kid-car free till 18
 

My son just got his wings clipped. He got his 2nd speeding ticket which automatially means he's car-free till 18. My take on it? There's your bike...here's the bus routes...enjoy.

He'll be car-free for 2.5months... That's cramping his social life style...Any suggestions for helping a kid do car-free through the winter months?

Wool hat. Riding in winter, as well as waiting for bus, can get pretty chilly at times.

up the time till he's 20

I probably couldn't muster much sympathy for him, if he was my kid. Hang in there, vr, they'll be growed soon!

I hope he's the eldest, so the younger ones learn from his goofups. :)

+1 No sorrow on my part...Any kid that's clocked at 96mph...gets what he gets. Unfortunately, it's been raining since the 'event'.

By reading the thread name, I thought you ment your kid wont get a license at all until 18, which seemed pretty unreasonable. But, in you and your kids case, I think he'll be able to tough it out for a few months. :D

SealSkinz are nice, warm, gloves. He might want a pair.

96mph, he should feel lucky he's able to still use the bike...

I'm suprised you let him get a second ticket. I rode to school from the time I could ride until, well, still. He'll live, though he may not see it that way. BTW, that must destroy your insurance rates.

Did anybody read the recent reports that adolescent brains make it pretty much impossible for them to be good drivers? The frontal cortex, which is involved in complex planning and judgment (both obviously important in driving), is usually not fully developed until age 19 - 21.

Teaching a 16-year-old to drive is kind of like teaching a 2-year-old to tie his shoes. In both cases, their brains just aren't up to the task yet.

He's racing to get to the bus and get to work on time...learning to schedule time.

Yesterday, I showed him how to use the car pump to add air to the tires. Some months back I saw this coming and made him take that bike in to fix the cranks and tune the bike. So the bike is in good shape but...both tires were flat (and there was a spare tube sitting there). Running late to the bus in the rain.

The warm hat and gloves are good ideas. I don't plan on buying anything...just 'giving him the tools to survive'. After he went to bed and his shoes were dried out, I sprayed them with waterproofing.

Although, I'm not totally sure what he'll need yet.

No sympathy. Never had a car, grew up without one. Every time he complains, remind him that his irresponsible behaviour caused this, and that there would be much more cramping of his social life if he was in a wheelchair, or in jail.

Heck, when my cousin got a speeding ticket at 17 he lost the rights to the family car in perpetuity.

I read the article in the Post, and it's interesting. But I'd be very skeptical when anyone starts to assume the just one area of the brain is solely responsible for a complex cognitive task. An activity like driving, and for that matter cycling, requires input from every single area of the brain. Of course parts of the human brain develop at different rates, that's a given, but here's the catch...while one cognitive area is still developing, another might be at it's peak, and when one area is reduced in function, another is capable of taking over. As the author states at the beginning of the article, "teens muscles are supple, their reflexes quick, their senses at a lifetime peak". This has got to count for something. I'm not saying that teens are good drivers, but I think we can blame their poor driving skills on good old fashion teenage stupidity, and lack of practice, not lack of brain development. just my 2 cents :D

don't forget male ego...gotta be the fastest. people hate it when i pass them on a bike. someone sped up the other day because i passed them and nearly hit the car in front of them that was going at the speed limit. i would have laughed so hard...see where your stupid teenage male ego gets you. i half hope people like that get seriously hurt or seriously hurt someone just to get them in trouble/the hospital and teach them a lesson about why you drive with others on the road in mind.

96 mph? no sympathy. kid could've seriously hurt someone. if was going to go that fast, i doubt he's looking out. what if one of us had been riding our bike on that road? no sympathy at all. no car at all is my advice. some people just don't belong on the road with a 3000 pound potentially deadly hunk of metal.

Well, "good old fashion teen stupidity" probably is related to brain development. And the high rate of teen accidents, compared to all other age groups (even the elderly), suggests that their other attributes, like good perception and fast reaction times, do not make up for their relative lack of judgment.

I think it's only a matter of time before driving age limits are raised to 18.

I hope that everybody realizes that this is not a slam against young people. Each age group possesses strengths and weaknesses, and of course, not every individual within a group shares every trait or attribute. Some adolescents are good drivers even if their brains are not fully developed, but many are not.

Driving has changed drastically from when my grandparents drove.

They said that most roads were dirt or 2-lane paved and people didn't go more than say 40mph. There were no super-highways and few intersections etc. Guess the cars couldn't go that fast...and there were a lot less on the road.

Since driving is more demanding, they probably should raise the age or just get rid of cars for non-essential travel.

I love when scientists do experiments to prove things that we already know. Shock horror! Teens are bad drivers?!?! Oh, my, what a surprise. NOT!

Next thing ya know, they'll be doing experiments telling us that eating too much and not exercising will make you fat. Or that throwing yourself off a cliff might harm your health.

You don't pay your kid's insurance do you?

I don't think I plan on ever paying for car insurance for my kids, but you can bet that if they get any tickets, they're paying for any insurance increases. And if they don't pay, no insurance, and no driving.

Tell him to suck it up and he shoulda thought about it :p. If a car cramps his style, he either
A) has the wrong style
B) Has the wrong friends

I don't have a car, I have access to one sure, but I rarely have to use it, doesn't hurt me any, and I'm 17

I've developed a new "ego": be the most efficient.

Slow down to 80 or 90km/h. (about 55mph) versus doing 110km/h... you burn something like 25% less fuel - and may arrive at the same time as you would have given lights and traffic.

Those signs that say "Save a life - slow down" always make me laugh.

SLOW DOWN - SAVE MONEY.

BTW: car hasn't sold yet but if/when it does, I'll be REALLY efficient riding on noodle power.

(admittedly, I drove like a nut when I was a teen. Fortunately I learned before hurting someone)

Agree with Lauren. We pay the base rate...and if the insurance goes up due to speeding or whatever, he pays the extra or no wheels. That way there's no illegal driving.

With my kids, I don't even pay the base rate. The insurance company tells me how much the insurance is for just my husband and I, and then the amount with each of the kids added. Then the difference between my true insurance cost and the total insurance cost is paid by the kids. Basically, no job, no money, no access to a vehicle.

Cherry Bomb

Me either. Kids know they have to foot that bill themselves. Son has been studying up on ways to get the lowest rate.