Father pushes law to keep 16-year-olds off motorcycles

[KFROST06]

Dad who lost son in Lakeville motorcycle accident wants law changed, but mom disagrees

Father pushes law to keep 16-year-olds off motorcycles - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger

BROCKTON — Is 16 too young an age to legally operate a motorcycle?

Grieving father Vincent D’Andrea of Weymouth thinks so.

The 56-year-old D’Andrea wants to change a state law that allows a 16-year-old to legally operate a motorcycle with a permit.

His 16-year-old son, Vincent “J.D.” D’Andrea Jr., was killed in Lakeville on Friday in a motorcycle crash.

“These junior operator licenses, you don’t need any training. That’s wrong,” D’Andrea said this week. “There’s too many kids that are getting a permit — inexperienced people.”

State law allows a 16-year-old to obtain a motorcycle permit with written consent of a parent or guardian.

Ellen Alemian of Lakeville, the victim’s mother, said she gave consent for her son’s permit in June. Alemian said she bought a Honda 600 motorcycle for her son’s birthday on June 13.

“He was a responsible, smart kid,” Alemian, 44, said, as she cried over her loss from her Lakeville home this week. “I had great faith in my son that he would abide by the rules of the street.”

The issue has divided the teen’s parents, who were never married. Alemian said she does not support changing a state law that allows a 16-year-old to legally operate a motorcycle with a permit.

Police said speed was a factor in the crash. The teen, who was thrown off his motorcycle and hit a utility pole, died at the scene.

Statewide, motorcycle fatalities are increasing.

Fatalities increased from 48 in 2006 to 59 fatalities in 2007, according to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. In Plymouth County, which had the highest number of motorcycle fatalities among counties statewide, there were 12 motorcycle fatalities in 2007, compared to 44 motor vehicle fatalities that year. In July, there were 168 people statewide aged 16 or 17 with motorcycle permits, out of a total 309,260 licensed motorcycle operators.

D’Andrea said he disputed his son obtaining the permit, and went to the Registry of Motor Vehicles last month to try and have his son’s permit pulled.

“Something has to be done about the laws. This kid should not have been on this motorcycle,” D’Andrea said.

The situation highlights the debate on the age limit for motorcycle operators with a permit.

Middleboro Police Chief Gary Russell said he would like to see the age increased to 18 for motorcycle operators with a permit.

“Young drivers of any vehicle are inexperienced and until they get their feet wet, they’re not going to know what to do in a bad situation,” Russell said.

In a car, permit drivers are getting experience “with an adult there teaching you,” Russell said. “On a motorcycle, you’re just on your own.”

The teen’s mother, however, disagrees.

“You can push the age. You can push it down. You can push it up,” Alemian said. “It’s up to each individual person to be responsible.”

She said her son had grown up riding dirt bikes, and she and her husband and other children are motorcycle riders.

“Of course, my heart hurts and I want to say maybe I shouldn’t have (allowed him to ride the motorcycle),” she said. “My husband rides. My daughter rides. My kids ride.”

Rick Sigel, owner of Training Wheels, a motorcycle rider education program with classes in Brockton and Plympton, said changing the age for a motorcycle permit won’t solve anything.

“Responsible riding is something that we all have to do regardless of the age,” said Sigel, 42.

Sigel said a good part of his business includes 16-year-olds who are excited to learn how to ride a motorcycle.

But the hardest part of his job is trying to convince a teenager who has been riding a motorcycle for a year “that we have something more to teach him,” he said.

“Yes, you can get caught up in riding fast on a motorcycle, but whether you’re 16 or 36, you just have to respect the power of the motorcycle,” Sigel said.

[McGrude]

A "Honda 600" was bad idea. It wasn't that he was 16, or that he was inexperienced, it was that his first bike should not have been a 600cc bike. He should have started on something easier like a 125 or a 250. Perhaps the MSF course should be mandatory.

