In Pennsylvania you can get your driving permit on the day you turn 16. After that, you have 6 months before you are allowed to take the test and get a Junior license. As part of that test, parents must sign a form that says that their young person has had at least 50 hours of driving with a permit.
So I ask you this, dear reader:
Do you think there are parents out there who are knowingly lying when they sign the 50-hour form?
If you said ‘yes,’ then you are right. Is that something to keep in mind as you enter the roadway?
HELLO!?!?! Think about it!
People under the age of 17, with less than 50 hours behind the wheel, going speeds that require stopping distances many, many times the average car lengths allowed on a typical highway. Who thinks about that as they merge into traffic? (You will now, though, right?)
But I just can’t figure out the part about the parents! Here you have a life that you brought into existence, spent the better part (qualitatively!) of your own life, in most cases, worrying about and taking care of, and, presumably, love and cherish more than anyone who has not walked in the shoes of parenthood can possibly imagine.
WHY would you go (blindly) along with the notion (yes! it’s a NOTION!) that ANYONE 16 and a half is ready to drive that multi-ton vehicle/weapon with any less than 200 hours of time logged behind the wheel?
I just
don’t
get it.
But I have what I think is a good new rule for young people who want a drivers’ license:
Drive every single day possible in those 6 months between your permit and your test. Even if you’re just going around the block a few times. Every day; rain or shine. If weather conditions are terrible, find an empty parking lot or private property owned by someone who has given you permission, and see what the car does in those bad weather conditions.
180 days could add up to just 100 hours, and to a busy household it’s a challenge. And it may sound like a lot of driving compared to the 50 that PENNDOT asks for.
But PLEASE trust me on this one: It’s a DROP in the bucket of experience that could save lives, anguish, and least important of all, money.
