Curbing Teen Drivers

The Georgia government recently finalized a law making the completion of driver's education courses the only route in which 16 year olds can get driver's licenses. Otherwise, they hae to wait until they are 17.

The bill imposes a five percent surcharge on traffic fines to help fund driver training courses around the state, and teens would be required to take that course or wait until they are 17 to get a driver's license. They now can be licensed at 16.

But as Gov. Purdue argues:

Perdue says he was troubled by some aspects of the financing mechanism and by the fact that students unable to take a course at their local schools would have to pay for private courses or wait a year for their license. Perdue says the author, Senator Preston Smith of Rome, has agreed to work with him on changes next year.

I agree with the Governor on this. Many families have teenagers that work to help out around the house, or even just simply allow families to multitask better, and considering the sprawling nature of metro Atlanta, driving can be essential means of transportation. But then again, I'd rather such a surcharge to towards investment in Atlanta's public transportation infrastructure.