According to Cyberdriveillinois.com,(http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/programs/gdl.html)on June 22, 2006a law was passed to increase the amount of practice time to obtain an IL DL. Teens are now required to have 50 hours of training behind the wheel, with that 50 including 10 hours of night driving.
My questions about this subject are (please read above link before responding, it will help you to create your answers):
1. Do you think it was fair to raise the amount of behind-the-wheel training needed to get an IL DL? Why or why not?
2. Even though the behind-the-wheel training has increased, the age to obtain a DL has not. Do you think that the age should go up? (for example, to age 18) Why or why not?
Some things to think about when answering these questions... maturity of teens, responsibility, school attendence (see under "effective july 1, 2007" on link mentioned above), and the different age-related restrictions for teens and adults (also on website link).
13 comments:
1. No, I don't think it is fair. Simply because that really isn't going to change anything. Wow whats the big the big deal you have to do 25 more hours not nothing. Trust me I bet thats what teens are saying to.
2. No, i don't think the age should go up either because there are more responsible teens out there that are 15 or 16 and 18 year olds are acting like kids. Its really on how responsible you are or not.
Edwidge Philizaire
Hi! This is Jan Baker
Well, I don't think 50 hours is much more to ask. From the time my daughter got her permit to the time she got her license she had over 100 hours practice time (25 is all that was required). It really isn't hard to obtain - unless the parents just don't want to deal with it. It was important to me as a mother to get as many hours in with my daughter while she was practicing, because I knew after she got her license she wouldn't want me to tag along anymore! My daughter said that in drivers edu. class you could definately tell what kids hadn't been driving with their parents - she said they were scary to ride with! I don't think it is necessary to change the date from 16 to 18. I enjoy letting my daughter run errands for me. It is amazing how many chores she will do (like grocery shopping, etc.), just to get to drive the car! Actually, I think it is the parents choice and the drivers edu. teacher's choice to decide if a teen is ready to drive. Honestly, I don't know if I will let my younger daughter drive when she turns 16. She scares me right now!
Wow...i didn't know that the state could take driver's licenses away from teens not attending school. That is a great idea! Don't need to be driving around if you are not responsible to attend class!
I also didn't know about the cell phone rule for kids under 18...that is one I need to show my daughter. I like that law and the law about new drivers only transporting one other person for the first 6 months of having their license. They need experience before having to deal with distractions.
Teenage driving is a subject that gets brought up between every politician and every police officer and anyone else that it effects. Statistically teens do get in more accidents than any other demographic. The reason for most of these accidents are inexperience. I was once a new driver once, it was not too long ago. I remember all the stupid stuff I accidently did shortly after getting my license. Luckily none of the stupid stuff I did injured me or anyone else. This the case for everyone. Whenever you open up the newspaper, you see a story about a teenager running a red light, and killing the 3 kids with him. This kid has only had his license for 3 weeks. All of this stuff happens due to inexperience. I believe raising the amount of training was a good thing to due. This allows the teen to gain more experience before he/she is let out on their own without any guidance. Hopefully this will lower the amount of teenage accidents. As for the driving age, that is another issue. I see how it could be a good thing. Teenagers would be more mature, and hopefully make better decisions about driving. A teenager could get their driving permit when they are 16, then have 2 years of driving experience (with an adult) that would help them prepare better for driving. Changing the driving age to 18 would also hurt alot of parents. How many parents look forward to their kid getting their license so they don't have to transport them to all the school functions anymore. When they have more than one kid, the oldest transports all the other kids to where they have to go. This allows the parents to have more free time to themselfs, or work time.
Just some of my ideas...
Jeremy Lamb
The hour increase I dont believe is a big deal. Like what was stated in previous comments, the hours really are not that hard to get, but doing day to day things everyday, and plus it never hurts to have more experence, in anything let alone getting a drives license.
As far as the age thing, thats a tricky one. On one hand I would say yes to the 18 thing, just because that would keep more kids at school since most of them turn 18 before or during their senior year. On the other hand I understand that many teen are super responsible, but who is the judge on whether or not their maturity level meets license requirements, The parent? The State? this is iffy, but again I would say it couldnt hurt, going back to the more experence thing and too much experence is always better than not enough.
