Saving Lives by Delaying Teen Driving

Fatal accidents happen. A moment’s lapse of concentration or judgment--either by you or the other guy--and disaster can strike.

But we’re especially stung when a 16-year-old, the ink on his driver’s license barely dry, is behind the wheel and may have caused the accident. That apparently was the case last week on the San Joaquin Hills toll road when, authorities said, Marco Relis was traveling about 90 mph as his car veered off the toll road and crossed a wide median before striking another car, killing himself and two people in the other car.

Without passing judgment on this particular case, it nonetheless can’t help stirring up questions, long debated in this state, about 16-year-olds and driving. How much are they ready for? How fast? Are we doing them a favor if one day they need an adult just to get behind the wheel, and one day later, license in hand, they have our full permission to drive our fastest roadways?

I sought the opinions, at random, of two people in the teen-driving business. Turns out they think about these things often and, in separate interviews, were remarkably similar in explaining why so many 16-year-olds are doing so much driving.

“Parents have not learned to say no,” says Audrey Hirst, who writes policies for Farmers Insurance Group in her Fullerton office. “They’re bugged by their kids all the time, and they just can’t resist that. If it’s a question of needing a car to get to school or work, that’s different. But if it’s just to get a license and let them drive because they’re 16, that’s wrong. They’re not old enough, mature enough, and they’ve not had enough experience in life.”

Hirst says she tries to talk parents out of letting 16-year-olds drive: “When someone comes in, I tell them my personal view is that 16 is too young to drive. My children were 17 1/2 before they even got a car or got to drive.”

Pat Follis manages the Teen Driving Academy in Orange, one of four in the company. In the summer, as many as 300 people may come for driving instruction, most of them teens. When she sees 15- or 16-year-olds, she often shakes her head.

“What we find is that many parents are extremely permissive,” she says. “We’re sometimes appalled at, wow, the lack of accountability parents hold their kids to.

“I’ll give you an example. The same kids the parents are preparing to get a license, they seem to be afraid to let them take a lunch hour alone or walk across the street to a fast-food restaurant or make a decision for themselves. Yet the same parent is preparing them for a license that will turn them loose on the public. This boggles our minds.”

Why do parents acquiesce? “I won’t say it’s always the case, but very often it’s that is what will make the child happy. Part of the time the parent is tired of being the taxi service, and they rush them. More often than not, the kids are in a rush.”

Follis’ schools offer 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel training. Parents are supposed to spend another 50 hours with their children before they apply for a permit, including 10 hours of nighttime driving. Obviously, that is unenforceable.

It’s less a matter of age than maturity. “I cringe very often at the level of maturity a student is at when the parent chooses to allow them the privilege,” Follis says. “And the parent should know that better than anyone. When you have a child with absolutely no discipline, who can’t sit in a class without causing a ruckus for something they want--and they all want a license--and the parents must know this, and yet they’re preparing them to get a license. This is the part I cringe at.”

The issue of 16-year-olds driving is “an age-old question,” Follis says. “A lot of students at 16 are ready and responsible. But again, there are many that aren’t. We just do our best to get them ready.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821, by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.