Youths lose interest in cars

I think there is something to this. Helicopter parenting, as practiced today, does not lend itself to striving for independence.

 

I don't remember my parents every taking me to baseball games or practices when I was a kid -- unless it was some out-of-town game.

But the field here is probably seven miles away and you'd have to ride on a busy four-lane road with no sidewalk most of the way to get there.

I don't think it's helicopter parenting to drive the nine-year-old rather than tell him to get his ass on his bike and get to practice.

 

When I was 15, all I could think about was getting my driver's license. I'm stunned that so the numbers of 19-year-olds without driver's licenses are so high. But I'd rightly assume the big cities, with all of that public transportation, are skewing the statistics. In the rural and suburban Midwest, South and West — where distances are great — public transportation is largely unfeasible because of sparse population. So everyone has their driver's license.

As for a lack of car culture, these youngsters just don't know the thrill of driving down a curvy road, executing perfect heel-to-toe downshifts to slow the car into a corner and upshifting and tromping on the gas at the apex for a perfect exit. My grandpa was a sports car nut who loved Triumphs, Fiats, Miatas and various muscle cars and since the first two are as reliable as Lindsey Lohan in a bar, I learned to love working on them too. He loved racing, especially sports car racing where drivers have to make left AND right turns.

He loved anything with a manual gearshift and a tight suspension. It rubbed off on me and most of my early cars, except for a Honda Accord coupe, had manual transmissions and buttoned-down suspensions. I'm still a car nut and I'm the guy who will take pictures of rare iron like a Ferrari F430 Scuderia with my phone. I love turning wrenches under the hood, even if consulting a Helm's manual can be downright frustrating sometimes.

Instead, these kids are all about gadgets. Gadgets! Guess they're cheaper, but how is an iPhone thrilling in any visceral way? I have one, it's nice, but...

Or they've bought into the propaganda about how evil the automobile is to the environment. If all I'd ever driven were wussy Priuses, I'd hate cars too. Hybrids are rolling chicanes of stupidity for people without passion or reason. They scream "look at me, I care." Well, considering how dangerous they are to dispose of and considering that the batteries are made in China, which has no environmental regulations whatsoever, they're penny-wise and pound foolish. You'd better off with a clean diesel and it'll last a lot longer too. The batteries in those rolling shitboxes don't last forever, you know. Maybe 100,000 miles if you're lucky and the range will decrease the older the hybrid POS gets.

I guess one upside is that there will be less young idiots on the road, texting and talking while driving.

 

Its a great point. My wife may as well have been a taxi driver the last 10 years... good intentions and all, but holy fuck, we'd have arguments - let the kids figure out how they are going to get there themselves once in a while...

 

True, true. Obviously it depends on the nature of the community. Distance. Congestion. Crime. And so forth.

 

This was my thought, too.

 

But by the same token, Ace -- our school is a half-mile away. It's an easy half-mile. My son is in fourth grade and loves walking there. We have a lot of trouble finding parents who will let their kids walk, because of course there's a perv kidnapper in a van on every corner.

 

Hey, I drive a Prius!

Total gas money move. When my commute shortens next year when we move, I'm trading it in.

 

I'm not worried about crime. If my kid robs someone, that lady should have protected her purse better is how I see it.

 

Good point.

 

That's a good move. And with gas prices up, the value on it might increase.

 

Dick's increasing our dependence on foreign batteries.