THE DRIVING SCENE

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] there is no scene like a driving scene [Music] [Applause] [Music] without wheels you're nowhere [Music] fortunately getting a license is within the reach of almost everyone as soon as ease of legal age there's only the learning to drive [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the written test the test on the road okay now start it up I move ahead okay now make a right over here and then make another right come down in the corner make a right [Music] passed these tests and you receive your official credentials to enter the driving scene [Music] in fact in just a very few years 11,000 kids a day will be getting their licenses to drive [Music] thousands a day while the thrusts about more kids getting wheels well it's not these wheels it's these wheels these wheels keep turning out statistics 3m lee damaging to the teenager right now there are about ten and a half million teen drivers that's only about ten percent of the driving population yet teenage drivers are involved in seventeen percent of all accidents and in sixteen out of 100 fatal accidents a teen driver was killed that's over ten thousand teen drivers dead at the wheel this is an awfully high percentage of trouble for the young driver [Music] what's the reason for it frankly there aren't enough facts to go on all we have our opinions for I think a child of 14 or 15 or even 16 or even 17 young he likes judgment the maturity to handle it automobile and traffic especially on the highway with it we go so far girls today at 17 and 18 can't even boil water how they're gonna take the responsibility of a car keeping up with the Joneses when people move so fast I have to do more than those I have to be better than someone else you have why they keep going and keep striving that's yours in my generation but the new generation is the fans living they don't know what they're going to do they have to have a faster car than Tommy down the street and the yellow must think was I just tempting me he was pulling gears with me you know patient my car so the roadway was clear and the temptation was there so I they have better cars they have more horsepower they have better roads naturally they're gonna drive faster and been driving faster they involve a greater risk I don't know whether it's the kids today you know they've always been this way but yeah they don't seem to realize that anything can happen to them it's ridiculous to talk to them about the consequences of their act they think they're immortal if you asked them why they did what they did what they did what reason they did this they say faith it's all just claim them state just fate that's all I think lots of youngsters don't have the emotional stability necessary to drive properly most of the time okay John each other Mon tango party Friday night you're already going to mom hotter tonight all right listen I bought this weekend and we go ahead next week in a normally not [Applause] a lot of kids let their emotions do the driving everyday occurrence I'm televised jump kids they ought to do something passive cow walk he fought the highway at night is just people got too much money too much time look at that baby act like this here's 90% of your arses right back there tailgating come on cloud [Music] there he goes another one at the burn early grave [Music] when you come right down to it does a kid have to have a car is it really necessary teenager doesn't really have to have the cards like you said it's like television it's just nice to have we don't need it you live in the city cars maybe not a necessity but out here in the middle of nowhere you just got to have one if you don't have a car out here you're stuck out here and this is a middle of nowhere man me and necessity is my telephone or my car I guess my surfboard my parents think the only thing I need to close and put a roof over my head I don't have to live like that and I'm not going to doesn't ever have to have a car for me to growl at him but it helps they have a job to do in school have your four years of high school or four years of college this is this is what they're going there for they're not going there to socialize you go there to study I guarantee you on the other hand a lot of parents don't think that's a relevant question I've been reading the editorials only from the teenage driving we seem to be unable as parents to distinguish between permissiveness and discipline the kids come in they tell us what they're going to do and when they want to do it and we love them so much we're trying to be so affectionate and good to our children that we don't understand our role as the disciplinarian and tell them what we think they should do then what happens we get the call from the hospital we hear from the police department the kids are hurt and we wonder what went wrong was it our fault did we do something wrong should I blame my wife we'd pass it off as something the school did or did not do is society at fault there's nobody to blame the factors are more teenagers on the road nowadays that's why they're more teenage accident courts are apt to disagree many are getting tougher on the teen driver a lot of parents seem to think I'm too tough on minor offenses but if we let kids get away with this running stop signs going through yellow lights backing up at 20 miles an hour next thing you know would be here with something really serious manslaughter or maybe they won't be here at all call the next case please in 50 percent of law fatal accidents alcohol has been found to be a contributing cause while we found indications that there has been drinking I'm pretty sure that the group in this car had just left the drinking party this is pretty prevalent in most of the actives about 50% of the accidents involving teenagers involved drinking but we see him we stop them try to unload the vehicles but we can't be every place at once the public is becoming more and more concerned about the teenage accident rate in state capitals everywhere lawmakers are translating that concern into action the many years I've served at the legislature I have noticed the mounting concern about the problem of the teenage driver this concern is not mine alone but is shared with me by many of my colleagues public officials law enforcement officers and what is perhaps more important that's public in general [Music] I feel that their immaturity their attitudes on driving in general they're over addresses personality and willingness to take unnecessary risks however this attitude like a lot of others may not be restricted to teenagers well I think that their driving problem of today isn't just the teenagers problem it's it's everybody's problem the teenager regards the responsibility of driving very highly and every time there's any kind of carelessness the teenagers right away blame for it as it says in the article here quote teenagers are low status minority group and I mean what's the use of fighting back