Quote:
Originally Posted by Livia
You have lots of room in the US. We have so many cars and so many people on our tiny island. Where I grew up in east London, the houses are mostly small and quite close together and off-road parking was always a rarity. Now, both parents and at least one kid has a car, despite the copious amount of transport available. Consequently life is being made impossible for drivers, nowhere to park, charges even to drive into London. Driving is becoming unsustainable Britain is slowly being priced out of being able to drive.
I couldn't afford a car until I was in my 20s and didn't pass my test till 22. But I rode a motorbike from age 17 and all through my uni years. I wouldn't suggest that for anyone, though. It was dangerous then, it's terrifying now with roads so busy, car drivers on their phones, looking at their satnav... And you know, you can't legally drink alcohol in the US until you're 21. Personally I wouldn't mind the age of majority returning to 21 for everything.
finally, the vast majority of accidents involve young people, mostly young men. That's because we're all quite stupid when we're very young and think we're invincible. If only we were...
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I agree with you 1000% percent on the state of driving and that's why I don't really think it's a "bad" idea. I could easily be convinced if public transport becomes more tenable. Vehicles are expensive and I'd rather that go to paying off tuition each semester than having to force that person to be dependent on student debt (another issue). That would be a better way to begin life.
I don't take small trips anymore for things because of aggressive drivers and just generally unsafe drivers all over the roads now. I try to go out early in the day after rush hour and when there's fewer silly people in the shops. A lot of that goes back to lack of enforcement, though. Our city has a massive input and not a ton of units out there to catch violations. When COVID hit, the local courts were allowing a minimum of 6 unpaid traffic tickets before issuing a warrant despite the fact that traffic stops were discouraged. So that meant it had to be egregious for them to be stopped at all during that time. And even then, they don't keep them long enough for jail to be a deterrent as they'll be released once they've seen a judge. Safety on the roads have never recovered since, especially with the influx of out-of-state.
We have that problem with too many cars in a household because of single-family households being used as multi-. So a 2-car garage can have 2-4 cars parked, some in the street and then occasionally some on the lawn, when it's excessive.
Aggressive driving also got worse with COVID but it was rising before that with the changes in demographics. Unfortunately strains in the culture extend to the streets where lots of people who aren't in agreement on simple things like society rules are also expressing that by trying to dominate on the roads, but this is a universal problem.
Fun fact: TX has something called a
"hardship license" for young people who are still younger legal driving age which would cover the situation I mentioned before. It depends on the state whether or not they offer this:
Yesterday, 08:20 PM
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