Speaking of stupid people...

[TrepMan]

The other thread on inpolite and rude people, made me think of the other problems with kids and parents these days. here in Hotlanta we are loosing our teenagers at a rapid rate due to STUPID driving on their part. Latest in the paper today was a 16 yearold killed, along with one friend and 3 others seriously injured (luckily in a 1 car accident) when he totaled his Range Rover (Not the 35k Land Rover, the 50k+ Range Rover) when he at a high rate of speed crossed over the oncomming lane, off the road and into a pole. They found open and empty beer cans in the car at 4am!! So first, why is a 16 yearold kid driving a $50k truck, out at 4am (which is against the law here in GA), having more then 1 kid with him (also against the law) and driving at a high rate of speed. Where the heck are the parents!!! My kids will think i'm an old fashioned fuddy duddy but when they are that age they WILL only drive when and where I tell them, if at all at 16.



What made me think of this, at lunch I went to have my hot tub water tested and in the lot was a BRAND NEW Ram SRT-10 truck. I asked who's it was, I was DROOLING, and a 16 yearold kids said "mine"! I asked him how old he was, and he told me 16, and I asked if it was dads truck, which he told me "Dad bought it, but it's mine to drive". For those who don't know the SRT-10 is:



500 horsepower

525 lb-ft of torque

8.3-liter V10 Viper engine

Six-speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter

22-inch polished-aluminum wheels

Dual exhaust



And a 16 yearold kid driving it!! I PRAY he is a good kid, but I worry more about what he and his ilk (like the story above) can do to others with a vehicle. I personaly care less if these kids kill them selves, better for the gene pool, but i've seen (close friends) too many families impacted by drunk drivers, fast kids with fast cars with no skills.



I had to hug and cry with Eli's teacher yesterday at awards day, 'cause her 5 yearold was killed (along with his Grandma) late last year by a teen age drunk driving illegal alien at 2pm on a Sunday, and Dominic was not able to complete Kindergarten let alone life.



Off my Soap Box.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Don't get me started on "stupid people"!:angry:

Work for the guvment and you'll out real quick how "some" in high positions are idiots!

At least teenagers can claim stupidity from inexperience...whatthehell is THEIR excuse

 

[JAMES MOORE]

Amen to that TEE.:angry::angry:

 

[Michael S]

I agree with you trep..parents give there children way to much at a young age and they do not know how to appreciate things. I got a 10 year old truck when I turned 16 and even then my parents only let me drive it during certain times and to certain places. I was over 17 before I was allowed to get on a Major Highway in the Houston Area.



Take one of the schools here in the Katy, TX area (Cinco Ranch High School) A real nice part of Houston.....well when school lets out it like a car show there....there are a ton of brand new cars.....from BMW to Mercedes to full size trucks and even 1 or 2 H2 Hummers. What 16-18 year old kids knows how to appreicate a 40K car or truck. I really thinks it more of the parents trying to keep up with the Jones that they don't really worry about the cost or the impact it will have on there kids lives.

 

[TritonGlenn]

When my son is of driving age, I plan on buying him a new vehicle. Not to spoil him, but I want something with dual front airbags, side airbags, and a front / rear / side crash rating of 5 stars all around. It will NOT be a sports car, or Range Rover, but it will be a SAFE vehicle. And I will teach him to drive it correctly and responsibly.



Then I'm going to install a speed limiter, over-rev limiter, roll cage, 8 point harness, brush gaurd/grill gaurd , nerf bars, taillight grills, and paint the whole thing Hunter Safety Orange. When he learns to drive it while wearing his Nomex suit and full face Helment, we will talk about him taking it out at night for the first time.



I don't sound over-protective, do I?



On the serious side... that first paragraph is what I am going to start with. The second paragraph is all in fun... kinda.



Glenn

 

[BJ Laster]

I know i fit into the "t was given" to me catagory. But before i recieved my truck and boat in 2003 go back to 2000-2001.



I had the itch to fish. We had an OLD jon boat. So i started mowing yards and doing everything possible to get a little money to buy a better boat. After the hard work i was able to buy my Carolina Skiff. Today if you ask me what boat is my favorite i'll tell you my skiff. Its the value of hard work. My hard work payed off and i can see the benefit from it.



Yes in 2003 we bought the Nitro and a pick up. Yes I use both and we refer to them as "mine".



