With the new Act passed for a Graduated Driver License Program, minors must spend at least six months with a Provisional License before acquiring the Driver License. This graduation process adds to the procedure list for teenagers to pass their rite of passage and claim the holy Driver’s License. Now, if a teenager wants to obtain their permit before age 18, they must pass both sections of Driver’s Ed, written and behind-the-wheel, as well as maintain their learner’s permit for no less than 180 days.

All these measures were passed in the name of safety, a way to ensure that drivers, especially young drivers, will not endanger themselves or anyone around them with a motorized vehicle. However, when issues of safety arise, say in collisions involving minors or young adults, accountability is forgotten.

Who grants the driver licenses to irresponsible drivers? Who is responsible and why couldn’t we prevent this from happening? How many times have we stopped to question whether the license test instructor should have graded the applicant in question on a stricter basis?

These tests are not always accurate on driver’s abilities. My friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, has received his license, admittedly, without knowing all the driving skills one would assume all licensed drives have. For example, during his road test, he was not comfortable making left turns, so he asked his tester to show him how. The tester complied and the road test continued without any remark to my friend’s inability to make left turns.

Now, my friend has avoided collisions so far, but how safe do you feel knowing that on the road, there are drivers who needed someone else to make the left turn for them? Should my friend ever find himself in a collision, would people hold the tester accountable? And should we?

Accountability is essential for growth to take place. Accountability is the system that allows people to see the results of their actions. It in effect, links effect to cause. Say a collision occurred when my friend made a left turn. What then is the cause? There are numerous reasons to be sure, but perhaps factors extend beyond immediate influences.

However, let us take a step back. After the collision, someone will perhaps have to pay for the damages. If my friend is found guilty, his insurance company will have to cover the charges—even though they were not the ones that directly approved his driving in the first place.

All insurance companies can do at this point, is to establish high premiums for “high risk” drivers, but is there a way to give the private businesses more control over their money? Could safety enforcement be more effective if insurance companies were the ones charged with issuing driver licenses?

Reid Ginoza is a graduate of the Pearl City High School Class of 2005; a Freshman at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont; and an Adjunct Intern with the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.