I put off enabling my son to drive for as long as I could, but he passed the driver’s test on his third try and succeeded in getting his grades up to our agreed-upon level. I couldn’t delay it any longer. And now my teenage son drives.  As a native Southern Californian, I grew up in a car culture and time when we got our licenses literally on the day of our 16th birthday, or the Monday after, if our luck was really bad.

Thankfully, it isn’t that easy anymore. Driving, in this dad’s humble opinion, is wrought with more dangers than ever, though the cars may have more safety features than ever.  Safety features, however, don’t fully account for foolish choices, increased traffic, and drunk drivers. Nor do “safety features” account for the sad reality, again in my opinion, that young men and women are not maturing as quickly as we did. I think kids today are spoiled, allowed to remain kids much longer, and may just not be ready to drive at the tender age of 16.