Underage Driving?
Do any of you guys let your underage kids drive your vehicles? My 14 y.o. daughter drives my truck around my lot at work and out at our property where we are building our new house. I've tried to get her go get out on the road but she is to scared. I wonder what the penality is if she were to get caught driving underage?
0
-
Most states give learning permits at fairly young ages. In Arkansas you could get a learning permit at 14, which I required my children to study, take the test and get the permit. Then they had 2 years of driving experience with ME by the time they turned 16 and could have their own license. By the way, while driving on that permit WITH a parent, they did not affect my insurance cost. Only when they can drive on their own do they affect your insurance cost.
In those states that don't give the permits that young, you can still have a lot of fun letting them drive on shopping center parking lots when the stores are closed and while security "might" stop you, it's doubtful, Barney will likely be sleeping and not even notice. Whatever you do, keep a cool hand, low voice and patient approach to teaching your children to drive. If you can't, let someone else teach them.
Once they started driving on their own, two things help lower insurance costs, good grades (State Farm gives discount for honor roll students); and Driver's Education Course. Both will usually lower your rates 10-20% on a young driver. Girls are lower than boys until they are married or reach 25 years of age. (go figure)
good luck, pray and be patient.0 -
quote:Originally posted by forkliftking
Do any of you guys let your underage kids drive your vehicles? My 14 y.o. daughter drives my truck around my lot at work and out at our property where we are building our new house. I've tried to get her go get out on the road but she is to scared. I wonder what the penality is if she were to get caught driving underage?
Illinois it would prevent here from getting license until 18, and would cost you at least $500 fine for allowing her to drive on the road. Private property however you can drive withut a DL at any age.0 -
I've taught mine to hook up trailers and back them. She can do it all, but sometimes I need something from home when we are at our new place and hate to stop what I'm doing when she could just jump in my truck and go and get it. It's only one mile on back roads. She is afraid if she gets caught, she might not ever get her license. Any LEO's reading this? 0 -
We watched our neighbor load up his dog and his 9 yr old grandson in his car the other day and off they went. The grandson was driving. Now mind you we live in very tight community and they were only going about 6 blocks. Our daughter drives my truck, she is 12. I even let her drive me home from my office every now and then. We also know all the cops well enough that they stop by and have coffee and dinner with us frequently. I would not think about allowing her to do it out of the city though. 0 -
Foul.
Not fair.
She's a law-abiding minor. Don't push her to risk running into trouble, how ever unlikely it is to happen.0 -
I am going to be accused of hypocrisy here. Go ahead.
When Travis was 15, I had an extra car for him to drive, and I needed him to drive himself and his younger step-brother to school. Neither school was two miles away, so they weren't allowed to ride the bus. There was no safe way for them to walk to school. There is no sidewalk and no road shoulder between here and either the high school or the middle school, so the boys would have to walk in the road at peak traffic time.
My wife (ex-wife now) had been taking the children to school before she went to work, but her assignment had been changed, and she had to go to work much earlier, so she got the kids up as she was leaving in the mornings and they had to get themselves off to school.
I tried to get this across to the idiot DL examiner at the licensing office, but she would not let Travis have a hardship license. So, I told Travis to just drive carefully, and if he got caught, we would deal with it. He didn't get caught, and as soon as he turned 16, he got a regular license.
So, I reckon I am a hypocrite, at least on this issue. I tried to do it legally, but was thwarted by an idiot with a little power. Had Travis been cited, I would have paid his fine. Had I been cited for allowing him to drive, I would have paid my fine. I live near, and my kids went to school in one city, and I work in another city, so it wasn't as if I had to watch Travis drive by me while I was on duty, knowing he was driving without a license.
Later on, Travis would quietly accept responsibility for himself when he was cited for speeding and driving without his glasses, a restriction stated on his license. He paid the fine for the DL restriction, and took Defensive Driving to make the speeding charge go away. And he did those things without consulting me or asking for my help. I wondered why he didn't just tell the trooper he was wearing his contact lenses.0 -
An underage minor who gets caught driving before getting a lawful
driver's license will not be able to until his/her 21st birthday.
Law's the law's, the law ... or ... it's not, for anyone.0 -
I would not let them drive alone, but I do let him drive with myself out on the country roads. Around here you would be hard pressed to find a county sheriff that would do anything more then tell you to start driving and don't let me see you again.
If they are in a wreck, then that is a differant story. Yes, I believe in IL that they lose it until 18 or 21. DUI is 21. Jan 1, 2008 Illinois requires 9 months of White slip driving, so most kids in Illinois will no longer get their full lic. at 16.0 -
quote:An underage minor who gets caught driving before getting a lawful
driver's license will not be able to until his/her 21st birthday.
That's not the law in Texas.
It was a calculated risk. We took the risk, and didn't get clobbered. Had Travis gotten caught, we would have made an appearance before the judge. The judge had the authority to order the DL examiner to issue the hardship license, and he probably would have in this case.0 -
Around here it is not uncommon and legal to some extent. Being farm country our state has made an exception for farm kids. If I recall correctly they can drive on the roads at 12. However they are only allowed to do so when performing farm related chores. Though it really isn't heavily enforced.I see farm kids as young as 8 or 10 driving all sorts of vehicles on dirt and gravel roads and never hear of the law being enforced. In a way I think many of these kids are more cautious than older one sand are ultimately safer on the road even with less life experience. I think I drove on my grandfathers farm and surrounding roads at about 10. 0 -
Yes both of my kids, but not on the roads 0 -
My son now 13 has been driving around the property for about the last 4 or so years. He also has been taught/learned to back & hook up trailers. Drive on the roads, No. However he did once when we took the truck and tractor up the road about 1/2 a mile to pull a school bus out of a snow bank. When he was 8 he ran a trencher for about 1200 feet to install a water line. He is also a fair operater of a skid steer loader. Missouri has the "Graduated" drivers license which I am in agreement with. I do have enough confidence in his abilities he could safely drive to town in an emergency. He is very mature for his age (13) and size being 6' 240 lbs. 0 -
In Iowa you can get a school license to drive to school and school activatives at age 15. Learners permit at age 14. I probably began driving around age 7 helping Dad move from one field to another. At around age 10 we were driving a straight truck with a split axle loaded with grain from the field down the road to home to dump. It's not uncommon for young kids to start driving here at a early age. 0 -
Yes, but it was only on private property. 0 -
Yes but only on private property also. I taught my sons both to drive starting around age 14. We would drive my In-Laws truck down to the lake and around the property. 0 -
Dad let me drive when I was 12 on private roads.
Thing is, I know some 12 year olds who I think are more than responsible enough to drive and some 30 year olds who should have a restraining order put on them- they shouldn't be allowed within 500 feet of any car.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
16 comments