Young drivers should stop misuse of school permits

Kara Stewart

While there’s normally nothing wrong with making a stop by the gas station, getting a snack after school or stopping at the bank to cash a paycheck, how many times has this been done on a school permit?

More and more teens today are pushing the limits of their school permits. They make stops for personal wants or needs, but if they make a bad habit of stopping anywhere but home, school and school-sponsored events, they just might get busted.

Today’s teens are saying, “If I don’t get caught, I won’t get in trouble,” but truth be told that isn’t the case. School permits, more than any other kind of license, get the most abuse.

Kids will make stops on their way home from school or to school to get some coffee or grab a snack. They not only make stops that aren’t allowed, but also stay out past their legal curfew. The curfew that the state has given to kids 14 and a half and older, is 10 p.m.

Students may like to stay until the end of the sporting event to socialize with friends or just to stay out late, but if you have a legal curfew, then there is nothing you can do but be home by 10 o’clock.

A lot of students don’t realize that if you are pulled over while on a school permit and get a moving violation, you can be without your school permit for a minimum of 30 days depending on why you were pulled over.

If you rear-end someone, its considered your fault and that will guarantee your permit to be gone.