By Ben Rogers
The 8:09 is sonjas
This is from Stephanie Einck
I think it was fair of them to change the numbers of hours that are required in order to get your permit. I think the more hours you have the better you will be. I know when i was driving i probably had over a 100 hours and i was required 25. Since i live in Rantoul, i was able to get so much more driving time, just driving back and forth to champaign everyday for school. I would drive early in the morning and late at night after games. Since i was with my parents it was good to get used to driving early in the morning and late and night, to get used to driving while your tired and have had a long day.
I guess i dont think they driving age should go up. I agree with Jan when she says it is really up to the parent and the drivers ed teacher. They will be able to tell if their child is ready or not. I know that when i was almost 16, counting down the days, i was so sick of my parents having to drive me everywhere and wait on them. Now that i have been driving, it really isnt that fun anymore. haha. I like when i ride with my parents again. But when i was 16 i was so ready to finally be able to drive myself. I believe changing the driving age can be good and bad, have its ups and downs. I mean your parents would probably have to drive you around all during high-school, to dances, to go hang out with your friends, and whatever else you need. One bad situation is those kids who do sports. I know that when i was a freshman and couldnt drive, it was very hard to get my parents to pick me up from practices and games and to get to early morning practice. I used to have practice from 6:30- 8:30 p.m. and living in Rantoul makes it hard for my parents to try and leave work to take me home, then go back to work, and then leave and come home and pick me up and drive me back down to practice then either go home or wait the 2 hours while i was in practice. It is a lot of driving and when i turned 16 it made everything 100 times easier for my parents, they werent running around so much.
After reading the info found on the web-site, i think that everyone should have the same requirements. I was hurt when i saw that wearing a seatbelt was not mandatory for everyone in the car. Just from past experience(i wont go into detail) the seatbelt saved my life, and the life of my friend who was with me. That is the first thing I do when i get in the car, seatbelt and i make sure who ever rides with me has their seatbelt on. It is a must!
The more practice they get the better they'll be. I believe that they should bring up the amount of hours required behind the wheel before you get your license. To many times kids are getting their licenses and they are unable to drive at a level needed to keep people safe on the road. Getting a drivers license isn't a right in this country. It's a luxury we have and to be able to do it at a younger age. Kids could really start even driving at 15 or 14 if they're fully able and have had a lot of experience. This is going to sound corny but the best drivers I know are kids who drove 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, mowers and fuctioned things that were similar to driving. Practice only helps. Would a basketball coach take a team on the court with only 1 practice in the week? No! He would try to get as much practice in as possible to get his team ready for the game. It's really no different here.
Dan Berger
I think all of the changes are good ones. No matter how much people say "its responsibility that matters, not age" there's no way to take that into account... ON AVERAGE, 18 year olds are more responsible than 16 year olds, and therefore the average responsibility level of drivers will raise if the age raises. that's all you have to go by. I also agree with the extra hours, the fact is, you can pass a driving test in illinois and still suck at driving. i think the more experience the better.
-Blake
I dont think that the increase in hours is really that big of a deal. when i was getting all of my hours in for driving, I had over 100 hours when i went to obtain my drivers licence(25 was required). The only thing it will do is give them more behind the wheel experience, which never hurt anyone. The 10 hours of night driving is a good idea too because most kids dont drive at night so it is a new experience all together.
I dont think that the age should be raised for new drivers. It should be up to the parents to decide if thier child is responsible enough to get behind the wheel of a car.
I didnt know about the cell phone law for anyone under 18 and i also think that the manditory school attendance is an excellent idea.
Bridgette Overmyer
Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage. It is a monumental occasion in a teenager's life. Because of all the teen-related traffic accidents and deaths, I do think that it is logical to increase the amount of training necessary to obtain a driver's license, but I don't think that the age needs to be raised. I think parent's are the best judge of when their child is mature enough to be able to handle the responsibility of driving.
Stacie Carlson
From Barb Beals:
I DO think it's right to raise the time behind the wheel. Look at all of the deaths that have happened in our area (St. Joe, Tolono, Tuscola) All 16 year olds behind the wheel. It should be raised to 18 it's proven that a 12 year old can drive but they don't give them licenses because they don't read street signs. I think that you should be 18 be able to vote, get a license then, and be able to legally drink.
Yes I think it is fair to raise the amount of practice hours required for a drivers license. More practice is never a bad thing, especially for teenagers that are eager to get their license. This could maybe even help with the accident rate, and death rate due to accidents.
I don't think the driving age should go up. I think 16 is a respectable age to obtain a license. Plus, now with more practice hours, they are more experienced.
I left the last comment
Caitlin Parker
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