So in one post we got a little off topic about laws on age of liscences so I posted one about it lol.

For those of you who have not read it:

In NY you can get your permit on your 16th birthday from taking a written test.
Then you can go a number of different ways.
-if you do 20 hours of driving you can go for a EXTREMLY restricted liscense on which you can only drive from 6am-9pm only to/from school/work.
-you can take drivers-ed and get your jr liscense at 16 1/2, and then full liscense at 17
-you can wait a year and get your jr liscense at 17, and then get full liscense at 18.



Someone said how weird it is how in the US driving ages are so low. But yet also in the US alcohol ages are high, and in other countries it is sometimes 16 years of age (I think one may be Mexico, don't quote me though)

Well where i live (Barbados, its in the Caribbean for those of you who are geographically challenged ) at 16 you can go for your permit, and then after 3 months you can go and get your full liscence. thats all there is to it.
Our age is 16 to buy alcohol but no age to drink it. Also you can drink and drive (literally swigging from a bottle) but you cant be drunk and drive, although lots of people DUi here and there is no heavy penalty. there isnt much inforcement of that. but moving along, the way i see it, since alot of people have been drinking from about i dono, 15 here, by the time you get your drivers liscence you are well aware of what alcohol does to your body, your limits and what not, do when you start to drive you are prepared. In America you get to drive for years, and you think you are so good and confident, then all of a suddenn you can drink! you have a couple at the bar, get drunk and here we have a problem when you have to drive.
Just my opinion but i think its beneficial to be able to drink before you can drive. I guess also because there isn't much crime and stuff here, and its obviously alot less populated than america there is no need for strict inforcement. i just think the drinking age should be lowered

Here's how it is in the UK.
You can start driving a car at 17. You need to do a theory test before you can sit your practical test but you can go out on lessons as soon as you are 17 and have a provisional license. In Northern Ireland you can't go over 45mph for a year after you pass your driving test. Very annoying.
As for drinking, you can drink legally at 18.

Also, in the UK you can drive on a provisional as long as there is someone in the passenger seat who has been driving for 3+ years.

I find laws and ordinances fascinating. I guess that makes me a bit of a nerd, but I look at ordinances for the city (and surrounding cities) all the time. It's strange what things they will include and not include. For instance, there is a small suburb nearby that has a TON of legislation regarding "adult oriented" businesses. I find this strange, since I don't think I've ever known any adult oriented businesses to have operated there. The common council seems quite concerned of anything cropping up, though, so... I guess they're just being proactive.

Milwaukee also has a "mashing" law still on the books, which evokes nostalgia for old cartoons/movies. I don't think that term has been used in 50 years (at least). For those of you who don't know, mashing would be unwanted physical advances toward a member of the opposite gender (and I guess, would also include the same gender). I would think it would be fully covered under assault/battery, but there's this arcane & weird old law still in effect.

Where I live in the US (Rapid city, South Dakota)you can get a permit at fourteen after taking a test.(you have to be in Drivers Ed though.) At sixteen you can go and get your license(after tests of course) And for drinking you have to be 21 years to buy or drink alcohol, but you have to be eighteen to smoke or join the army. It doesn't make sense to me. You can go and die for your country but you cant have a drink?

In Michigan you get to take your first divers ED class at 14 years and 9 months. It includes something like 40 hours of class room time and some driving (I forgot how much as it was about 8 years ago now I did this) After you successfully complete that written test based on that course, you get your learners permit where you cannot drive with out a licensed adult over the age of 21 in the car. you are required to get a parent signature that you completed this large number of hours of supervised driving to take the second part of the cousre.
second part of the course at age 16. this one is much shorter and then you take your driving test at the end. you pass you get your level 1 license. this one has restrictions about what hours you can drive and how many people under 18 can be in the car. but within those hours you can drive where ever. (there are also state curfews for under 17 anyway at the same hours)
then you wait till you are 17 or 6months later (which ever come later) to get your full license.

all licenses for those under 21 are vertical rather than horizontal also.

I just saw on a major network news that the drinking age in the US has been brought into debate again because of the whole 'if you can die for you country' you should full rights. (which i fully agree with)

Apparently they're planning to raise the drinking age in the UK to 21. I don't really care one way or another but I am glad they raised the age at which you can buy cigarettes from 16 to 18. A 14 yr old can quite easily look like a 16 yr old, but rarely an 18yr old.

Here in ohio, its not much different from michigan.
we have to wait until where 15 and 5 months to take our first drivers ed class though and we can get our permit at 15 and 6 months, but we dont have to take drivers ed before we get our permit, it just has to be completed + an actual driving class type thing(where you drive around with someone that they appoint you and they tell you what your doing wrong so you dont fail the driving test.)you have to wait until 6 months from the day you get your permit, even if your 16. and if you wait until your 18, you dont have to take drivers ed.

That "going to the army at 18 and dying for your country but not being able to drink" is such a big argument here. Its so crazy.
I personally think they should lower the drinking age. Seriously I find smoking alot worse than drinking. It can cause CANCER.
bleh. Nasty stuff. (no offense to anyone that does it)