Why do teenagers drive so fast/crazy?

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I completely understand why insurance companies charge so much for teenage guys to have car insurance.

I drive 5 miles over the speed limit. I would like to drive at the speed limit but it would bother other drivers or I would get passed all the time. On the highway if the speed limit is 70 the fastest I will drive is 77. I don't talk on the cellphone unless I am having a 5 second conversation while I am at a stop sign or stop light to let someone know where I am. When I had driven a guy home from wrestling practice he commented on how I was one of the few drivers he had rode home with that he was not scared for his life when I drove.

I was recently in the car with "John" when he drove me over to a friend of his house. It was after around 9 at night, and he drove at 20+ the speed limit a lot of the time. When he brought us over to eat at wendy's he was clapping along with the music while he drove very fast. It made me really anxious.

edit: I thought I should at that I have been in a major car wreck where I crashed into a car going 30mph, I couldn't see, was my fault. And I fixed a grammar.

Last edited by Alexender on 08 Apr 2012, 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I read an article in National Geographic about teenagers recently. It seems their brain development at that time favors risk taking. Well "favor" is not the right word. More that consequences do not have the same level of influence over decision making as they do in adults

They're excited that they got their license and they like to show off for their friends.

Generally teenagers don't believe anything bad can happen to them. They also generally have an overrated confidence in their abilities. This is pretty much programmed in. In the old hunter/gatherer times the young men would need to be confident and willing to ignore danger to hunt dangerous prey. As they got older and slowed down (assuming they survived) they could rely more on experience and hard earned skills.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFLRlAdEo-o[/youtube]

I get up to 90mph a lot of the times on our highways. But usually people are in a rush - just a couple months ago I saw someone pass by going at least 90-95mph in a older chevy truck carrying a load of some sort. I thought "yep, they're going to crash".... and a couple miles further I caught up to them as the spun in circles going 90mph and flew off the road...

But the answer to your question is because - all young boys are invincible.

They should put them in the drivers seat of a crash test just so they can get a feel for their immortality.

But in my opinion, the times I've been most afraid was in the passenger seat with a girl at the helm. Passing stop signs, not stopping at stop signs... speeding, a mild left to right wobble with the steering wheel. Backing into people... merging into people... At least the boys will hit the other car straight on, like a boss.

Last edited by Nim on 08 Apr 2012, 2:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

It is very disconcerting when you go from drivers like parents or grandparents that are generally good at breaking at an even pace and other things like that to someone driving 70 on a 40mph rode to get the green light. My mom used to correct me all the time on how I drove until I started correcting her. I usually drove an old clunky van, you can not break nicely with it. She drives a nice car, so I would point out when she drove 50 down a 30mph road.

Something that I heard a lot at highschool is "I am a really good driver, I just drive really fast".

Because we're total idiots.

Yeah, that. ^^^^^

There's a hormone called "the idiocy hormone" that we all get during that age. For most of us it goes away at least by the time we reach thirty.

EDIT: I don't know why this didn't occur to me when I first posted it, but this might look like an insult to all teenagers. It's not meant to be. It's the exaggerated truth based on my own personal experience as a teenager. I wouldn't want to have to tell anyone here some of the stupid stuff I did back then.

Last edited by MrXxx on 08 Apr 2012, 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A) Most teens are still unaware of their own mortality.

B) They haven't realized how much of a pain in the butt traffic tickets are.

C) An abundance of testosterone in the system gives one the urge to "show off", and the ignorance not to realize that who they are "showing off" to isn't impressed.

I wish old people would at least drive the speed limit. It is not like they are going to live forever, so quit driving like it.

Texting while driving is the worst for kids. They start drifting.

At the very least, wear your seatbelt so your silly, speeding, teenaged butt doesn't come flying out of your car at me...as seen in Rule 4 of Zombieland.

Last edited by shrox on 08 Apr 2012, 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Because we're stupid and we all want to die.

[Seriously, though, I drive very cautiously, personally. But I know that a friend of mine has driven 80 mph in a 45 mph zone. ...WHAT?! ]

That I will tell someone to do. If I notice that I am in the car with someone that doesn't have a seatbelt on I will let them know. But the only times that has really happened is when my mom or step dad forgot, otherwise they always wear their seatbelt.

I exhilarate quickly because I like the sound the engine makes, after that I usually drive the speed limit.

I used to do that, but decided I liked having money more than how the engine sounds (accelerating or decelerating quickly wastes more gas)