Getting their first driver's license is a seminal moment in the lives of most teenagers. But the federal government -- not the states -- could soon be telling kids when they can get behind the wheel. Supporters say it will save lives; opponents say it's another example of Washington overreaching its powers and getting involved in the states' business.
"I'm sure there are some people who back these kinds of things that tend to believe they're going to do something good," Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center, told FoxNews.com. "Are the car crashes caused because Washington, D.C., wasn't giving rules to people? I find that nearly laughable."
Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the country. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said he believes thousands of lives will be saved by creating a uniform national system of youth driving laws, called The Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act or STANDUP.
But not everyone thinks STANDUP will save lives, and some say it could actually cost lives.
Mike Males is a sociologist who studied the effects of a similar teen driving license process California enacted in the late 1990s. He said number of fatalities among 16-year-olds dropped simply because they weren't driving. The number of fatalities among 18-19-year-olds, however, actually increased even more than the decrease among 16-year-olds.
"It turns out that its worse to have inexperienced 18-year-olds on the road than inexperienced 16-year-olds," Males said.
Ah, the socialist federal government at work. Regulate all issues with more rules and overreaching bureaucracies! Nevermind the issue is inexperienced drivers, it must be the age since all those crashes are caused by kids!! (with little experience)
Feds, let the states work the issue and please fuck off. Some kind of help is the kind of help we all can do without. And you are providing that kind of help.