Bright and early on the day i turned 17 you would have found me at the front of the line at the local new jersey d. m.v. office, applying for a permit to drive. in due course, i got my full license and it wasn’t long before i got my first ticket for speeding. and soon after that i got another for failing to observe a stop sign. after which failure, i’d turned without signaling and then traveled 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, a points cluster-bomb that resulted in the suspension of my license until i enrolled in a driver-training course. which, i might add, like the driving instruction i’d received in school, was virtually useless.

u. s. states would do well to follow the example of european countries where licensing procedures require considerably more training and proven skill.
americans (with an assist from the automobile and oil industries) tend to treat driving like a right, rather than the privilege it most assuredly is. and now that i’m grown and i like to think a more responsible driver, two factors leave me convinced that the driving age shouldn’t be lowered, indeed the right to drive should be doled out gradually to teens as it has been in new york since 2010.

the first problem is the utter inadequacy of our driver training. american states would do well to follow the example of european countries where licensing procedures require considerably more training and proven skill before new drivers are let loose on public roads. the second decider for me is the discovery by scientists that poor decision-making, the hallmark of many teenagers’ existence, has its roots in biology.

so graduated licenses like we have in new york -- where young drivers cannot drive past nightfall or with more than one unrelated person under the age of 21 in their car -- make good sense.

is it the case that many teenagers can and will drive responsibly, regardless the hour, number of young passengers or brain chemistry? yes. is there any inconsistency in the fact that a teen may work but not drive at night? sure.

but, as every parent worth his or her salt has reminded their child at least a hundred times, sometimes, life isn’t fair.

where are the reasons, counterclaim, rebuttal, and claim?