Sympathy Pain

Ok, when did I get old? I have come to the conclusion that teens should not drive to school. This is prompted my the fact that Jack and his mom had to put their car in the ditch to avoid being in a multi car incident on the way to school. A teen ager was not paying attention to the dozen cars in occupying the turn lane and rear ended them going 45 mph. messed up a handful of cars and a few minor injuries.

So it got me thinking. Why on earth do they have to drive to school. I say have to. It seems to me like there are alotta pluses to cutting this privilege out and not a lot of negatives.

Let’s just look at the state of the economy. Gas Prices. What would happen to oil demand if the roads were absent of teen drivers from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm? And the air quality? I mean, we have about 7 high schools in the county I live in. figure an average of 100 students driving per school that 700 ish cars added into the mix every day. That’s in one county. Some have more, some less, but that adds up fast.

Schools would have more space to expand. I’ve heard, on more than one occasion, that one school or another “just doesn’t have room to build new classrooms”. They would if they didn’t have to have student parking. That’s a whole wing of space that’s wasted.

What about safety. It’s almost a mob mentality at 3:30 when hormonal teenagers hit the road. Not all of them, but I have seen many a “street race” happen between car loads of teenagers. And, remember what started all this.

Insurance rates. I would think less time on the roads to have accidents would equate to lower rates…eventually. That one is a reach.

And, finally, attitude towards mass transit. A bus passes almost every house…or would if students couldn’t drive to school…and we teach our kids that as soon as you are old enough, get the hell off that bus. We are training our kids from the moment they learn to drive that public transportation is somehow debilitating. Your status is so much great when you drive to school than ride the bus…which also sets up social discrimination. The haves and have nots. Here’s an article about Cornell University’s attempt at public transportation…College kids…doing without cars.

So what are the cons? Some kids have to work. Well, if nobody drove, nobody could get to work until a certain time. Set your schedule so that you have time to get home and get to work. Most shifts wouldn’t mind a 15 or 30 minute different start time. Starting at 4:30 instead of 4:00 isn’t that much difference, especially if that’s universal.

One of my co workers said the bus came by her house at 6:00 am…and she wouldn’t have gotten up that early…um…I have nothing on that one. Seems like conveiency makes us lazy and we are teaching our kids that as well. I was one of the first stops on my bus route, and then 30 miles from school, so about an hour bus trip one way. It’s all I knew. You get up when you have to.

Just my soap box for the day…oh, my hip…