I can promise you that i drive very carefully and responisibly.



I can relate to the stories above. I havent had any friends killed in car wrecks. There is a guy in my class that last year he had a ton of tickets and had to go to court. He lost his license for a few months and had to take some driving classes and some other stuff. There is also another kid at my school that is kinda like that too. The restored some old car and he has just under 500 hp in his car. He also has to do summer school every year because he doesnt work at all in school. He is in that "its ALL given to me" catagory.



I am very happy that i have parents that made me work. Its just like in school. I graduate tomorrow, all that hard work is paying off. It will all be worth it tomorrow night when i cross taht stage.



I dont know if you have ever read the book Up From Slavery. Its the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. It is a MUST read. It can change your life. It talks about the value of hard work.



BJ

 

[TrepMan]

JimBob - Agree, my first car was a 1975 Honda Civic 2 door, 5 speed. That think hit 80 ONCE going downhill!! It was a restored wreck that my dad drove when he went bankrupt and I got it when he got a new job. Drove that for 1 year while my brother and I saved up our $$ to buy a '78 Merc Zephyr 4 cylinder 2 door (could not afford a V8 or the Olds 442 I wanted), and rules in our house was ANY moving violation and you loose your license for 6 months, and when you get it back YOU pay the insurance! I had to pay all repairs, maintenance and running costs.



I may very well have the $$ when my kids are 16, but IF they get a car it will most likely be a 2-4 yearold SOLID Safe SLOW car with a LOT of restrictions. Right now the school my kids go to is across the street, if only the Highschool was, then they would NOT even need a car!



BJ, you do sound like a good kid and a safe kid, just remember that at 18 your WHOLE life is ahead of you, so if you want to have a life CONTINUE to drive safely and defensively (meaning watch everyone else and yourself).

 

[Michael S]

Like BJ said he likes his Carolina Skiff the best because it took his hard earned money to buy it, so he know the value of a dollar. And I agree I want my kids to have a safe car as well...but it won't be a car valued at 30-40K dollars either....I can see my daughter getting a Saturn or a Honda Civic or something along those lines. If you buy a kid a top of the line vechile what are they going to have to look forward to when they get out on there own and try to make it in the real world. They need to see how hard it is to work for something and understand that nice things area prevledge not a right.

 

[BJ Laster]

This also reminds me of another friend of mine.



I was driving her to school, we both had to go to the yearbook meating a few weeks before school started and her and her sister were staying at my house while their parents were out of town.



She was just about to get her permit. I asked her what kind of car she wanted. Her reply shocked me, she said "a good four door used car that runs. I will be able to drive my sisters where they need to go and I will have a car to get me to school." She has a Honda Civic now, she got her license about a month ago. She is by far the most responsible girl I've ever met (excluding my sister). I have never heard her talk down about someone else.



There are a few of us out there that arent like the people mentioned above....sad thing is i think its a few. What gets me is, one day some of those kids will look back and think "if i only knew what i know today I wouldnt have done that." They are too caught up in theirselves they dont listen to other's advice. I want to live a nice life and therefore I want to responsible and a hard worker. It will pay off in the long run and I will be able to look back and appreciate the hard work.





BJ

 

[Staci Matheis]

I wish that I had BJ's maturity when I was 18.....



me!

 

[Rich Stern]

Sixteen is too young. Wish they would raise it just one year. It would make a big difference.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Me! ,

I wish I had BJ's maturity at 34 !!!!

 

[Larry Harp]

I'm currently teaching my 15 1/2 year old son to drive and OH MY GOD:wacko:. I'm trying to give him as much windshield time as possible which is more than I got. I started out with an old Fiat 600 that my brother brought back from Italy. It cost me over $100 just to get it running. I earned the money bussing tables at an all you can eat cafeteria for .90 cents an hour. Before I turned 16 I would drive around the neighborhood and never cross a busy street. No learners permit, no insurance, no nothing. When I turned 16 I borrowed a friends car that would pass the safty test and got my license and soon there was no part of Oklahoma City I didn't know. I drove to California the summer I turned 17 and drove on the LA freeways without even thinking about it. I'm trying to give my son a good leson in real world driving not just the stuff he needs to know to pass the test but real defensive driving and survival skills. He's already passed the written test to get his learners permit.



