When I read this yesterday morning, I spent the rest of the day digesting it. As a parent, I understand wanting to keep your child safe. I even understand overprotective parents a bit more, though I still feel they’re doing damage to their kids. But what Susie Kessler is trying to do goes beyond what rational and even slightly irrational parents do, and crosses over into the epitome of what a nanny state tries to do routinely.
When Kessler’s son Donne turned 16, she slapped a magnet on the back of the car saying “CAUTION: NEWLY LICENSED.” Frankly, I don’t have a problem with it. As a minor, Donne is bound by the rules of his parents. Besides that, he’s living under his parents roof and presumably operating a motor vehicle his parents paid for. It’s their property, so they can make whatever rules they want for him to drive it.
Where it crosses the line for me is that Kessler allegedly is working with a Georgia state senator to require every new driver to slap one of these on their vehicle.
You see, we set fairly arbitrary age limits on just about everything. It’s 16 to drive, 18 to vote, 21 to drink. For me, as I got older each was a milestone for me to achieve. The most recent I passed was that I’m now old enough to be President. But those age limits are chosen because it’s believed that most people of that age are at least close to mature enough to handle the responsibility involved.
Now, Kessler is operating under the assumption that 16 year old drivers aren’t, in fact, able to handle that responsibility. If that’s the case, then wouldn’t it be more appropriate to press for raising the legal driving age? Instead, she wants to slap these labels on every kid’s car so that other drivers will be aware. So what?
Frankly, a bad driver is a bad driver. I don’t care if they got their license last week, last year, or last century. If they can’t drive, they should be ticketed by the police for whatever traffic violations they commit. If they cause an accident, they should be treated accordingly as well. But for people like Kessler, that’s not enough.
I hate to break it to her, but that label doesn’t do a think except get her son laughed at. If this becomes state law, I can invariably see the spoof labels like “CAUTION: BLONDE DRIVING” or “CAUTION: NO CAFFIENE”, enough so that these kinds of things will become meaningless, to say nothing of invisible. We can only hope so though.
Teen drivers with these labels on the back may also become targets. After all, it’ll be clear that these are new drivers, so perhaps an insurance scam against them might be in order. Maneuver them into an accident and convince them it’s their fault? Not as far fetched as you might think.
To parents like Kessler, I just have one thing to say. If you don’t think your child can handle the responsibility of driving, then don’t let them behind the wheel of a car. Just don’t dictate what every other parent and teen in the state should do. If you don’t feel teens in general are responsible enough, then campaign to raise the minimum age for a license. If it’s anything else, then back off! We’ve got enough other people trying to run our lives as it is!
