Death Raises Questions About a Parent’s Duty

Re “Youth’s Death Spurs Call for Tougher Driving Laws,” Dec. 28: Though the Arnetts have suffered an enormous loss, every parent’s worst nightmare, the call for more parental responsibility should cut both ways. If the parents of teenagers who get into a car driven by a teen were fined, their parents would be more diligent in conveying to them the law and the dangers of doing so. Perhaps that conversation with their son prior to their dinner out would have “changed the events of that evening.”

James Cook

Simi Valley

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I find it puzzling that the blame for the tragic loss of young lives was once again placed on government. The article doesn’t say what percentage of young drivers cause fatal accidents, but I suspect that most drive more or less responsibly. For the many who don’t, parental responsibility has to be the primary safety mechanism to rein them in. The police are there for the remainder who slip through that parental net. To the question “what would have changed the events of that evening?” the answer has to be parental control. When we ask government to do that for us, we may not like the result.

John Schimm

Los Angeles