Do you think 16 is old enough to cut a kid loose in a car?

I think that this mainly depends on the person. If your daughter is trustworthy and reliable, I do not see why she should not drive. If she is not that trustworthy, I would let her prove her responsibility before deciding. I think it also depends on maturity level. Will she pay adequate attention to the road, or will she play with the radio and her cell phone. I also think it depends on her driving skills. If she is a good driver, then I see no reason for her not to drive. I am still young and I remember getting my permit. I am a responsible person and have had no problems with driving. I think that many factors determine whether or not you should let her loose, but in the end, I think you should go with your instincts.

I think 16 is too young to drive alone. It is 18 where I live and even that seems to young. We get the right to both drink and drive at 18 and then are told that you must not drink and drive but they do and the die. It happens all the time. It is very hard to understand the dangers when you are only 18 because they do not understand the risks. At that age they feel as though nothing can happen to them and they learn the hard way.

Oh no, she is not old enough to drive, I dont know the law around you, but most places I know, you cant even get a driver's licence until you are 18 year, she should just wait till she old enough to grab the wheel.

if i didn't feel my kids was ready to drive, they wasn't allow too. i would let them go on short trips at first. they had to prove themself to me they could handle the responbabty first, wow i spelled that wrong.. need to wait to wake up first before reply to these.. lol

It is pretty young, I guess it depends on the maturity of the person. In Germany you can't get a license till you 18 and it costs about $1500 and you have to go to driving school for a couple month. They make sure you ready.

I don't think that at 16, most are old/mature enough to drive independently. Being able to drive alone opens up so many opportunities and allows a massive amount of freedom. I think that around the 18-20 mark is probably a lot more sensible. But it does of course depend also on the individual

Different states here in Australia have different ages for obtaining a licence. The state I lived in allowed us to get a licence at 16 and that is just what I did do. Also in those days we did not have any restrictions like having to display “P” plates, which is what provisional drivers need now. One of the advantages is that I grew up in a rural area and so had been driving the tractors and trucks plus moving vehicles for a few years before I was legally allowed to do so. That was common practice for those who were bought up on farms, but we did not drive on the roads at all till we got our licence. At least that is what happened in my family. The “advantage” we had over the younger ones of today is that the cars were not nearly as powerful 40 years ago, or even 20 years ago now. We generally drove the parents vehicle as we could not afford our own car and our parents certainly would never have considered buying one for us. When I am driving along the highway in the truck I see so many people do absolutely stupid things and more so when there are a group of young ones in a car or a few cars which appear to be travelling together. It is just plain scary really and I have held my licence for some 46 years now. When my own children and stepchildren were old enough (17 in the state we live in) to get their driver’s licence we made sure that they could drive properly. We also paid for each one of them to have at least 4 lessons with a registered driving instructor in a car that had dual controls. The lessons went for an hour and we insisted that they do not attempt to go for their licence until they had at least 200 hours driving experience and also that they drove in all sorts of conditions. That is they had to have at least 10 hours in each of the following - night driving, dawn and dusk, wet roads, fog and dirt roads. Yes, we made them keep a log book with all the information relating to their driving experience including the road conditions and time of day. Did they like or appreciate what we insisted happen? No way but I think that they do not that they are a little bit older as it has held them all in good stead as they are all now competent and safe drivers. Basically we simply said “this is our home, we pay the bills and everyone who lives here follows the sensible rules we set down. If you want to discuss the rules okay but make it good or our rules stay.” lol Yes we were tough but none of them have ever had an accident and only 2 have ever received driving offence fines - both of them speeding. Initially we let them drive an old car which we had kept in good condition till they could afford to buy their own car, with their money that is. When they had saved enough money to buy a car, my partner and I would go with them to make sure the car they were going to get was a good sound one. We felt we had to be very strict when it came to letting each of them drive as they got old enough because of the amount of driving that they would be doing within a year of getting their licence. We live near a town with a population of less than 1000 people and there is no industry here to provide jobs. That meant they would all have to leave the area to get a decent job, trade or further education. That also meant they would be doing a lot of driving so the more experience they had, the better their chances of being safe on the roads. I don’t think that 16 is too young to get a licence if the person has been taught properly and also providing they do not drive a powerful car until they have had at least 3 years driving experience. Also before they can get their licence, they should have experiences in driving in all sorts of road and weather conditions, so that they can handle any situation that is thrown up to them. You need to look at your daughter and decide whether she is mature and responsible enough to drive AND then you set the guidelines that she has to follow if you prepared to allow her to drive. Some good old fashioned “tough love” is necessary at times like this. Good luck with your daughter and I hope that she does well with her driving.

I also do not think that a teenager of 16 years age should be allowed to drive. I think, in our country the age to get driving licence is 18 years and therefore, one should not drive before that. Teenagers are not so mature so as to understand the nuisance of road traffic and it could be dangerous not only for themselves but others too, on the road.

it depends if he is reponsibile if so why not as long as he knows there is conquences to all of her action.the point is do you feel she is ready yo drive yet.we have to start lettling go a little as they get older

I would say it depends on how mature thaey are.My 16 year old daugter is nowhere ready to drive on her own and my 18 year old just got her license this past summer.You can get a driving permit here when they're 15 1/2. I think that is a little young,wait till they're a full 16 at least.Another reason to wait was the high cost of drivers ed and car insurance would be raised high.

Dear friend, I do it depends upon one's capability to drive well a car. How that person handles the car and obeys the traffic rules. Hence age is not a barrier in this provided that person drives it without any accidents or without breaking rules. May be it depends on that person how well could handle a car. There are people who are more than 20 or 30 still rides the car very dangerously. I hope age do not matter here it is the skill that matters more.

i got my learners at 16, and we have to have a parent drive with us out here (australia) back then i had to have my l's for 12 months, now you have to do at least 120 hrs driving in all conditions. then we get p's at 17, i was restricted to 80km/h, and you had them for 12 months then let lose. now it's 3 yrs and different colours and different speeds. don't know about how many people you can have in the car. i learnt to drive on the farm, and the vechicles i drove when learning, were 4wds. mums ute was a big dual cab defender. don't be in a hurry, take your time don't be in a big hurry to get her driving.

Here they can get their permit at 15 1/2 yrs. old. I think it is way too young. As a parent of two grown sons here is how my case worked. I didn't allow my oldest to get his permit unitl the summer after he was 16 (he was 16 in March). He got it the first try and we agreed that he would not go for his license until he was at least 17. He did and got his license on the first try. I allowed him to drive back and forth to school only (about 5 miles each way). First time out by himslf he called and he had had a fender bender in the parking lot of the school. In all honesty it wasn't his fault but we took that as a sign so he didn't drive by himself until that fall which made him 17 1/2. Now my youngest son is 18 now and only has his permit. He really doesn't push the issue so I don't either. He drives pretty good but I figure when he is ready he'll let me know. I think 16 is way too young. They haven't had enough experienc and as I always told my kids it's not how you drive that I worry about it's all the other nuts on the road! LOL