Maturity the Key for Teen Drivers

* In answer to the rhetorical question asked by Christine Shukin (“Changes Needed in Teen Driving Rules,” Sept. 10), if “anyone else believes 18 should be the driving age rather than 16”: The answer is yes!

As a 21-year schoolteacher and coach, I view the age of 16 as a legal driving age as a major distraction of time and energy as it relates to a child’s education.

The “need” to work to support the auto expense and the increased time away from parental control is an obstacle to educational focus. It is common to find students who work 20-plus hours per week for the sole purpose of funding automobile expenses. These are the same students who come to class unable to stay awake and seldom if ever do their assignments.

Perhaps a more realistic approach to this educational problem--not to mention virtually all aspects of juvenile crime that would be dramatically reduced--is to require a high school diploma or age 18, whichever comes first, as a licensing requirement.

BILL SMITH

Mission Viejo

* When it comes to reckless or dangerous driving, teen-agers are the most stereotyped of all (“Require a Mature and Responsible Approach to Driving,” Letters, Sept. 17).

Teen-age drivers are seen as having no regard toward traffic laws, as rude and always speeding. Not all teens drive at 60 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. zone. Raising the legal driving age to 18 will make the streets and highways a dangerous place to be. With a raised legal driving age, there will be more under-aged and uninsured drivers.

Teen-agers are well informed about the risks they take each time they get behind the wheel. Hours of driver education and videotapes of the scenes and victims of car crashes show teens that driving is not a game. But sometimes parents are the ones who are to blame for unsafe driving habits. If a young driver grows up watching his/her parents ignoring stop signs or speeding, they are more likely to display bad driving habits.

I admit that there are reckless teen-age drivers out on our roads. But programs such as Safe Rides (in which high school students volunteer on Friday and Saturday nights to give others a safe alternative to riding with a drunk driver) tell us that there are responsible teen-age drivers.

We should not punish the rest of the teen-age population by raising the legal driving age just because of an immature few.

MARGARET CHANG

Laguna Niguel