Teen Driving

I look upon bumper stickers with a mixture of annoyance and amusement.  For every fragment of our lives, there seems to be a bumper sticker tailor made to proclaim our preferences:—personal (“I Love My Tonkinese”),  academic (“Proud Parent Of An Honor Roll Student”), environmental (“Save The Wombat”) ,political (“Let’s Not Even Go There”) and of course, the ubiquitous  ”How’s My Driving?” one that’s been around forever, with the toll-free number you can call to fink on the UPS driver.  And now there’s a new one:  “How’s My Teen Driving?” and it, too, features a toll-free number for us to call if we happen to end up behind some seventeen year-old who has just cut in front of us, nearly lopping off our left front fender.

This new bumper sticker is the result of an organization called Steer Straight, Inc. which was launched in July of this year by a couple of concerned moms wanting to improve teen driving.  While its following may lack the zealousness and immensity of MADD, Steer Straight is receiving positive feedback about its bumper stickers.  Motorists can simply phone the Steer Straight call center network and report any teen driving related transgression from blasting music to tailgating to erratic lane changes and the issue will be immediately brought to a parent or guardian’s attention.  If that isn’t enough, there are online driving tutorials ready to address the negative teen driving issues as well. (more…)

I am your son or your daughter.  I just turned sixteen and passed my driver’s test.  That makes me eligible for that long anticipated piece of lamination—the driver’s license.

Admit it—it’s a relief, isn’t it, not to have to pick me up from the mall and lacrosse practice, to no longer play chauffeur and chaperone to me and my friends every weekend?   A dream come true!  And a nightmare in progress.  Because now it’s time for me to have my own car.

Yeah, I know all about the statistics on teen driving.  I know that motor vehicle crashes are still the leading cause of death among teenage drivers and that 16 year-olds have the highest crash rate of all drivers in any age category.  And as for the additional cost of full collision coverage for a newly licensed teen driver—well, let’s not even go there right now.

Since the dawning of my adolescence, we’ve butted heads over many issues—clothes, curfews, choice of friends—so why should cars be any different, right? 

(more…)

My father had his first driving lesson in a 1932 Model-A Ford.  His “instructor” was a doddering old neighbor down the street who had taught himself how to drive.  No classrooms, no manuals, no simulators, no qualified instructors.  My friends and I participated in a driver education program through our high school.  Our instructor was a retired Chicago police officer who clearly did not believe that teenagers should be mainstreamed into polite society, let alone be allowed to drive.  The textbook we used had been published well before such groundbreaking innovations as automatic transmission and built-in turn signals became a standard part of the automotive package.  We watched grainy films that showed cars crashing and burning and teens being hurled through windshields–films that were usually more humorous than frightening because of their age and their very primitive special effects.

(more…)

I like to think of myself as an exemplary mom.  When it came to my child’s safety, I always followed the rituals of concerned parents.  When Eric was younger, I routinely stressed the consequences that could ensue from playing stuntman on his two wheeler and maneuvering his skateboard through a busy intersection or chatting a bit too amiably with Mr. Stranger-Danger.  I derived a certain smug satisfaction from having so expertly prepared him for life in the real world.  My job was almost complete.

(more…)