imported post
Task Force 16 wrote:
Oh and the driving age is way too young, everyone knows that.
It is legal for one to get their DL at age 16, but I believe it is still at the discretion of the parents or legal guardian. I can garauntee you that if my Dadhadn't thoughtI was competent enough to drive I wouldn't have gotten a DL until I was 18.
Most of the problems concerning kidscan be credited topoor parenting.
Good point. And most of the parents that are dumb enough to make thedecision to let incompetent kids drive at 16 can be credited to... poor parenting. lol
Over the summer last year we had a rash of <18 year old driver crashes. All of the cars were full of teenagers (including a 350Z with three people in it... it's a two seater for those that don't know) and all but the third passenger in hatch area of the Z died (irony or luck?).
So let's analyze who's most at fault here.
The first crash was a 16-18 year old (don't recall) driving a WRX with three passengers that took out a telephone pole at 100+mph.Everyone died. Hmm... I wonder if his parents bought him that too-fast-for-a-16-year-old car?
The second crash was less than a month later, 16-18 year old (still don't recall) driving a... WRX STi, modified no less. Huge front mount is clearly visible in the crash photos. Again, it was full to capacity. This time they took out an on-comingUHaul truck at, again, 100+mph. Everyone died, again. Hmm... I wonder if that 16 year old bought himself a $30K+, way too fast car...or was it his parents?
Third crash about a week after the second, 17 year old driving daddy's 350Z with a passenger and one kid laying in the hatch area. Went off the highway and hit a tree at... 100+mph, what a surprise. Everyone but the ghetto, trunk area passenger died. Who's idea was it to let him take that too fast car for a rip? Hmm... couldn't have been the parents.
So how does this relate to OC? In two ways. The way that comes to mind the most is that after these crashes, everyone around here refers to WRX's as "those cars killing all those kids." Yes, folks, you heard that right... it's the car's fault. :quirky Just like people don't kill people, evil guns kill people. :quirky
The second way is less obvious but ties in to a recent argument. You agree with me that it's the job of the PARENTS to keep their kids reined in and prevent them from doing stupid stuff. Why is it the parents' job? Because the kids are too stupid and too immature. Those kids probably drove like assholes a thousand times before, and figured, "hey I can get away with it, no one got hurt" (marshaul is lurking and already crying because he's knows this one is going to own him hard), so they just kept doing it. Then they did it one time to many, and a lot of people got hurt. There are STILL people driving around with "RIP *name ofpassenger*" written on their windows. So folks, this is why it's the job of those in authority to keep control of those too stupid to control themselves. This is why "victimless crimes" are indeed arrestable offenses (like blasting down the road at 1,000,000mph or firing shots into the air). Because when stupid kids have stupid parents there's no one but the government to keep them in check. And when stupid kids become stupid adults, there's no one but the government to keep them in check. That's the reality of the world we live in. Stupid people are out there and they aren't going away. If you're unable (or in the libertarian case, completely unwilling and refusing) to catch their stupidity before it hurts someone, then someone IS going to get hurt and you can't undo the hurt.
