[jkarolyi]

>Do they still teach driver ed. in high school? When I was a kid (when buffalo roamed the plains) we sat through ten weeks of classes including a couple of weeks sitting in a dorky simulator then the instructors took us out and let us drive a real car. And of course the obligatory bloody training film.

Nope. Driver's ed is now taught by private institutions whose first incentive is to get the kids to pass the lame drivers ed requirements as fast as possible. I'm a libertarian at heart, but this is a serious matter that belongs in public high schools.

And no, with proper training, 16 is not too young to drive. I got my permit the day I turned 15 (in 1989 in North Carolina) and my license the day I turned 16. I was properly trained and, knock on wood, haven't had an accident with over $1000 damage in 15 years of driving!

Raising the driving age is merely scapegoating around the true problem: lousy training. If we're truly concerned about safety, we'd adopt a European model for licensing.