Speaking of 125s why doesn't Honda make something equivalent to the NX 125. They were really kinda nice.

[uechi kid]

I also feel that you should be at least 18 to drive a car.

[sisooktom]

I don't know if I'd support a law to up the age to get an endorsement or not. I do know that my son will not own a bike until he's 21. Kids in cars are bad enough. IMO anyone needs a few years in a cage to learn about being in traffic before they think about adding the complexity of riding a motorcycle into the mix.

[MrClean]

Great, then we'll have a bunch of inexperienced 18 year olds that get killed.

They took drivers ed out of the classrooms around here and replaced it with daycare centers and mentally handicapped folks. Wouldn't want anyone to feel stigmatized. Now we have a bunch of folks that have been taught what their parents remember, what they can read out of the silly state book OR nothing at all.

There are two solutions to this problem. First and foremost TRAINING. And second, that friggin grieving father needs to grow a pair and be a parent if he has any children left. You don't buy a child a rocketship unless you know the child can handle a rocketship. It's a shame that he killed his child by neglect, but he did it. Round here we had some parents trying to pass a law about anyone under 18 couldn't have x amount of passengers or some other kind of bogus thing that didn't involve the fact that they'd bought there 17 year old a brand new Z something or other go fast and turned her privileged, inexperienced butt out on the streets. So, second or third weekend in her car with her friends she decides to go drag racing down a public thoroughfare, loses control and kills herself and everyone not wearing a seatbelt. We don't need more laws for that, we need PARENTS!

It's a shame when someone dies. Darwin has his ways though. Unfortunately it appears that we've developed a race of supermorons who although not brighter, reproduce at a younger age so as to spread their seed before they pull that coke machine over on themselves. Hence the daycare centers in high schools, next Junior highs.

Of course, when I was in eight grade 30 years ago, we lost two girls to early motherhood, so I guess it's not a new trend.

[KFROST06]

I got my license when I was 19 and now that I am much older I look back in awe at the fact that I didn't get killed. I also had a Kawasaki eliminator 250 as my first bike and took the maryland MSF course. Had I gotten one of these faster bikes and no safety course I highly doubt I'd be here now. However, I know that some kids that grow up riding and are skilled and mature enough to drive at 16 and some clowns are their 30s or older that are still too immature to ride.

[sisooktom]

Actually, I think the father opposed the kid having the bike/permit to begin with. The mother approved it. When I was 16 in NC, we got a full license, with no restrictions. Today at 16, you get a provisional license that imposes a number of restrictions. Among them, it limits you to daytime driving unless going directly to/from work, a maximum of 1 passenger under age 21, NO cellphone use while driving, etc. You can't get a full license until age 18. I think this is a much better system than going from learners permit to full, no strings attached license immediately.

[McGrude]

Originally Posted by MrClean

We don't need more laws for that, we need PARENTS!

That is so true on so many levels for so many things. Some people want to regulate video games because kids are buying Grand Theft Auto and other M rated games. If parents were more involved with their kids there would be no need for regulating things like this. Parents have the ultimate responsibility for controlling the content that their kids have access to, but some would rather have laws regulate it than to actually live up to the responsibility they already have.

[gdhugh]

I did not vote in the poll because the correct answer is not there. The correct answeris that it is depending on the maturaty of the person and should be judged by the parents NOT regulated by the government.

[A2rider]

My 15 year old son has his car permit. Kansas law says you must have 50 hours behind the wheel before you can get a license. He's living at his dad's, came to spend the weekend with me. Dad asked if I let him drive any to get some more time in. I told him I only have one vehicle, and the boy's not driving it. He can wreck his dads vehicle.

I might have let him drive, but he managed to hit the only tree on two acres driving a go-kart at 40mph and broke his wrist and gashed his leg 2 months ago. Lord knows what he'll do in a car, let alone a bike. He's not mature or responsible enough yet.

