Special Report: The Dangers of Teen Driving

my problem with tough teen driving laws is how come there are plenty of laws for "protecting teens" but few tought laws for adults? After all, I come from a small town in Oklahoma and I have rarely seen teens drive badly at our local Walmart but have seen plenty of moronic adults drive like maniancs and yet it seems like teens are the only bad drivers in the world. Also I have a big issue with the phrase "teens aren't automatically good drivers at age 16" because they also aren't bad either.

I lost my 16 year old daughter in a car accident in 2002. She had her license 3 months. She was speeding and not wearing her seatbelt. We were diligent parents, we wore our seatbelts, went the speed limits, talked about how important it was. We didn't know she didn't wear her seatbelt or drove fast when we weren't in the car. We couldn't be with her 24 hours a day. We need tougher laws for teen drivers. Losing a child is the worst, you never get over it. www.mylittlehoneybee.org

I lost my 16 year old daughter in a car accident in 2002. She had her license 3 months. She was speeding and not wearing her seat belt. I was a diligent parent. We wore our seat belts, went the speed limits, talked about it. But I didn't see her out driving without me in the car to know that she liked to speed and not wear her seat belt. It is impossible for a parent to be with their child 24 hours a day. Because of that, we need tougher laws on teen driving. My heart will forever be broken.

I think this article is wondrously flawed. It gives the impression that all teenagers are irresponsible automatons, enslaved to technological culture. A duty of good journalism is to be fair. This article is blatantly catered to over-cautious adults who mistrust their own children. Despicable.

When I was growing up only wealthy kids had cars. We walked, biked, took public transport. Fat kids were in the minority. Cars are a wonderful convenience, but there is something hideously wrong with a culture that is so enslaved to the automobile that they can't conceive of getting around any other way. My neighbor drives her son 1.5 blocks to his elementary school. How about teaching kids to get off their fat behinds and get around on their own steam?

This was such a fantastic article. I have a 16 year old daughter that wa so excited to get her license and begin driving. After brief lessons and reading this artical she has made the decision that she is not prepared mentally to get her license and has chosen to wait until she enters college. I was thrilled that I don't have to worry about my insurance costs rising!

I read this article with great interest because in our office we are starting to promote the Teen Safe Driver Progam (www.teensafedriver.com). This program enables parents to be better involved in their teen's driving skills without having to be in the car with them all the time. Parent involvment is key in the program and I believe that's what makes the program successful.

As an inventor of the Car's Active Safety System (patented) mentioned in the previous comment I'd like to take this opportunity to let it be known that I'm willing to work with any technical or automative institute, for free, to take it to the next step because this senseless road carnage must be stopped at all cost.

Wreckless and dangerous drivers, young or old, cannot be easily identified until it's too late. What we need is a hi-tech system that can detect driving behavior in real time and give out warnings to everybody as shown in this UK publication: Thinking Highways (Europe) Vol 2 Issue 3 Q3/2007, pp 70-73 (www.h3bmedia.com).

We live in SC, and my daughter has had her permit for eight months. She is itching to get her restricted license but we (the parents) have not allowed her to take the test yet. She is a good driver, but makes impluse (often poor) decisions, somtimes engages in risky behavior and gets distracted easily. Until she accepts some of the responsibility of ADULTHOOD she won't be allowed the privileges that go along with it.