TERRORISTS? PROTECT ME FROM TEENAGE DRIVERS!
Right now both federal and state governments are falling all over themselves trying to come up with new laws, security plans and agencies to make us more secure from terrorist attacks. About 3000 people died last year in the United States from terrorist attacks. The average over the past ten years would be about 315 deaths from terrorism per year.
But what of teenage drivers? Over 5,600 teenagers died in car crashes in 2000. Several thousand more adults died as a result of these accidents. The average number of deaths per year from accidents caused by teenage drivers would probably be in the 6000 range, or higher.
Look --- I can read the numbers. I know where the threat is coming from. Yes, I do want the government to try to thwart the next terrorist attack on America ---but how about spending some time dealing with teen-terrorist drivers? These kids are killing themselves and other drivers at a rate that would make any Muslim terrorist proud!
We won’t allow grandma to take her nail clippers on a commercial airliner, but we’ll give the keys to a high-performance sports car to a 16-year-old driver without any meaningful driver training. We want six-year-old girls and go through their backpacks before they can get on an airplane with mommy and daddy, but we won’t do anything to make sure that a 16-year-old has an ounce of judgment or common sense before sending him out on the high-speed interstates.
Am I the only one who thinks that something is a little out of whack here?
Neal Boortz (a Libertarian)
