Drinking, consent, smoking, and driving laws according to age.

[PickelledEggs]

I disagree with most of these except the driving. People should be able to (start) driving at 16, but only with strict restrictions. Kids are too reckless, whether they think they are or not.

In NJ, the intro-license is 16, then you get a probational license at 17, then at 18, you get a full license. It seems to work much better than the previous way we had it. Especially when you hear stories when you had a full license at 17 and were able to drink in highschool at 18. Horrible, horrible stories. Reckless teenagers that are in highschool are bad enough with alcohol with it not allowed and when they allowed it, it was way worse. Mix that with driving, and you have a 1.5 ton kamikaze barreling down a residential road because kids like to party.

Nope. It's an absolute shit idea.

[TomFoolery]

In NJ, the intro-license is 16, then you get a probational license at 17, then at 18, you get a full license. It seems to work much better than the previous way we had it. Especially when you hear stories when you had a full license at 17 and were able to drink in highschool at 18.

I got my learner's permit at 15 (I had to drive with a person over 18 who had a license) and my regular license at 16. My mom gave me her old beater Saturn and got a new car. It was a stick shift, so not only was I learning how to drive a manual transmission vehicle, I was also just learning to... drive. It's amazing there were no serious injuries, but there were a lot of close calls.

I had a few boyfriends in high school who were really into a series of movies that was coming out around the time... The Fast and the Furious. I can't say I ever drove 100mph weaving in between semi trucks, but I was in the car when they did. I look back on those days and feel grateful that state troopers weren't scooping me off I-30 with a sponge. But of course that's when I was older. You know, like 17 and 18.

[PickelledEggs]

I got my learner's permit at 15 (I had to drive with a person over 18 who had a license) and my regular license at 16. My mom gave me her old beater Saturn and got a new car. It was a stick shift, so not only was I learning how to drive a manual transmission vehicle, I was also just learning to... drive. It's amazing there were no serious injuries, but there were a lot of close calls.

I had a few boyfriends in high school who were really into a series of movies that was coming out around the time... The Fast and the Furious. I can't say I ever drove 100mph weaving in between semi trucks, but I was in the car when they did. I look back on those days and feel grateful that state troopers weren't scooping me off I-30 with a sponge. But of course that's when I was older. You know, like 17 and 18.

Yeah I think nj, way back when had their learner's permit at 15, but when I was still in elementary school, they shifted everything up a year.

-Sent from your mom

[Mike Cl]

A helpful tool, would be to put driver education back into high school. 

[aitm]

It has been shown, ( I could find a link for you, but I don't care that much) that the teenagers minds is not fully developed in many areas that affect cognitive thinking among other things. Ignoring that because you "want to do x " is not a better decision. If you think it is irrelevant perhaps we need to wait for everyone's brains to catch up.

[Jack89]

It's all fine and dandy to make laws regarding age limits, but it's not going to stop anyone unless you have the informal social controls to back them up.  A good upbringing along with peer and community pressure are more effective in this regard than what laws we have on the books. 

When have formal laws stopped teenagers from smoking, getting drunk, high, pregnant, or anything else they want to do? 

[PickelledEggs]

A helpful tool, would be to put driver education back into high school. 

It is, I thought. They only offered a small 1 semester class of it, in replacement of health class for that semester. But we did have it as a class.

[Mike Cl]

It is, I thought. They only offered a small 1 semester class of it, in replacement of health class for that semester. But we did have it as a class.

Not in CA.  If a student wants it they have to pay for it.  And it happens after school.  One of those money saving moves, I guess.

[PickelledEggs]

Not in CA.  If a student wants it they have to pay for it.  And it happens after school.  One of those money saving moves, I guess.

Oh wow... Our drivers education class is built in as a part of the 10th grade...

-Sent from your mom

[Mike Cl]

Oh wow... Our drivers education class is built in as a part of the 10th grade...

-Sent from your mom

Used to be that way here, as well.  That is when I took dr. ed.  And I am glad that I did.

[stromboli]

Used to be that way here, as well.  That is when I took dr. ed.  And I am glad that I did.

Same in my state. Fortunately all my kids got good instruction (me).

[widdershins]

One thing I find stupid is that the age of consent, where I live anyway, is 16.  About 10 years ago a police officer told me about a 40 year old man who married a 16 year old girl in the area.  We both agreed this was wrong.  But it was perfectly legal (likely with parental consent).  The moment she turned 16, on her very birthday, it was perfectly legal for her to fuck her brains out.  But if he took one photo of her nude, jail time!  In fact, if she took one photo of HERSELF nude, jail time!  How damned stupid is that?  You can do everything with her you see in a sick-ass porno, but don't you dare take a picture of her in her underwear!  Which one do you think is going to fuck her up more, should she later decide that she had been coerced?

And then there's the military.  At 18 you can sign away 2 years or more of your life in a career which has a realistic chance of getting you killed.  But you're not "mature" enough to have a smoke, or a beer, or play the Lottery.  What the fuck???  You are mature enough to sign up to DIE but not mature enough to spend $2 on a lottery ticket responsibly?  That is MESSED UP!

Pick an age.  Any age.  When you reach that age, you are an adult.  Before that day, you're not.  When you are an adult you can sign up for the military, fuck whoever you want, act in porno, have a drink, smoke a cigarette, play the lottery, help select the country's leaders AND run for any political office, including President.  I'm not saying you're not responsible enough before that age, I'm saying that by that age you should be responsible enough for any of it.  Right now the "line" between childhood and adulthood looks like it was drawn by somebody with Parkinson's disease.

[Baruch]

It's all fine and dandy to make laws regarding age limits, but it's not going to stop anyone unless you have the informal social controls to back them up.  A good upbringing along with peer and community pressure are more effective in this regard than what laws we have on the books. 

When have formal laws stopped teenagers from smoking, getting drunk, high, pregnant, or anything else they want to do?

This is why we need ethnically uniform tribes, with lots of beatings for women and children.  That is what an informal social control looks like ... getting the party in question to cower when you enter the room.  Oh, you meant some Facebook channel where all the kids hang out?  I agree, we don't need more laws, we need more beatings.

[The Atheist]

18 isn't a scientifically important age. Historically, a human being became an "adult" upon reaching puberty. I don't think this would fly today, so maybe we should change the age of consent to 25, which is when the decision-making part of the brain fully matures.

Is 25 too old, you think?

*merged because it's too much of a duplicate of the other thread. Please keep the same topic in the same thread*
-PickelledEggs

[Mr.Obvious]

Where i live drinking age is 16, driving age is 18. Makes sense to me. You Should be able to Discovery what drinking does to you before you are allowed behind a steering wheel.