Bad driving: It's not just for old people

Fantastic article. The author mentioned restricted licenses on teens between certain times. Here in NJ we have those and they don't work 100% maybe only 60% or 70% at max. It all depends on who you get pulled over by and what town you are in. When I had my restricted or "Provisional" as we call them in NJ, I was driving past Midnight almost every weekend, but would get nervous as hell when a cop would be behind me or if I saw one trying to hide so they could pull some one over.

Eventually that happened. They pulled me over for my registration which had expired an hr after midnight, I didn't have my new insurance card on me, and then of course he saw my license which said "Provisional" along the top. Luckily he let me off with a warning with the Registration, and he was able to look up and find out that I do have insurance. As for the license he didn't say a thing.

So in the end it's a good idea to have Restricted or "Provisional" licenses for new drivers. Usually nothing happens after they have been implemented for a long time. However when they were first implemented here years ago, teenagers were being pulled over 247. Oh and new drivers are put on the "Provisional" licenses for one year. After that they get the standard license.

Here's a list of what the Provisional License does/says here in NJ:

- No more then one friend however can have any amount of family members
- No driving between Midnight and 5:00 AM
- No talking on the cell phone (including hands free)
- If under the age of 21 and any passenger is 21 or older, passenger restrictions don’t apply
- If 21 or over, passenger and hour restrictions don’t apply

Comments (11)

- calinazaret
Funny article, but seriously, I do think people are getting worse in their driving habits. And he raised a good point with the "young male idiots" (though I've seen myfair shar of zippy female drivers) in that we have much faster cars now. Crashes are almost certainly fatal when you're going 100 miles an hour (unless by some miracle you're able to slow down) and that simply wasn't possible even a few years ago with most cars.
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- MishaA
LOL nice story, thanks Bdog :)

@calinazaret You know, crushes almost never happen on full speed. In most cases drivers slow down significantly before actual crash happens. And, modern cars are much safer by design then even a few years ago, let alone 20th century ones :) So I don't think things changed that dramatically...
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- StandardsDT
Fantastic article. The author mentioned restricted licenses on teens between certain times. Here in NJ we have those and they don't work 100% maybe only 60% or 70% at max. It all depends on who you get pulled over by and what town you are in. When I had my restricted or "Provisional" as we call them in NJ, I was driving past Midnight almost every weekend, but would get nervous as hell when a cop would be behind me or if I saw one trying to hide so they could pull some one over.

Eventually that happened. They pulled me over for my registration which had expired an hr after midnight, I didn't have my new insurance card on me, and then of course he saw my license which said "Provisional" along the top. Luckily he let me off with a warning with the Registration, and he was able to look up and find out that I do have insurance. As for the license he didn't say a thing.

So in the end it's a good idea to have Restricted or "Provisional" licenses for new drivers. Usually nothing happens after they have been implemented for a long time. However when they were first implemented here years ago, teenagers were being pulled over 247. Oh and new drivers are put on the "Provisional" licenses for one year. After that they get the standard license.

Here's a list of what the Provisional License does/says here in NJ:

- No more then one friend however can have any amount of family members
- No driving between Midnight and 5:00 AM
- No talking on the cell phone (including hands free)
- If under the age of 21 and any passenger is 21 or older, passenger restrictions don’t apply
- If 21 or over, passenger and hour restrictions don’t apply
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- calinazaret
@StandardsDT I can't believe you got off like that. I've NEVER gotten off with a warning, and I'm cute! I guess I'm just not a good negotiator.
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- readheadgirl
cars scare the crap out of me... mostly because I don't own one and I'm always worried they'll kill me when I'm walking home.
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- StandardsDT
@calinazaret

Well I was just honest with the officer. I turned off my car in the freezing cold and when he asked where I was coming from I explained I was out to dinner with friends, went to dunkin donuts afterwards to meet up with some other friends, and that I just dropped off one of my friends who was with me and am on my way home. I also think he let me go cause I was literally 2 - 3 minutes down the road from my house.
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- calinazaret
@StandardsDT I got pulled over once for not using my blinker to turn into my own damn driveway! This cop on a motorcycle pulled up behind me in my driveway and gave me a ticket. I took it to court and I lost!
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- StandardsDT
@calinazaret

That sucks, I'm surprised that, you didn't win. But at the same time it is justified as you were suppose to signal. Sounds like you caught cop on a bad day!
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- exMixxer
@calinazaret

If it makes you feel better, I got a ticket once for someone running into the back of me and plowing me into the guy in front of me. I took it to court and lost also, because the guy before me pissed off the judge by calling him a few names. Earlier that day a girl that caused a 10 car pile up and blacked out 4 city blocks b/c she ran a red light got off because she wore really short skirt and tight shirt.
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- calinazaret
@Bdog2g2 shoot, I wore a cute little sun dress AND make-up to court and it didn't do me any good.
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- exMixxer
@calinazaret

But you live in California, I lived in S. Carolina. Lets just say in certain areas, it can be slim pickens.
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