He's already got a job lined up for this summer working as a lot porter at the RV dealership that my daughter works at. It's his first job and in a way I'm a little sad that he's got to get into the grind so early but I know that it will be good for him. When I was 14, I worked 12/7 in the summer just to help my mother make ends meet. At least he'll be working for that first car that every boy dreams of. He should be able to earn and hopefully save a couple of thousand and I'll probably help him out a little to get him something decent and safe. He wants an old Cadilliac. I'm not sure I want that parked out in front of the house. I'm thinking Toyota pickup or something like that. But he'll be proud of it and take good care of it. There was a kid in my daughters graduating class that got a new Hummer, not an H2 but the big one. I thought, what else does this kid have to look forward to?



Harpo

 

[joe haley]

I just got back from the golf course and seen these post and thought I would share my exp. with raising 2 kids and driving trucks for 35 years my kids wanted small sporty cars but I seen what happens to small cars in accidents so I went out and bought a 1975 mercury station wagon it was like a tank my daughter drove it till she got out of school she was not happy about it but she said it was better than walking when she got ouy of school and got her own car I gave it to my son his feelings were the same as my daughter I also made them pay there own insurance and buy ther own gas I usualy took care of any major repairs because they were only working in fast food places JD

 

[Brian Bell2]

Real smart parents, putting a 16 yr old behind the wheel of a 500 HP truck...

All together now... can I get a ..... STUPID!:wacko:

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Whew....for a minute there, I thought this post was going to be about me!

 

[Jim in VA]

Trepman - you think Hotlanta is bad? Try the Washington, D.C. area - home to two of the richest counties in the United States (Fairfax, Virginia and Montgomery, Maryland). Its not uncommon to see teenagers in Mercedes, BMW's, Range Rovers, Cadillac Escalades, Porsches, etc.



Like others that have posted, I was in the category of people who's parents got them an old beater to drive, not a new car - the family's 1979 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon. For those that don't remember them, it was basically a land running boat with three rows of seats, a cargo area and a V-8 carburated engine that ran on leaded gasoline (no - "un"). Got picked on a LOT by the kids who's parents gave them new Jeeps, Camaros, Jaguars, etc. Thanks to the station wagon and later a 12-passenger van (no "mini's" back then) I really learned to DRIVE!



My parents did me a big favor. With my driving skills, I can maneuver my PT175 rig BACKWARDS down my ten foot wide, front angled driveway that runs from the front of my property to the back (about 100 yards) between the house and four foot high chain link fence (i.e., not much room for error!). When my three-year son gets to be of driving age, he goes the same route - inheriting the old beater first. Heck, I STILL have yet to own any car that even hits the $35K mark, let alone the $40K or $50K range.



Jim

 

[Greg Meyer]

Maturity... I have it distilled down to where I just wish I was 34...

 

[Staci Matheis]

I don't see anyone talking about the really stupid jerks on sport bikes pulling wheelies going down the interstate.....



JD, you ever drive I-370 over in St. Charles? The kids are all over the place there on those bikes. Down on I-55 south of Arnold, too.



BTW..... Where did your kids go to school? I used to live out in the Parkway School District. Kids there drove cars twice as nice and twice as expensive as I ever bought for myself!



me!

 

[TrepMan]

Staci - Funny you mention "sport bikes pulling wheelies going down the interstate....." I was going up the highway yesterday afternoon to get pictures for Beka, and saw EXACTLY that!! a superbike wheelie comming down the other side, STUPID!!! I almost hoped he'd crash and take himself out of the gene pool!

 

[Staci Matheis]

I almost hoped he'd crash and take himself out of the gene pool!

My feelings exactly.....



Michael, I can't tell you how many times I've seen idiots doing this in the last maybe 2 or 3 years..... It seems to be a recent phenomena..... It used to be that I'd only have to worry about taking them out as I came around a turn on winding Ozark roads as they came blasting at me from the other direction..... Or I suddenly realized that I was being passed at well over 100 mph on those same trecherous roads..... Makes me want to swerve and take them out right there.....



And the number of them that are carrying their girlfriends on the death ride.....

 

[Rusty Williams]

We had a black guy on one do a 140mph wheelie on a city street here last year.

Somehow he didn't see the crossing gates or red signal lights @ that speed.

Took the Trooper 10 miles to get that engineer to stop so they could get the last body parts from the side of the boxcar ladder.



RW