Well, I’d like to bring up the subject of the stiffer driving laws for teens. The cell phone issue I can completely understand, but having the restriction on the number of people in the vehicle is a bit too strict. I understand that they are doing it for the safety of today’s children, but being a teen driver, we do have to attend school.

Getting to school gives us three options, or four, if you include carpooling. The bus and a ride from mom isn’t the “coolest” way, so we drive ourselves. But, we have siblings, and we have friends that cannot drive, so in turn, their parents will give gas money to us for bringing their child to school. A restriction on things like this for us is saying the teens are the cause to all traffic accidents. We aren’t. If the legal system thinks a restriction of the use of cell phones will help, then I believe that it should be put on all users, or require a hands-free system. This will make us teens feel less targeted, and create a safer driving environment for everyone.

Jamie Axsmith

Albert Lea