[Justin979271]

Hello everyone. I am 15 years old and I just found out today, that I am eligible to take Drivers Ed in the Spring Semester. My High school sent the letter today. So I am going to sign up for it. It is $560.00 though which sucks. But I am almost 16 and will be getting a job once I turn 16. I will hopefully have enough by Spring then for it. I spoke to the CVS manager and I showed him my working papers, medical forms etc. He said once I turn 16, (Which will be in November) he will hire me assuming our interview prior to that goes well. Which it should. The past year though I have been observing my mother and father drive. I have been observing them a lot, every time we go somewhere. I now know how to start up a car, have an understanding of how to operate the gas and break pedals, gears, etc. A good understanding but not too in depth. Well, June of 2011 my grandfather fell down on his back when pickuping the newspaper and due to some other complications he needed open heart surgery. My grandparents lend my mother and father his Honda Civic to as as my grandfather wasn't able to drive for 1 year. He can drive now, but he doesn't need the Honda Civic anymore. So the Honda now belongs to my mother and father. My mother owns a van and my father owns a small car. The Honda is just an extra car that my father uses every now and then. Now, my father works from 4:30 pm-1:30 am. My mother, younger brother, and younger sister all go to bed at about 8:30 pm. I don't exactly have a bed time. Technically I have nearly 5 hours to myself. As I stay up. That would be the perfect time frame to take the Honda out and my parents leave the car keys right near the door bell area. Easy access for me. I would really like to know how it is to drive. I am really curious. If say tomorrow night I took the Honda out around the block to drive, what is the worst that could happen? The bad thing is that it is night so it is fairly dark. I also, have no idea what to expect as to of how it feels to drive a car, but I have been searching up a lot of things on the internet about driving. I wouldn't take the car out on the main road or anything, only once around the block, then park it in the spot I found it. So, if say a police man catches me what would happen? What could happen? About a month ago I tried to take the Honda out, but I didn't know even close to as much as now. I couldn't figure out how to set the gear so it wouldn't go. Plus, I had the biggest adrenile rush of my life. Breathing hard with my heart pounding the fastest it has ever didn't help the situation. So, I pussyed out and turned the car off, then ran back in the house and put the keys back where I found them. One more thing, I am in New York State if that helps. I assume the laws are different for this in each State of the US. I know this is a lot, but thanks for taking your time to read it all.

[PersonalDemons]

Well, as you said the laws are different in each state/county/town, but I know that where I live I believe that anyone under 21 isnt allowed to drive after 10 PM.
Also, the fact that you haven't driven a car and that you are planning to drive it at night does pose a problem.
Basically, i think it isnt the smartest thing to do, and I would recommend Googling your county/state laws on driving.

[Justin979271]

Originally Posted by PersonalDemons

Well, as you said the laws are different in each state/county/town, but I know that where I live I believe that anyone under 21 isnt allowed to drive after 10 PM.
Also, the fact that you haven't driven a car and that you are planning to drive it at night does pose a problem.
Basically, i think it isnt the smartest thing to do, and I would recommend Googling your county/state laws on driving.

Ok, thanks. I am now actually thinking against it.

[zazzle]

driving at night is harder than driving during the day when you're new to driving because of the lack of visibility. and driving without a permit or license is a really stupid thing to do. i actually got pulled over once when i somehow left my wallet at home, and i'm just really lucky that i somehow got out of it with a warning instead of a ticket.

[Darkness_Prevails]

If you're caught and you haven't done any damage or hurt anyone or anything more serious like that, I'd think that you're looking at a max of 300 dollar fine for the original violation and 12 days in prison, or so. It's possible that the fine can go up to 3000 dollars and 150 days, if the additional charge of AUO is brought up.

I would say that around that ballpark is what you're looking at if you get caught. Around that amount would be pretty standard among the states.

[PsychedelicMess]

Yeah dude don't do it.

In middle school, my best friend stole her moms car and drove it around with her friend, because they wanted to go to this party.
They got pulled over for having their brights on.
And now they can't get their license until they are 18 or something like that, and they were 13/14 when this happened.

and it seems to me that you don't even have a good reason to be taking this car.
Besides the fact that you just want an adrenaline rush, and there is other safer and legal ways you can do that.

[DeepDistress]

No, that would be freaking idiotic. I mean, here in NY if you get caught, within one-two times your license is revoked for a year, or well you wouldn't get one for a year. Also if you were to get in a crash, and hurt someone or kill someone just by accident... you're in huge trouble, any crash in general is huge trouble without a license. And you may think "oh yeah ill never have something happen" well it can EASILY happen even with driving for years. You may think you know most everything, I did too but it's a lot harder then you think. There's a lot that goes into driving and just remembering the rules, dealing with other people who don't listen to right of ways, at night it's a hell of a lot more difficult, just don't do it.

Not to mention it is not fair to ANY other driver. For you to be that selfish and drive unsupervised and possibly be putting their lives, or their children's lives at stake. There's reasons you have to drive with an adult and learn first. It's not as easy as knowing how to press the gas and slam on the break.

[Darkness_Prevails]

I also wouldn't suggest jumping into a car and driving around like that if you've never driven a car before. There's a big difference between observing someone drive a car and actually driving a car. The first few times that you drive it, it may be quite a difficult thing to do. You may not be expecting the handling to feel a certain way and you might make a turn wide or something like that. Or you may be concentrated on operating the vehicle that you miss a road sign or something like that. All those things can be very very dangerous, especially for you. It's usually a good idea to have someone with you that has driven before when you first drive so that they can remind you of rules and stuff that you might not be thinking of as you concentrate on driving the vehicle.

[Justin979271]

Originally Posted by DeepDistress

No, that would be freaking idiotic. I mean, here in NY if you get caught, within one-two times your license is revoked for a year, or well you wouldn't get one for a year. Also if you were to get in a crash, and hurt someone or kill someone just by accident... you're in huge trouble, any crash in general is huge trouble without a license. And you may think "oh yeah ill never have something happen" well it can EASILY happen even with driving for years. You may think you know most everything, I did too but it's a lot harder then you think. There's a lot that goes into driving and just remembering the rules, dealing with other people who don't listen to right of ways, at night it's a hell of a lot more difficult, just don't do it.

Not to mention it is not fair to ANY other driver. For you to be that selfish and drive unsupervised and possibly be putting their lives, or their children's lives at stake. There's reasons you have to drive with an adult and learn first. It's not as easy as knowing how to press the gas and slam on the break.

"Not to mention it is not fair to ANY other driver. For you to be that selfish and drive unsupervised and possibly be putting their lives, or their children's lives at stake. There's reasons you have to drive with an adult and learn first. It's not as easy as knowing how to press the gas and slam on the break.
"

That small paragraph right there made me completely re-consider, completely. I AM NOT doing it. I didn't even think about that. That would be selfish of me. Thank you so much. Really. As far as slamming on the gas and break though, I think I will know how to do it, but I won't try it until I get my permit and my father is with me supervising. What if there was a mother driving at night and her four year old son? Say, I crashed and ended up killing them both. I would never forgive myself. Thank you for making me come to my senses. As far as the person who posted above, I am not just doing it to get an adrenaline rush? Wait what? I don't think you read my thread or you didn't comprehend it. Anyways, have a nice day everyone and thank you.

[DeepDistress]

So glad you realize that. And at least your mind is at ease now!