Interesting how even here where folks are usually a little less ornery than the general internet, assumptions of releasing bad drivers on the world is where we've come to. First, I'd love to understand how just because you take kids through something like the electric go kart training proposed last and even if they do well at it that you suddenly think they will not get into an accident or that even the odds go down. But to respond to the ones who assume we did nothing, just let them pass the written test, get their photo snapped and said have at it, our state requires 50 hours with a parent or road driving, which obviously provides opportunities for instruction. We typically exceeded that and they also had the mandatory 8 hours of instruction from a driving school. We also regularly talk with them about incidents they encountered once they were driving the did not result in accidents but that were noteworthy enough to them to come home and tell us about them. We then talked through what they could have done differently, and at times there was nothing. They have also always been required to pat the deductible for any crash they have, they also pay for gas for the car periodically (we pay for two tanks they buy the third, since most of the driving is "mandatory" stuff they need to get to versus going to hang with their friends), and they pay the insurance premium change that occurs for them getting insurance or the increase that happens after a crash. So they have skin in the game. My wife and I are not a bunch of helicopter parents who think our kids can do no wrong and who do not teach them responsibility but I love how the assumptions have gone there. I guess kudos on the last two of three posters who've been lucky enough to not have incidents and chalk it up to their brilliant parenting that other don't know how to do.
The comment Cassie makes is by far the norm for what I have seen and heard. I've not had an accident of any kind (my fault or otherwise) in over 30 years, but I did have a few in my teenage and young adult phase. Was it because I was not trained? No. It was because I was showboating for my girlfriend in the care and side swiped another car while fishtailing my '86 Cutlass around a corner and misjudging (I only ran the rubber of the bumper down the length of their car, so no body damage but I was ticketed. Do I get credit for my masterful car control verging on the skills of a stuntman?), or just not having experience in certain weather conditions when 4 other drivers around me were also struggling and some of us ultimately connected. To the brilliant commenter who again assumes that "fearing" curbs and such as because they have not been taught, we regularly talked to the kids how they were too far away, too concerned or whatever with the center line etc.
Perhaps the comments will be helpful to others. I was looking for answers on whether to keep insurance on vehicles, not on parenting or assuming we do not demand our kids be responsible. Since I said my youngest is 18, unless you've got a time machine FACTORY giving advice for 14 or 15 year olds is about 4 years too late. I think above I address six-car-habit enough for my taste. Perhaps they do not have kids or again, got lucky that their driving needs and environments did not place them in spots they got into a wreck. We evaluated the accidents when they happened and none were alarming to us. They were teenage accidents. They were inexperienced drivers figuring our that what they thought they understood was not quite right, and in 1 or two cases they were the result of bad luck, where the other driver was not doing something right either but out citation laws indicate that they get the ticket. When another driver turns in front of them with no time to spare to stop you get the ticket for failing to yield. They don't assess anything else because a side impact is automatically the fault of that driver. My wife and I knowing where the accident happened and looking at the police report and the other kids in the car that were driving back from school with them determined it would have been unlikely we could have had a different result had we been driving. Monday morning quarterbacking is always easy. Maybe you'll feel something above was wrong in your eyes too, and I guess I'll just have to live with that. It still does not change that the question was about do we keep insurance or not, which yes is mainly centered on the risk level of having to use it, which I would hope no one disputes is higher for teen drivers, or are the insurance company actuaries wrong too because they should assume any "trained" driver will never have an accident, regardless of age?