[CStoneman]

A CBR600RR as your first bike? That is an extremely bad idea.

If you take it to the 15,000 rpm redline, the shift from first to second on mine happens at around 74mph. And it justs keeps pulling from there, the whole way to 160 mph if you care to.

You can get in trouble so fast it's not funny.

It's really a shame.

My daugther is learning on a CRF230L dual sport. I wouldn't even consider anything more powerful.

[pb641]

I give a third thumb's up to MrClean's comment on needing Parents. As a dad of two teenagers who are just driving, as in this month. Here's my 2 cents.

Kids have to understand speed, mass, safety and the ability to assess their skills. I rode mini-bikes and small dirt bikes from age 7 to 11. I began riding on the street at 12 in order to deliver my paper route. I continued to do that until just short of 16 (huge money maker route). Back then and maybe still, Texas would grant a limited motorcycle license after the written test and observed skills test at age 15. That's when I got mine. The cc's were limited to 100, and if I remember right, the cc restriction was 250 from 16 until 18. I don't think there were night-time restrictions. Bought my first brand new motorcycle at 15 with my own money. It was a shiny Kawasaki 100, loved it.

What I took from all of that young experience proved very important as a young guy in the Navy. I continually saw other sailers buying bikes. Of course it was their first time without any prior experience. The wrecks and carnage came shortly after that. My buddy KJ and I tried intervention for patience, training, tips, ride-alongs, etc. Rarely would the new riders listen.

I was determined that I must teach my kids about speed, skill and respect for both. So, I started them on small dirt bikes at age 10 (wife objected up til then). My argument was better to fall over in the dirt at 15 mph than to not have any idea and later they get on a crotch rocket at 20. They rode with me for three to four years between them getting up to a XR100 and KX125.

So far neither of the kids show any desire to continue with riding, and that is fine. However, I am convinced that they have at least a respect for speed, relative skill levels, and the idea that they are not in fact bulletproof. As far as I'm concerned, goal accomplished. I also believe that at some level that experience will help them as they become auto drivers.

I am really saddened to hear about this young man's death. I think both parents failed him. I just cannot imagine allowing access to a 600 at that age. Terrible.

Wake up call to all of us. It's our job to do better.

[rwreuter]

Originally Posted by gdhugh

I did not vote in the poll because the correct answer is not there. The correct answeris that it is depending on the maturaty of the person and should be judged by the parents NOT regulated by the government.

Unfortunately for their son, their parents thought their child was mature enough. The facts state obviously that their child wasn't mature enough.

Children at the age of sixteen, even in a car, are as a general rule mad men(women). I think, though I could be wrong but isn't that the reason that their insurance rates are higher?????????

I might say, though I am going out on a limb here, that those who are mature enough chose not to ride a motorcycle without proper training.

Of course, there are always exceptions to everything.

Now putting an inexperienced driver (especially someone still learning to drive a cage), let alone untrained motorcycle rider on the road is nuts. Riding dirt bikes on trails and closed circuit tracks is VERY different in every way. You may learn how to handle the bike but when you get on that open road with every whacko it is a little different. I think many of you can attest to that!!

If I tried some of the same stunts on a motorcycle as I did in a car as a 16-17 year old, I KNOW I would not be here today. Sad but true.

I as many of you are against every law that unduly restricts my rights, but children are different. We as a society have stated that children due to growing in both stature, maturity, common sense, and intelligence need to be restricted in many of their activities. Why? One reason to increase their chances of growing to a ripe old age. How? By allowing those life experiences to become seated within them. Then having done all that we can without chaining them to our bedpost we let them go to make their own decisions.
Unfortunetly (and this one reason for laws) many parents who have kids themselves haven't adequately acquired enough sense to govern themselves let alone their children.

