For as long as I can remember, I have been counting down the days until I was eligible to get my license. Every birthday was another year closer to me standing in line at the DMV and no other thought could make me happier. Unfortunately I have an August birthday so when I turned 15 all of my friends were turning 16. I figured that even if I didn’t have my license as a junior, my friends at least would have theirs. I watched as months passed from their sixteenth birthdays and still no license. Not only were they unlicensed but they hadn’t even attempted to get their permit! This wasn’t just my friends either. It seemed that there were many 16-year-olds who were opting out of getting their permit. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, in 1999 there were a total of 153,984 licensed drivers between the ages of 16 and 17. By the year 2009, that number dropped to only 84,245 teen drivers. That is a 45% decrease between 10 years. So, why are so many eligible teen drivers deciding to opt out of getting their license? “Even if I did get my license, I don’t have anywhere that important to go to,” said junior Kayla Mende. Being able to drive isn’t just about having somewhere to go; it’s about gaining independence. Depending on my parents for everything has frustrated me long enough that I don’t even want to imagine doing so for any longer than I have already. Figuring out ride arrangements between my friends’ parents and mine on Saturday nights has gotten old pretty fast. Sooner or later you will have an important reason to drive yourself. Look at it this way: isn’t it better to at least have your license and not use it than it is to need it and not have one? I can pretty much guarantee that you will need it at some point. As you continue to put off getting your permit it gets harder and harder to take the initiative to get it. What happens when you go to college and you don’t have your license? Will your parents have to drive you back and forth to campus? At Freedom you have the opportunity to get your license more conveniently and much more easily through the help of the Behind the Wheel program. By paying for the program, the school saves you a few hundred dollars and a lot of frustration at the DMV. Another popular excuse is the lack of a personal car. This answer is confusing to me because most people do not have a car before they have their permit. So when and if you eventually get a car of your own, you won’t be able to drive it; which means there is no reason to get a car in the first place – which comes first the chicken or the egg? Of course there are quite a few parents out there who don’t even allow their kid to drive even if they have their license. Parents are concerned about the horror stories of teen drivers involved in crashes; Naturally adults have an instinct to protect their children and in this case they do that by not allowing their child to drive. Sure this is an easy fix, but the issue is not to completely remove the risk of a crash, it’s to teach teens how to prevent crashes in the first place. Getting your license at a younger age does increase your risk of being in a wreck but as long as you’re sure to always drive safely, a crash is less likely to happen. There are many reasons teens give for not getting their permit, but in the end there are even more reasons why they should. On August 21 – my birthday – I was the first person in the DMV office and even though the test was a bit challenging, it most definitely was not impossible. I got my permit that day and am currently only a little over a month away from the sweet taste of freedom. Now the only inconvenience I will have is deciding whether or not I’ll drive my friends around. After all, they made me wait for my license until I was able to not depend on my parents for rides. Then again maybe I will…for a price.