‘And the teen shall inherit the SUV’

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One of the time-honored ways that a young driver gets his or her first set of wheels is when their parents decide not to trade in the old car and give it to the young kid instead. With the flood of SUVs on the market over the last 20 years, many of those vehicles now park at the high school instead of the office. But what is an easy way to get Jason and Jennifer their wheels may spell more accidents, according to an article by Abraham Sauer on theawl.com.

Sauer backs up his thesis with a truckload of statistics. Price is the deciding factor in the majority of teen car purchases. Right now within three miles of here, there are a half dozen mid-1990s SUVs for sale for under $4,000. Add the uniquely challenging driving characteristics of these vehicles, the poor track record for teen drivers in general and the prospects don’t look good. The only bright point is that most of the ‘cars for clunker’ trade-ins are SUVs. This may be the silver lining in what looks like a future of teen SUV-driving danger.

Factor in texting while driving (not confined to teens alone, certainly), the passenger capacity and the numbers of young drivers who don’t wear seat belts, and you get a recipe for highway disaster.

-- Doug Stewart

Photo: 1991 Ford Explorer