and when regarded like this since we group were blamed for most everything you'll always mean a fleet officer who's had a bad day or he's just doesn't feel right or he sees the car he's the Corvette he sees the wheels and he Sue's right away you're out for a race or a dragon they will give you a hard time well there are two news that you're stopping them not for what they did but because they're a teenager this isn't the case and on the other hand the older person their rebuttal is well why aren't you out catching a hot rod kids and why are you picking on us we call them as we see them and when it comes to teenagers what they see the most of is speed the younger the driver the more inclined he is to speed one out of every four drivers pick on the other hand just as a matter of interest the older you get the less inclined you are to yield the right away almost 50% of drivers over 75 won't move over one bug swept again it's not the kids so much as it is the car look at those tires laughs balls kid drum I like this change let's take a look at the wheel six inches of play both ways but this carnies is a front end job maybe a new set of threads but the kid wants is a booster Dominic I want to risk my life in my cards my business I don't think driving is a teenage problem at all I think it's just a problem period and perhaps some day that the adults won't realize that teenagers are probably some of the best drivers in the world and maybe someday they could be they should be teenagers do have better vision quicker reflexes and steady your nerves ironically these undeniable physical advantages often lead to overconfidence and trouble driving is basically what we call it psychomotor skill the term psychomotor means any experience which begins in the brain and ends in muscular action everything from combing hair to a play in basketball in football or any sport the more complex the psychomotor activity the more there is to learn experience calling for Activision alertness quick reactions distance judgments and so anybody will agree that skiing unprofessional spurts and most kids would be too scared and rightly so to try a slalom the first time on skis but that same teenager has no hesitating a much more dangerous maneuver on the highway I feel that a good many Act could be avoided if the driver accepts the responsibility that he has a skill to acquire that it takes time and considerable experience to become a good driver [Music] in England they recognize this they put a big L on cars driven by people who have just gotten their licenses this tells other drivers watch out for them learning isn't just a team problem but the greater number of new drivers will always be teenagers and so the problem of inexperience is more directly related to them sociologists take a different tack many believe that teenagers use the automobile to express rebellion or to satisfy unfulfilled needs the automobile represents for a teenager a symbol of freedom a symbol of adulthood and perhaps also the automobile represents a weapon to be used in the conflict with adult authority figures once on the road a young person becomes his own master he's free he can do as he wishes he can be reckless offensive or discourteous [Music] and often get away with it unfortunately this aggression results in violations and accidents our culture has always prized and rewarded risk-taking today astronauts are heroes because of the risk involved we all admire the risk-taker but when you talk to some teenagers about taking chances you're liable to get this answer I want to risk my life in my car that's my business unfortunately it isn't just his business statistically when a teenager totaled his car he takes others with him car crashes are everybody's business and their society's business and society isn't going to put up with the teenage accident rate much longer while the industry continues its research to make cars safer many across the country feel that the only answer to the high number of injuries and teenage driving is greater restrictions on that self have your attention I propose that the motion read as follows there shall be a curfew on all drivers under 21 from the hours of midnight to 6:00 a.m. the only exception being proof of employment all in favor and public opinion is being translated into law I have introduced a bill which will raise the age of lightness drivers from 16 to 18 and it will be debated on the floor of the house next week obviously the handwriting is on the wall what will it take to make an ager realize what's happening to him well as a physical education teacher and basketball coach I feel the best way to communicate with teenagers in general is to be very direct that punches now if you think this film has been just another adult brainwashing another hypocritical holier-than-thou sermon just remember one thing who's conning who you don't want to be treated like kids you want more responsibility you want the world to have some confidence in you okay as far as driving is concerned nobody is a kid when you're behind the wheel of a car you are not a kid anymore you're a driver you've got all the rights and privileges of anybody else it stopped for you and stop for him [Music] there are no special signs like this there's one speed for everybody signs like these aren't just for adults no matter who is doing the driving the signs mean the same it's obvious but all the reasons we've seen and heard are valid to a degree kids are Moody they do let their moods influence their driving their inexperience they speed they overload cars they're reckless and often don't care what happens to them or anybody else yet in spite of the damaging statistics against the teenager many adults don't agree that more restriction is the answer like this high school principal frankly adults can't solve this problem it's up to the kids themselves they have got to use their own common sense and their own good judgment I try to get them to ask themselves some questions and to give themselves honest answers can a car be a substitute for a personality a car is powerful we're gonna make you powerful can it put you ahead of the game in your job in what you really want to be your car can answer the challenge of another car what's that bro one car's got more under the hood than the other I can't say the same about the drivers think real hard doesn't know what he is and it doesn't care it doesn't have any opinion at all it just keeps turning out the numbers that are being used as evidence against you it's just a machine like the machine you drive it doesn't know you the machine your drive doesn't know you either it does what you tell it to do in computer reason they call it input whatever you put into the machine gas or numbers that's what comes out in power or in statistics when you get behind the wheel you're really running to machines this one and this one to machines adding up to what to trouble or to the confidence the responsibility and the front of the driving scene [Music] [Music]