
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995                   TAG: 9510190018
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHY DELAY TEENS' ACCESS TO WHEELS?

TO THE EDITOR: YOUR EDITORIAL, ``Raise the driving age'' (Aug. 28), suggested that the minimum-age requirement for the acquisition of a Virginia driver's license be raised to 17. The editorial went on to use apparently valid statistics to support your position.

The tone of the editorial, however, was incredibly condescending toward teen-agers. Stating that teen-agers ``ought to be focusing on homework anyway'' rather than on possessing a driver's license serves only to portray them as reckless individuals incapable of being able to drive and study for school at the same time.

Many individuals are forced to function independently in today's society at an early age. Such individuals may need to obtain a job, transport themselves to school, have access to a library, take on major leadership roles at home or simply socialize on the weekends.

Activities like these require the use of an automobile. Those people who show themselves capable of driving a car should be allowed to obtain a license, and therefore function more efficiently in their activities.

While the standards for obtaining a license may be toughened in order to ensure safer driving conditions, raising the driving age serves little purpose but to delay adolescents' rightful entrance into the ever-expanding society we now live in.

SETH WOOD

ROANOKE

OUR REPLY: SORRY ABOUT the condescending tone in the editorial. Seth Wood certainly writes like someone who has been ``focusing on homework,'' and he makes a strong argument.

In wondering why the Virginia General Assembly lowered the driving age last session, we didn't mean to imply that all teen-agers are reckless or unable both to drive and to study.

Nor was our concern only about safety. Teen-agers account for 10 percent of the U.S. population and 14 percent of motor-vehicle deaths. But the number of annual teen fatalities has been trending downward the past 20 years, probably because fewer teens get drunk behind the wheel.

No, what we as old fogies were trying to get at, with the homework comment, is priorities. Unfortunately, not all young people regard school as job No. 1. Of course, students sometimes need to work outside school, to save for college or whatever. But some teens take such jobs in order to buy the car, or other things it seems important to have.

We can't understand that. When we were young, we didn't need cars. We walked 20 miles to school, barefoot through the snow.

THE LAST WORD: NATURALLY, problems exist as younger generations attempt to relate to more mature members of society. There is very little arguable in the newspaper's clarified position. Adolescents should place greater priority on school work rather than making cars and jobs the center of their lives - just as long as the car has a reasonable sound system ... .

Seth Wood, 17, is a senior at Northside High School in Roanoke County and also attends the Governor's School at Patrick Henry High School.

by CNB