D.C. Tops New Ranking of Safest Places for Teen Drivers

Michael Cain has a wonderful line in, “Second Hand Lions” . As a group of trouble making teens advance toward he and Robert Duvall he says, “You’re about to let those teenage hormones get you into trouble again.” As we shall see, there is much wisdom there.

Society should take note that the teen “car culture” that fills high school parking lots, and spills out into surrounding neighborhoods, leads to many social problems. One can readily see that the easy mobility of youth lends itself to, drug and alcohol access and use, millions of gallons of gas and uncountable numbers of hours spent aimlessly cruising around, more graffiti in our neighborhoods, teen pregnancy (and too often an aborted baby), gang violence and crimes, increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted disease among teenagers, and - importantly - the lack of parental control over friends and associates. Against all this is the seductive convenience of the automobile.

Raise the national driving age to 18 or high school graduation with a B average or higher. Grades would go up, problems would go down and lives would be saved.

I can hear all the teenagers whining about their particular situation. Forget about it...walk, take a bus, ride a bike ask Mom or Dad for a ride. Handle it.

If a parents only interaction with their teen is to hand them the car keys and put a T.V. and a computer in their room then they should be prepared to have a child lost to, MTV, “Girls Gone Wild”, “Spring Break”, “reality shows” , flashy car commercials and all the other garbage Hollywood spews over us.

Whether or not your child knows it - they need you more than the car or a T.V.. Take a stand.

R.L. SCHAEFER of CA 12:39PM March 22, 2010