It may just be me but it seems drivers are getting younger. You’re out on the road, the windows are down and you’re happily singing along to a bit of Simply Red when out of nowhere you get cut up by what appears to be Justin Bieber’s younger brother. They’re not getting younger of course, I’m just getting older and crabbier. You can start learning to drive when you hit 17 but is this the right age? Should you be trusted with the responsibility to drive that young?
You may look young at 17 but as they say, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I can still rattle off most of the periodic table from my GCSE days but if you asked me to show you how to operate the database system I used in my last job then I think I’d struggle. The earlier you learn something, the better chance you have of remembering it. And at 17, you (technically) shouldn’t be drinking yet so it’s the perfect opportunity to get out there and learn before the lure of the pub beckons.
Moneywise, 17 is also an ideal age. At 17 you’ll be saving your pennies from your weekend job and you shouldn’t have too many other outgoings, depending on the tightfistedness of your parents. Once you hit 18 you’ll be off to Uni and racking up all sorts of debts so it’s best to get driving lessons out of the way while you can still afford them.
There have to be cons though right? I guess that at 17 you won’t know a whole lot 
about responsibility. But I’m 25 and I certainly don’t so I say sucks to the naysayers – being able to drive will instil a whole new level of independence and responsibility that you just don’t get from anything else. If the worst happens and you do get in an accident, you’ll be just as upset about it at 17 as you would be at 21.
So learning to drive at 17 has the thumbs up from me, but the Justin Bieber haircuts definitely don’t float my boat. Sort it out kids!
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