Do you trust teenage drivers?

I don’t.

Context, here. When I’m out on my bike, I don’t trust any of the drivers on the roads, because any one of them can flatten me if they’re not paying attention, and I have no way of knowing in advance which ones aren’t paying attention.

I would, however, trust certain specific teenagers whom I know to be driving.

Going by what I remember of myself and my friends at that age, absolutely not. We should not have been allowed to drive.

Going by how hard it’s been to teach my 18 year old to drive, I don’t. She hasn’t even grasped how to use the turn signal yet.

I don’t want them on my lawn either

I don’t trust any drivers, regardless of age.

No.

We live a mile or so from my kid’s high school.

I’ve been watching kids leave school or drive in the neighborhood for years.

They are remarkably selfish and dangerous. And waaay too fast.

So, no.

I’m at the front end of teaching my 16 year old son. So far I’ve been astonished at how cautious he is. I would not vote against raising the age, however.

No, but pretty much all drivers suck. I can’t count the number of people I’ve seen texting while driving, talking on the phone while driving, eating food that requires two hands while driving, putting on makeup, etc. in the last 8 weeks. People ignore yield signs, speed even though the roads are wet, and just in general drive like death doesn’t apply to them. Teens are just a specific subset of sucky drivers.

That’s my answer, too. You never know what anyone is going to do out there, whether they’re a teenager, a 30 year-old, or somebody’s grandfather.

I trust them to be teenagers - self-centered, more interested in “winning” than avoiding trouble.

Never trust one to stop just because there is a big, red sign reading STOP.

It’s just basic defensive driving, but turned up to 11.

I got my driver’s license when I was 14. When I look at 14 year olds today I am horrified (retroactively) at the very thought of it. Not all teenagers are wild, stupid drivers, but one thing they do all have in common is a lack of experience. Combine that with teen boy testosterone and you’ve got a disaster in the making. Interestingly – and this has been discussed on the board – more and more young people place a low priority on getting their license and access to a vehicle. My son (now 20) and his friends all had a decidedly meh attitude about it.

I will butt in here and advise that you get good professionals to teach your 18 year old to drive - it’s an investment that will pay off countless times in a lifetime of driving, to be a good, defensive driver.

I don’t trust teenage drivers; I don’t trust any drivers. I blame a system that doesn’t require people to have excellent training before they hand them a license and say, “Go pilot that ton of metal at high speeds and do whatever you please with it! Try not to kill anyone, or whatever; we really don’t care.”

No on trusting any driver.

50% of the time I don’t even trust myself. :smiley:

My 16 year old has a learner’s permit and we’ve been working on teaching him to drive for 4 months now. He is generally thoughtful and cautious, but makes mistakes due to inexperience. But there is no way to get experience without actually driving for a while. If he didn’t start driving until he was 20, he’d still be inexperienced before driving for a while.

I don’t trust teenagers to spell correctly, let alone drive. Raise drinking age to 30 and driving age to 25. Fuck them. :smiley:

I actually have never noticed a teenage driver being a problem. I’d say 99% of the time when I see someone driving recklessly it is an adult with a phone to their ear.

Or a senior citizen who should have handed over the keys a decade ago.

Having been a teenage driver myself, I can definitively say: HELL, NO!