Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1916 — Under-Age Chauffeurs. [ARTICLE]

Under-Age Chauffeurs.

The boy or girl under eighteen who is competent to drive a motor car is a rare exception. Judgment at that age is not so trustworthy as to make motor car driving safe for the driver, the occupants of the car, other drivers, occupants of other cars or pedestrians. And parents who restrict the driving operations of their young sons and daughters to “round the corner,” “trips to or from the garage” or to the “couple of blocks and back" ought to remember that an accident can occur in that limited sphere as readily as elsewhere. Emergencies requiring quick action based on practiced judgment may as easily arise within half a block of home as within half a dozen miles. There arc those parents, of course, who feel every confidence in the ability of the son or the daughter to drive the car and to drive it well and safely. But youth is youth. Under the eyes of its elders it may exhibit a caution that it exhibits at no other time. When John has the Car to himself and fills its seats with passengers of his own age, caution has a way of departing. In its place, the juvenile desire to show what he can do and how well he can do it takes possession of John and he becomes a menace to traffic, to pedestrians, to his passengers and to himself. He may escape an accident and usually does—but the escapes frequently are hair-breadth—of which John recks not. Nor does he profit thereby. His numbers are increasing. Perhaps the motor clubs could unite in an effort—which is sadly needed—• to prove to overconfident and indulgent parents that the practice is unsafe.—lndianapolis News.