For example: A grand mother (54yrs old(how old was she when she had kids herself) was just arrested today for placing her grandchild ON THE ROOF of her car, then guess what she did?? She drove it around the local Publix parking lot. She said was just allowing her 3 year old to have fun. So the question is what are we to do with people and situations like that and WHAT is to be done to prevent that? Unfortunately we can't go around and say, you are stupid and take their children away from them forcibly neuter them (though I would like to with some I have met). So we make laws to prevent stupidity, for the better good of man.

I had "professor" in college tell the class that "it is you who have made these rules" or your dumb behavior has forced me to make them to protect you and others.


Just my 2 cents, OK it was more than that 10 cents.

[slaponte]

At whatever age you can join the Army/Navy/Air Force, at that same age you should be able to drink, drive, and get married. Why separate one way of killing yourself from another? If they are old enough to fight, and die, they are old enough for anything else. Make the Armed Forces 21, then all the others can be discussed. It is incredible! "Here son, here is an M16 to kill others and get shot at, but you can't have a beer, you aren't responsible enough for that yet!"... what a crock of... you know what.

Parenting is the answer. Even if you turn 16, if I don't think you are mature enough, too bad, you ain't getting it. Period. You can curse me the rest of your very long life.

(The reference to the M16 shows how old I am, they probably get something newer these days, but I don't know what it is. You get my point...)

[rwreuter]

Originally Posted by slaponte

At whatever age you can join the Army/Navy/Air Force, at that same age you should be able to drink, drive, and get married. Why separate one way of killing yourself from another? If they are old enough to fight, and die, they are old enough for anything else. Make the Armed Forces 21, then all the others can be discussed. It is incredible! "Here son, here is an M16 to kill others and get shot at, but you can't have a beer, you aren't responsible enough for that yet!"... what a crock of... you know what.

Parenting is the answer. Even if you turn 16, if I don't think you are mature enough, too bad, you ain't getting it. Period. You can curse me the rest of your very long life.

(The reference to the M16 shows how old I am, they probably get something newer these days, but I don't know what it is. You get my point...)

I AGREE!!!!!!

[LordGT]

It might not be a bad idea to change the age to 18. I know, some say that we'll have a bunch of dead inexperienced 18 yr olds on bikes.

BUT!!! If they start driving a car at 16, then get two years experience on the road first. Learning the in's & out's of driving, the dangers, and watching how SOME bikers do the wrong things, then maybe by 18, they will have a different perspective on bikes and take it a bit easier.

I don't know, but it could help. Yes, they'd still be inexperienced on a bike, but they would have two years of experience on the road, 2 years of driving skills, and 2 years past the real age of showing off to their friends or girls.

Hmmmmmm....tough one...

[1400pilot]

16 YO is ok...........but they need to implement a CC restriction for new riders......I do agree that a 600cc sport bike is way to much for a new 16yo rider to handle........and I guess he proved it.

I do remember that when I was 16 I felt i was bulletproff and indestructable, with age and maturity you learn that a person is not.........it is really to bad that this young fellow will now never learn that lesson.

Yes for the sake of an arguement, a person can get killed on a 250cc bike just as dead.......but you do stand more of a chance as the bike isnt as powerfull and fast, and actions just wont happen nearly as fast so you stand a better chance of saveing the bike in a bad situation

[Bluemeanie]

Originally Posted by gdhugh

I did not vote in the poll because the correct answer is not there. The correct answeris that it is depending on the maturaty of the person and should be judged by the parents NOT regulated by the government.

+1 And the MSF course needs to be mandatory for all new riders.

[mbigica]

Originally Posted by gdhugh

I did not vote in the poll because the correct answer is not there. The correct answeris that it is depending on the maturaty of the person and should be judged by the parents NOT regulated by the government.

A+

I got my motorcycle license when I was 16. 19 years later no issues.
I also knew then as I know now bikes need to be respected, and must be on the defense at all times.

[RichLockyer]

Originally Posted by uechi kid

I also feel that you should be at least 18 to drive a car.

+1

Not enough options in the poll.