I just read on WRAL about the Alive at 25 proposed program Johnston County is going to offer teen drivers. I know I don't live there anymore but my 17 year old son still does, so I am in support of the program. Here in Colorado my daughter lost one of the boys who graduated with her. He was her first friend in town (a small town their graduation class was 60). He had taken her to homecoming within a week of us being new in town. He and his family were/are good friends to us. The accident was his fault. He died and his friend we still don't know an update on. My daughter and her classmates took it very hard. As we all do. No matter how much we want to preach about right and wrong. A life was lost. When they are in the car and we aren't there we aren't in control. They have to be and have to do it responsibly. As parents please think about having your teen take the class. I will encourage my son to do so. INFO: "Alive at 25" is a four-hour class open to Johnston County residents ages 16 to 19 years old. The first class will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 6. Teens or their parents should call the Town of Smithfield at 919-934-2116 to sign up for the class. http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3632989/
When I was in my 'driving' teen years, I didn't really get the opportunity to pal around that much. I was either riding the roads working, driving back and forth to school or on a date with a girl. Then, there were no cell phones. I took some chances and had a wild spurt ever so often. However, I didn't have peer pressure in the car to push me. Its really a wonder that more kids aren't hurt than what they are, especially nowadays. I suspect that the numbers increase are just a run of concidence, mixed in with inattentiveness and inexperience. I don't think there is any alarm there to rush to raise the driving age. Kids should learn, thought that text messaging while driving is probably the most stupid thing a driver could ever do. Don't most phones today have speaker and voice-activated dialing??? Here's another idea for parents. Pay a bit more and get the walkie-talkie service like Nextel or Touch2Talk from Alltel. I have the Alltel service and its great for a quick message. My phone also has the speaker and voice-activated dialing, as well. Its not that expensive of a phone, so I can only assume that most phones have these features. 'Texting' while driving is just proof positive that that kid doesn't need to be driving. Their priorities are all out of whack!
Yup thats the program they have me going to for my speeding ticket. One slight problem I am double that age. It should be called alive at 50 Went and signed up for the class yesterday afternoon after work.
I think the thing with texting is that it is the teen 'in' thing to do........cause no one can overhear your conversations. :mrgreen:
