My mom and i were stopped at a stoplight and I look next to us and this lady is sitting in her 80's corolla, and it's jumping like she can't hold the clutch or is revving without the break on. she ends up bouncing 2 inches away from the guy in front of her then the light changes and we go. Then later these people com hauling by in a grand prix and we meet up with them at the next stoplight. They're sitting there revving. And when the light turns green my mom trashes them of the line with her stock 97 Malibu LS, and they slow down and decide to go speed limit. Why do people like that get to drive and i have to wait over a year to get my license.

 

 

thats a kick *** mom that will race!

 

You forgot an option:

Neither.

I'm sorry, and I mean this as nicely as possible, but there's no such thing as a good driver under the age of 18.

 

Ah come on Nic, none under 18? I'm not tryin to flame by any means but I am only 17 (18 in 5 months) and I consider myself a good driver. No accidents or tickets, I havent even been pulled over for anything before. But I do see your point, there are ALOT of morons out there that are 16 and 17 years old who do some stupid crap. Most just don't understand how dangerous driving can be and are too imature to have a license. Just my opinion, but I know where you are coming from.

As for the post, sounds like a lady who needs to take some lessons on how to drive a stick and some imature punks. Good thing your mom put them in their place though Did they realize it was an older lady (no offense to your mom) that beat them? Good post but um, might get locked for lack of third-gen content.

 

yep forgot that option. i am 17 and have done my fair share of stupit ****. my record is clean and i have seen many peers wreck their cars hurting themselves and others. there are good drivers(not that many) under the age of 18 and plenty of sh!tty ones over 18

 

It takes alot longer to become a good driver than a year1/2,Cool mom.

 

this was a strange poll

 

My point exactly...even at 20 with a perfect driving record and no accidents, I still don't consider myself experienced enough to boast about being a "good driver". Being a good driver takes more experience than you can gain in 2 years.

 

i agree, but your obviously a hellavu lot better driver then a 16 yr old kid that wrecked their new car after 2 weeks then got another car and rear ended somebody then they run into the mailbox. you know what i am talking about, there are kids that do that kinda crap everyday.

 

I agree. I had my car when i was 16 and when i hit 18 I thought I was a good driver because I managed to go two years in that car without any tickets or accidents.

I'm 21 now, still no tickets or accidents, and yet i look back at myseld when i was 16-18 and think to myself "boy...i was NOT ready to drive THAT car...or to drive at all!"

If my state ever wants to raise the driving age from 16.5 to 18 ....i will vote for it. As much as i thought i was ready back then, i look back now and know that I wasn't.

I still don't consider myself a good driver now, but I a hell of a lot better than I was back then. Hell, i'd probably school myself in a drag race if i ever raced myself!

But reactions and instincts get better after years and years of driving.

 

Not to change the subject but I thought this was thirdgen f-bodies not third gen fox body's? Mustang5L5 are you spyin' on us Camaro guy's? Or do you aspire to someday own a camaro playmate for your stang? btw in j/k. Don't get offended

 

Lol...the way I look at it, if i didn't own a Fox Body.....I'd own an F-body.

I came over a while back to peep around and settle some misconceptions about Mustangs, the guys here were cool as ****...so I hung around


Of course, this is the only board I visit really

 

Your a cool stang guy. I guess you can hang out.

 

but hes got over 6 times more posts then you

 

i find the most dangerous people are the people who mommy and daddy bought their cars for them.. ...
oh, and the really talkative ones who won't shut up and pay attention to the road in front of them, then rear end somebody (at cruise night, there's at least two accidents like this.. cars with 5 or 6 people in them.. )
OH, and the little punks in the parking lot doing donuts then comming close to smoking somebody cuz they don't realise that they ARN'T STAYING PUT.. maniacs....

but i shouldn't talk.. i'm 20 and i'm loosing my license for too many speeding tickets.. (hey, at the time i thought, "it's 2 am, who the ****'s on the hiway at this time? and i'll see their headlights/tail lights from miles away!".. little be known that there's a cop sitting in the dark, playing with his toy.. 144 in a 100.. (he let me off easy)..
now, upon reflection on that.. (i live in a small community.. like 600 ppl small.. and there's miles and miles between towns for wide, wide open prairie land..) i wondered what would of happened if i had hit a deer.. or even a rabbit or the likes.. burried my needle (speedo says 220 km/h) that night before getting radared..
(i only do stupid **** in the country, by myself and at least a couple of miles out of town so if my car blows up, nobody'll know)

on another note... i've been hearing rumors that they're going to saltwater the streets we cruise on, on sunday nights in winnipeg to stop ppl from going... why?.. cuz of little punks drag racing from stop light to stop light and the accidents from ppl who don't pay attention to where they're driving..
(we'll just find another street. i hope..)

