It is regrettable when good ideas may contribute to bad results, but is it even a tiny bit possible that in the rush to "make driving safe for our teens",we have unintentionally contributed to the problem of unsafe teen drivers?
Two examples of the "law" in title, both drawn from the recent "crackdown" laws pased by the legislature with regard to teen driving.
1. A service provided by New Trier high school students to other students all over the Chicago area has had to shut down. The New Trier kids would give rides home to other studentswho for whatever reasons, could not or did not wish to drive after a night out. But with the curfew on teen drivers implemented on January 1st, those volunteer drivers can no longer be out in their cars after 11 weekdays or midnight on weekends. And since most of the calls the service received were for pickups after 11 or midnight... How many ofthose kids will now drive themselves home and be involved in accidents because they shouldn't be driving?
That's an unintended consequence. Destroy a good service and hope for the best, I guess.
Which leads us to:
2. "Gettin' close to the line, gotta get home, gotta beat the curfew. Hurry, hurry, hurry."
Have we contributed to a death by creating an arbitrary curfew for driving? I know a lot of teens will wait til the last possible moment to hit the road and hope to get home before the parental axe falls. Remember these are kids that think "it won't happen to me!"
I don't know that's what was running through Alex Farkas' head. I hope not. But I do know there will be kids who DO think that, and will take unacceptable risks to squeeze the last bits of pleasure out of their "nights out with friends".
Unintended consequences.
Thinking to do good, have we done wrong for at least one person?
Damn, it hurts.
May Alex's memory be eternal.
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