Do you let your teen ride with other teen drivers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was really weird moving here from a state where kids drive earlier. My kids had permits at 14. They had driver's licenses at 15 years and 9 months. Not permits. Unrestricted licenses. At 18 they had been driving for 4 years. I understand that kids here don't drive as early, but don't you worry about sending your brand new drivers to college? We have been lucky. Four drivers and only one minor fender bender. It would have scared me to death to send an inexperienced driver to college.

I moved here from one of those states too. The difference here is how bad things can get in rush hour, and the possibility of kids having to drive on 66 or the beltway. This is very different driving from the rural country roads and smaller cities where I grew up. Plus, Maryland drivers. I have no problem send a kid to college. Because any college I would send a car to (not NY or Chicago or LA) would not have the kind of traffic issues we have here.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a teen driver I wish more parents wouldn’t let kids ride. Everyone seems to think my son is the neighborhood (free) Uber. So I have to be the mean guy. Then moms come to me and ask on behalf of their kid.

[Anonymous]

My freshman DS rode with a 17 yo from Bethesda to DC every morning for the whole school year. It is common in our school to have freshmen and sophomores carpool with the juniors and seniors. You get over it pretty quickly when the alternative is to drive them yourself or have them metro.

[Anonymous]

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for their age group so it makes sense to be selective with whom they ride. I rarely allow it and I always ask the make of the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS rode with a 17 yo from Bethesda to DC every morning for the whole school year. It is common in our school to have freshmen and sophomores carpool with the juniors and seniors. You get over it pretty quickly when the alternative is to drive them yourself or have them metro.

My kid metros every morning to school, just like I metro every morning to work. I can't imagine driving if you live close enough to metro --- greenhouse gases, danger, traffic.. no thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS rode with a 17 yo from Bethesda to DC every morning for the whole school year. It is common in our school to have freshmen and sophomores carpool with the juniors and seniors. You get over it pretty quickly when the alternative is to drive them yourself or have them metro.

I hope you chipped in for gas and car maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was really weird moving here from a state where kids drive earlier. My kids had permits at 14. They had driver's licenses at 15 years and 9 months. Not permits. Unrestricted licenses. At 18 they had been driving for 4 years. I understand that kids here don't drive as early, but don't you worry about sending your brand new drivers to college? We have been lucky. Four drivers and only one minor fender bender. It would have scared me to death to send an inexperienced driver to college.

I didn’t drive at all in college or grad school. In college (small town NE college) we walked or rode bikes everywhere, in grad school (urban) we walked or rode the subway everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My freshman DS rode with a 17 yo from Bethesda to DC every morning for the whole school year. It is common in our school to have freshmen and sophomores carpool with the juniors and seniors. You get over it pretty quickly when the alternative is to drive them yourself or have them metro.

No judgement for allowing your DS to do this, but seems like this kind of decision should be made independent of your own convenience.

[Anonymous]

I think trusting the other parents to manage their own driver is what matters. When I was that age my friends had various rules on how many passengers or turning off the radio when in cities.

[Anonymous]

I’ve only let my teen drive with one kid. I’ve know the kid for a couple of years, and he generally seems even-headed. They went out during the day to a single store and came back.

Her friends are starting to get their licenses. My rules will probably change over the next year or two.