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Driver at 14!

3 March 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Angela MV Robinson (Rev Mrs) Principal, The British School in Dhaka, 5/7 Block D, Lalmatia
3 March 2005, 18:00 PM
I have just learnt that a pupil of mine who is 14 has a driving licence. As one who has been an UK driver for 45 years but would not dream of attempting it in this fair city, I do not consider this a contribution to our road safety. I have a scar on my chin from the time a young teenager drove his parents' car into the side of my baby taxi. The new driver, a fine fellow who has his little circle of admirers, could, I am told, also get himself a licence for a gun.

I urge the authorities to protect our children from official corruption and parental slackness which, combined with the pressures they are under as adolescents, could produce a horrifying cocktail of personal and social chaos.

I tremble for such children and their future. If they are experimenting with driving at 14, then, once the excitement wears off, what is the next thing? Evidence indicates that the later young people start experimenting with - whatever they associate with being 'grown-up', the better because they and their friends are older and, hopefully, understand the dangers better. If they are smoking cigarettes and taking alcohol as young teenagers then, according to the evidence from other countries, it will soon be drugs. In the teenage culture, part of the fun is to be ahead of the game.

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We have to protest about this, if for nothing more than to avoid the future wail, "Where did we go wrong?" Some of us could tell them.