3 screw-ups aside, upping driving age might not be wise
Was I ready to drive at age 16?
On a cold, rainy February afternoon, the day I turned 16, I headed for the drivers license bureau to take the test.
All I really remember is doing hideously on the parallel parking portion of the test. I'm sure I made a raft of other mistakes. But I drove slowly and cautiously, and the examiner must have given me some extra credit; I got a score of 70, the absolute minimum to pass.
Afterward, I did drive slowly and cautiously, but by summer I might have grown a bit more cavalier. In June, I opened my door as I backed out of a driveway to see where I was going (my amp was in the back seat, blocking the rear window). But the door snagged on some railroad ties, necessitating a trip to the body shop. In July, I passed up a parking spot at a convenience store, threw it into reverse and hurriedly backed in. But a light pole was in my way, and I scraped up a rear quarter-panel. That was pretty careless, and the parents weren't too pleased. One more screw-up, they said, and I could fork over the drivers license.
In August, though, I was driving with two friends in the front seat. We were yakking about some topic, and I managed to sideswipe a utility pole that I swear had been planted practically in the roadway. This stunt smashed in the door handles, necessitating another trip to the body shop.
I went home that evening, and threw my drivers license on the kitchen table in front of my mom. But rather than suspend my license, my dad made me drive him to the scene of Accident No. 3, and, darned if that pole wasn't almost planted in the roadway.
I was permitted to continue to drive, and either got religion or got lucky, because I didn't have another accident until well into adulthood, when I owned my own car, had to pay for the damage and all the other consequences.
So, would none of this have happened if I'd been forced to wait until 18 to drive?
That seemed to be what the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety was saying earlier this week in suggesting a higher driving age.
Interestingly, some local driver education teachers weren't enthralled with the idea, in a story reported in Wednesday's Daily Herald by Sheila Ahern. They said driving skill comes with practice rather than age. It also suggested it would cut down on the amount of time they can spend practicing with their parents. Some kids wouldn't be driving until college, and is that the best time to be adding that challenge to their lives?
Further, our experts said, a host of reforms have been put into place putting more restrictions on young drivers, and their effect has yet to be seen.
One, for instance, limits a 16-year-old from carrying more than one teen passenger. In two of my three accidents, I had two friends with me, both riding in the front bench-style seat 'cause it was way uncool to ride alone in the back in those days. Were they to blame for my accidents? Of course not. Were they a distraction that might have kept my attention away from what I was doing? You bet.
Rather than just going with my own musings and those of other adults, I thought some young perspective might be in order, so I rang up Ashley Keyser, who wrote a column for us as a student at Naperville Central High School and Northwestern University. I always was impressed with her insight.
Ashley, who turns 21 on Saturday, had mixed feelings about the higher age limit on drivers, admits some terror that her 17-year-old brother just started to drive. But she also says one of biggest problems on the road is "the culture of aggressive driving," people in a big fat hurry who fail to respect other motorists.
"If you're gonna be a (bleep) on the road, it doesn't matter what age you are," she says.
There's some perspective we all could use.