 

I'll tell yall one thing, my kid is not getting any kind of sports car when they turn 16. It used to be that you could give them a 4 banger and not worry about them killing themselves, because they couldn't go fast enough, but now with the Rice-revolution you can't do that anymore. I'll probably end up doing what my father did for me, I pay for half the car, but he has the most say so as to what it is (mine was an 89' Caprice, oddly enough with the same engine that my 91' RS has )

That's it!! Give 'em all sedans.

(I actually snuck some 3rd gen content into this) he, he

 

I resent that. I am 17 and I consider myself a good driver, though I have had more experience than most any other people at my age, (the first time I drove a car was when I was 10 with my grandfather and have had lots of practice ever since) and I feel pretty comfident even when towing a trailer.

I can see what you mean though, afterall there is a reason that single males under the age of 24 have the most expensive insurance......

 

i wouldnt want my kid to get a sports car just because of input from other drivers. while in a small car or truck and a mustang pulls up next to you he probably wont provoke you to race, but in a camaro i am being provoked to street race many times a day. i have raced only once and will never do it again. nothing scary happened per say but i just dont put myself and others in that situation anymore and i am happy that it only took once for me to really figure it out. but it seems like the more i drive the better i am getting, not just reactions and stuff but peeling out and doing things like that are not happening that much

 

Seems to me the younger the driver the more prone to gettin into a wreck they are, no matter how good of a driver they think they are or other ppl think they are. Example is my Little Brother just turned 18, my parents got him a stang vert with a 5 speed and a 5.0 in it. Now i thought he was a good driver and so did my parents...im sure he thought so to...but he still managed to go through his front winshield after haveing a head on with some guy at about 50mph...thank *** he has a hard head and only needed stiches. But he was showing off and well thats what happens with younger ppl...ya gotta show off( i did the same thing just got lucky).. well thats my 2 cents...and now me and him know that my car is faster

 

Well, I have to say you need to be older than 17 to be a good driver... I am 21 and I almost consider myself a good driver and I've been driving for 5 years now... licensed for 4... I have been pulled over twice, ticketed once, fined $285 and I've driven aproximately 45k+ miles in 5 different cars:

First car: '90 Honda Civic Wagon - 17k
Second car: '85 Hinda Civic CRX - 7k
Mom's car: '99 Honda Civic HB Cx - 9k
Third (current): '84 Firebird - 13k
Dad's Car: '83 Rx7 - 2k

I have driven all types of cars and I still do stupid stuff... the most trouble I got into was in the Civic Wagon... I see the point about sports cars attracting street racers, but no matter what, an inexperienced driver will drive recklessly in a fasion that will scare them straight now and then... whether it's a stoplight race or driving really fast on country roads... I beat the **** out of that wagon... shifting at 6500 RPM... thing topped out in 4th @ 100 ~5500 RPM. It really doesn't matter what car you drive... if you can get to 100 or even a lot less... you can get into serious trouble...

12.5 second 0-60 wasn't bad for 93 Hp

 

I definatly think that you need to be older than 18 to be a good driver. There are always exceptions (read: soccer moms in suvs on the phone) and there are those rare kids who are 18 and drive in pro racing series. However, everyone (incl me) that I have met definatly did some stupid things that they may or may not have gotten caught for.
My accident happened when I wasn't doing anything stupid, I was on the way home from grocery shopping. Just those few seconds of inattetion and I managed to do $7000 worth of damage, just wish they ahd totalled it out.
I am simply glad I have only recently gotten a car that I can show off in:
1st car: 1982 Murcury Zephyr, 200ci I-6 and no power. This was my HS car that I bought, insured, gassed and fixed myself with my own money. Had it from Thanksgiving of my senior yr to the following July(1999).

2nd car: 1995 Plymouth Neon, did pleanty of stupid things, e-brake turns galore, 125 governed top speed verified, generally explored the edges of performance. From July (1999) till May 21 2002

3rd car: 1989 Pontiac TransAm GTA, 350TPI, now my baby will not be doing the stupid stuff I got a reputation for previously. April 28 2002 till I'm old and grey. I am now 21 and have 'calmed down' quite a bit.

 

I have a simple solution for when my kids want a car. I am 25 now BTW.

On thier 14th(yes 14th) B-Day we go out looking in junk yards. Find a car that we can both agree on(As long as it is salvagable basically) And THEY rebuild it. Strip down, bare and bloody knuckle rebuild it. They will come up with the majority(at least half) Investment matching by me and I SHOW them what to do and they do it. I will supervise but THEY LEARN HOW TO FIX THIER OWN CAR.

That would be a great early/mid teens project that they would have to get into cause there is NO WAY they are gonna drive My cars(and it would keep them outta trouble). If they want a car, thats how they are gonna get it. Then if ever they are in BFE and break down, they know what to do to fix the problem.

