When can my teen drive a younger child.
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Anonymous
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We live in Rockville, md. My dd is 17 and is currently take drivers ed. She will have her completed the driving class and taken the Mva test by April 6th. My question is, will she be able to drive the twin girls she babysits this summer? The parents of the girls have said that she can use their spare car (Prius) to drive the girls this summer. Is this going to be legal? I feel tht there will be other ins and outs to address with the family as well such as insurance etc. how should I go about this? Also, since the law is that you cannot drive other teens until you have your provisional for 6 months, but can you drive you get kids?
Anyone btdt? Thanks |
Anonymous
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The law says: "Provisional license holders under the age of 18, during the first 5 months (151 days) of the provisional period, are not allowed to have passengers under the age of 18, unless accompanied by a qualified supervising driver or the passengers are direct family members."
Looks like your daughter can't legally do it until September, assuming she passes her mva in April. |
Anonymous
| Why is that though? why does it matter if the person isnt a family member? |
Anonymous
| It's not legal. My DC got into an accident after he had his license for only 2-3 months. They need the time to practice with no distractions. No way would I want my new driver driving someone else's small kids around. |
Anonymous
| Also, don't assume she will pass the test the 1st time. Of my DCs friends there was probably a 50% pass rate. And it then takes 6-8 weeks to get the next appointment. |
Anonymous
| She can not drive kids she's babysitting for this summer. She needs to let the parents know THIS WEEK so they can sort out alternative transportation. |
Anonymous
Because passengers have been shown to increase crash rates. Some states allow siblings as a bone they throw to their constituents. |
Anonymous
This. And most of them do not even get out of the MVA lot because they fail the parallel parking portion of the test - which they have to pass to even take the road test. Besides that, the PP is right. Once she passes, she will not be able to drive a non-family minor for the first 5-6 months of her provisional licesne period. Honestly, parent to parent - you do want her to either. Having to mamage 2 kids while getting used to the spped and anticipation of actual driving is a bear. If I were her parent, I would not chance it. |
Anonymous
The data is really tremendous on this point. Young passengers increase the already high crash rates for teens, and children are more likely to die in a crash if the driver is a teen. There are so many risks about driving you can't control (she has to be inexperienced at the beginning, you won't be there to monitor seat belt or phone use) Young passengers is the single biggest risk factor you can control. |
Anonymous
Legally, she can drive them one at a time! |
Anonymous
Huh? No passengers under 18 who aren't family members. 1 is more than 0. |
Anonymous
| I also urge OP not to try to circumvent this law. There's lots of data to back up the statistics on this. We're in VA where parents are required to attend a scary statistic session with the new driver. We hear it again when we go to court with them and the judge hands us the kid's license. And I have 3 teens, so I hear lots. |
Anonymous
Sorry, VA permits one unrelated passenger. "Passenger restrictions. You can carry no more than one passenger who is under 18 years of age for the first year following the issuance of your license." |
Anonymous
Because a person has the highest chance of getting into a fatal car accident (or any accident) in the first six months of getting his/her license. |
Anonymous
The OP lives in MD. Usually the restrictions of your state apply for driving, so the OPs daughter shouldn't be driving one of these kids in Virginia during the 151 day period. It wasn't clear that the babysitting gig was in VA, but maybe it is. |