The American Spectator

br> Re: Jim Karr’s letter (under “Are You Experienced?”) in Reader Mail’s Us and Them and Eric Peters’s Is 16 Too Young to Drive? : /p>

Mr. Karr claims that a lot of kids in farm country drive trucks and tractors at age 11 and thus “By the time they reach 16 they have had five years of driving experience.”

Uhhh, no sale. Driving a tractor on the side of some country road at 10 MPH with nothing but an occasional produce truck to contend with doesn’t really qualify as driving experience.

I grew up in southern California where driving meant being on the I-5 freeway. Indeed, we all were required to do some freeway driving in high school driver’s ed. When you take your driver’s license test you have to show you can navigate a car in city traffic — not maneuver a row crop tractor down a deserted dirt road or drag a hay merger over to the neighbor’s farm.

Driving experience means operating a motor vehicle in moderate to heavy traffic conditions. It means understanding and complying with traffic laws while moving at speeds often exceeding 40 MPH.

p>I’m not sure how many 11 year old kids can claim they’ve done that. If not, then they can’t claim to have driving experience than means anything. br> — Garry Greenwood br> Gearhart, Oregon /p>