Not to mention the amount of respect they would have for THIER car!.

But back to topic, Yes I was a good driver 18 and under, only raced 3 times... In 2 accidents(Neither were my fault, nor could they have been avoided).
But for every GOOD driver 18 and below I knew 20 that had no business driving. And still goes on today.

Hell I was on the way to my bank and some *itch blonde dingbat on a bike thinks she is gonna turn left in front of me while I am doing 65 down the highway!. WTF? They cannot drive AND cannot ride a bike! what gives?... I just about left a blood stain with a blue top and white pants on the highway!.

 

I consider myself a pretty good driver. I don't take any chances and I stay within 5 to 10 over the speed limit at the most! I think I drive like an old man compared to others that are my age (20). Especially all the ricers that live around me. The thing that really pisses me off about them is we have speed humps right in front of my house. So you'll hear them come buzzing up really loud then they will go really slow over the hump. Then BZBZBZBZBBZBZBZZZZZZ REALLY LOUD then over the other hump. This crap pisses me off in the middle of the night! And you know the funny thing is that for how loud their fartpipe is you'd think they were going pretty fast. But they're only going like 10 mph! LOL Man I should take some pics of these ridiculous ***** cars! Their fastest one out of all them is an integra gsr that runs a low 15. They think he's ***! Granted he'd beat my car, but they don't know that. I just drive around (responsibly) acting superior to their cars.

 

Forcing your kid to tear down and build up a junker (especially a kid who isn't mechanically inclined or fascinated by cars) isn't the answer, IMO. I think it would do nothing but turn them off of cars and make them resent you.

Just my .02

 

Nic I agre and disagree it should be that way if they have an interest, and if not then don't force them. But one thing everyone should know is how to drive stick! IMO everyone should have to pass a drivers test in a stick car!

I would consider myself a good driver, I don't speed by more than 10 mph over, and I don't drive like a maniac. I think if more kids put money into their cars, they would respect them more. There is another point behind Camaro_Hunter_Cs opinio, if they rebuilt it they would respect it!

 

Oh yeah! Make them put their money into it! They will appreciate it sooooo much more! Kind of like college! Won't catch me missing the classes I paid for!!

 

you all say that just because I'm under 18 I don't know how to drive responsibly. I have been racing (legally) since I was 10 and know what it feels like to roll a vehicle at high speeds. Luckily I have a full cage and 5 point harness. All of my impulses to race people are taken out on the track. My point is why can people like that drive, but I can't. And if you want thirgen content here's another question for ya. Would you rather have me driving a 87-92 camaro or a Riced out eclipse with a fartcan, bookshelf wing, and stickers with japanese script all over the sides purposely trying to **** off people with different interests. As far as putting me to work on the car, may dad I had planned that I do, and pay for, all of the modifications myself. All that he is doing is buying it for me as long as I show that I can live responsibly.

 

While driving a lawnmower on rails is really cool and something I'd like to be able to let my kids do, it certainly doesn't qualify you to operate a 3000 lb car in traffic. There are things young drivers do, and believe they can get away with doing, that more experienced drivers just won't try or do. What scares me the most is the young kid who THINKS he or she is a good driver. That's a potentially deadly ego problem right there. Simply put, you are not a good driver anytime before having years and years of seat time under your belt, being exposed to hazerdous situations, and learning to handle those situations properly. Driving cautious does not qualify one as being a good driver. Driving within 10, 5, or even exactly at the speed limit does not qualify one as a good driver. Driving responsibly is a step in the right direction, but there's more to it than that.

 

As a 16 year old, i should not have been driving. Spun out twice (one the second day I had my liscense) did some ubsurd speeds where I shouldnt have (record stands at 90 in a 30) and hit a mailbox by going full speed in reverse on a rainy day. Learned just how well a car fishtails in the rain, and this was with the 2.8. Now I drive like an old man and all my friends rag on me. I hear why bother going so slow with a fast car, but I respect the 350. I dont race unless provoked, and have no need to show off. Only problem is I dont back down from a stoplight drag. Too bad no one will race my "crappy running 305"

 

That is very close to what I was about to say... even if you have good reflexes and a head on your shoulders, it is hard to classify you as a good driver... yeah you are potential to be a good driver, but the only way you'll become a good driver is through avoiding accidents, practicing in snowy parking lots (I highly recommend)and learning from accidents or mistakes you may witness while you drive. Doing an occasional stupid thing also helps you to keep in check. Using a very rough statistic sense of my 45k driving and considering I've probably seen or experienced a third of the common types of accidents and near death experiences, I'd say it takes about 150k of driving before you've learned the real tricks of the trade.