't mean we've adapted well to them as a species. Experience is no substitute for sensible precaution, and the net result of experience can often reduce to operating heavy machinery within simple guidelines anyone can follow. How lucky we are that the car manufacturers themselves could build such restrictions into the product without seriously hindering the normal user!