I would ask you to ride shotgun, readers, but....
"Many teenage drivers hitting the road alone" by Billy Baker | Globe staff July 22, 2014
MANCHESTER BY-THE-SEA — Sam Koufman had his driver’s license, “which is like the biggest freedom in the entire world.”
Except in Massachusetts, that freedom comes with a leash for teenagers. For the first six months, all they really get to do is drive alone.
Since the law went into effect, a generation of drivers have experienced the rite of passage that is getting your driver’s license without immediately getting to experience many of the reasons teenagers want a license in the first place: no cruising around with your buddies, no picking up a girl for a date, no “parking.”
In its place there is, by design, mostly solitude.
The Junior Operator’s License bars drivers under the age of 18 from having anyone under 18 in the car with them for the first six months, unless that person is an immediate family member.
The logic behind the law is to give young drivers an “opportunity to develop good driving skills, while being free of possible distractions caused by having friends your own age present while you are behind the wheel,” according to state literature distributed to potential drivers.
While the logic behind the restriction is sound — that same pamphlet says that 30 percent of 16-year-old drivers are involved in a serious crash — ask anyone who has gone through that probationary period and they will tell you it’s a long six months.
“I understand the reason for the rule, but it’s like the worst rule ever,” Koufman said as he drove aimlessly around town, something he has done every day since he got his license on June 6.
OH!
World breaks monthly heat record 2 times in a row
Thanks, you $elf-centered and $poiled brat. No wonder Washington is on fire.
Btw, the lying about the weather while omitting forecasts is really a bit much. Globe froze those record lows out of their coverage! What else are they not telling us? Also calls into question everything they do!
While this may be the very definition of a “First-World Problem” — Koufman lives in a nice house in a beach town and was lucky enough to get his dad’s old Saab as a hand-me-down — the fact that the first flush of independence can only be experienced independently feels like a cruel trick....
What is a cruel trick is being lied to about the weather of all things!
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Teenagers say the law is flouted and never enforced. At least Sam got his name in the paper. It's good to know people at the Globe.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: At 101, weather observer gets a place in the sun
