Ages for Driving/Drinking

[phenious]

A few of you have mentioned alcohol as something you don’t do, or didn’t do until you were legal. What do you attribute this to and what good it do for you personally? I live in Germany and have lived here for most of my life. Here the rules for alcohol are quite different as some of you know. At Age 16 you are allowed to drink beer and wine on your own, 18 for hard alcohol. However, for a drivers license you have to be 17 and go thru a 1 year course and cant take the final test until you are 18. I find the German system far better then the American system and it seems that the laws are changing in the US which I think is good. In Germany you learn that alcohol is nothing highly special and when and if you get drunk it’s a lot harder to drive home and crash considering your walk or taking a bus. In the US teenagers are let out in cars (some parents monitor car usage more then others) at age 16 or younger maybe higher to depending on the state and have free reign, and on their 21st birthday they are off to the bar and then drive home. I understand that a lot of kids get their hands on alcohol sooner then 21 as it isn’t really hard but the idea is still there, you can drive when you are most interested in alcohol which isn’t the best mix. A great deal of this depends on the Teenager’s maturity. Just wondering what your thoughts are!

-: phenious :-

[geekgrl]

It bothers me that an 18 year old man is old enough to die for his country but not old enough to drink alcohol.

[Skywalker[TSG]]

The swedish system is really wierd

at age 18 you can buy&drink alcohol at the pub

but if you want to drink at home or say yer going to a party you cant buy it until your 20 and then you have to go to goverment controlled stores to get it !

Driving is really wierd too

at age 15 you can drive a moped
at age 16 you can drive a MC and start taking a drivers license for a car
and finaly at age 18 you can drive a car

[caddmannq]

The laws here (california) have gotten tougher.
A 16 year old only gets a limited license, including no night-time driving. Any alcohol related offense for a teen suspends his license, or if before age 16, postpones his elegibility for a license, for I believe, 2 years.

Teens are not our bigest problem here. We have millions of illegal aliens, a lot of whom are illegal drivers, and not much is done to stop them.

[CERuppel]

Well... On the subject of Drinking AND Driving... No age is appropriate.

On the subject of legal ages for drinking OR driving... You tell me. There are as many views on this as there are people.

IMO the legal age for drinking should stay where it is, or maybe try a two tiered set up like Germany. But... I am an alcoholic, and started in my teens. If I had been older (and wiser) I might have avoided alot of trouble.

As for the legal age for driving, as I understand it Michigan is switching to a multi-step level of driver permits that allow for driving under less and less supervision. A good idea, and one that allows for longer driver training. Just don't know if the parents that don't have time to help with the home work are going to have time to help with the driving...

[geekgrl]

In Kentucky, you can get your permit to drive when you turn 16 (meaning you can drive if you have someone 18 or older in the car), and then in 6 months you can take your driver's test. If you pass, then you will get your license with no limits!

[phenious]

Well this was actually started off the home schooling thread but I didnt want to change the subject cause it was going so well some of the people said they haddnt or didnt drink and I thought the laws were kinda backwards there. The US seems to be a reaction based system where we give you the rope to hang your self and try to stop you in the act, Germany never gives you the rope, just the scafolding Also for the driving training here in germany. This is done like a school. It is a driving school, your firends or parents arent the ones teaching, your shelling out $2K to learn to drive and get your license but once you get it you will be a well experienced driver ready to handle the 100MPH+ driving on the Autobahns ect. You wont pass if they have the slightest doubt. The 2 hour book exam makes my stomach turn and so does the 3 hour driving test You go anywhere and every where.

-: phenious :-

[Warthog]

Law just changed in VT in 2000. If you got your permit after July 1st, 2000, you can only drive with family members age 25 or older which was DUMB because I couldn't practice with my 20 year old sister...did anyway.....oh btw, you can get a permit at age 15 (I did when I was 16, August of 2000, just after law).

And then you couldn't get your license for exactly ONE year....that means I couldn't get my license until August of 2001...which I did by 1 year and 1 week (I took it twice)......and THEN you can only have family members age 25 and older for the first 3 months (after 3 months I could have my sis in the car)....and after 6 months you can have anybody (like friends).

Needless to say, I broke the law many times. My parents enforced it for the first 3-4 months of having my license because I was still quite new at driving. After a bit, they let off. They know I'm responsible so that's why they did that.

It really is a good law, though. If I had gotten my license RIGHT after drivers education class (ended in Jan. 2001), I would've probably crashed. I really sucked at driving then.

Warthog

[caddmannq]

I would've probably crashed. I really sucked at driving then.

WHAT???
After all those hours playing "Need for Speed"!

[Mike]

In Michigan to get permit you have to be 15 years, 6 months old. Once you get your regular liscense can't drive past midnight for one year (for kids under) 18. That law really isn't enforced either.