What the hell has happened to kids?

[J.Y.Kelly]

My son was a sponsored mountain biker and a championship winning table tennis player in his twenties, he won the Thyssen cup 2 years running. He now spends all his time playing computer games when he isn't at work. He doesn't even own a bike now. He is in his 30s so it isn't just the kids. He has 2 children of his own who are now going the same way. Sad.
Kelly.

[Vorpal]

Okay, maybe the socket cover thing was uninformed. I expect that electrical system requirements have made more differences than socket covers.

Still. I tried to electrocute myself as a child; I stuck a nail in a socket. It's one of my earliest memories. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced. I guess my assumption that socket covers did some good was anecdotally based.

I think that as a culture we haven't got the right balance between protecting children and giving them the freedom to grow and learn. Like with road safety, or many other topics, what we measure leads us to conclusions that aren't necessarily relevant.

More kids surviving childhood must mean we're doing the right thing protecting them, right?

[Mick F]

Going on from this a bit ........

Chatting down at the pub the other day, we got onto Car Insurance. We swapped info on costs and companies, and the barmaid (19yo) said her's was £1,600 per year!

Now, when I learned to drive and had my first car at 19, my insurance wasn't astronomical. Can't remember the price, but it was easily affordable even on my pitiful wage. Why have young persons' insurance gone sky high? I know the reasons, and I know why the 18yo male pays a fortune to insure a car - I hear of £700 per month!

If it wasn't astronomical back in the early 70s when I was that age, why is it now?

Why are our young people less responsible and a greater insurance risk these days?

[meic]

Could it be that the lack of a visible Police presence on the roads has led to a "free for all" with the insurance companies left to pay the price.

Or the cost of car repairs going up, which though not the large payouts are the most common payouts.

It doesnt appear to be theft as car manufacturers have made great advances there.

[karlt]

Availability of cheap "hot hatches" and a culture of showing off by arsing around with them on much busier roads than in the 1970s.

[Mick F]

So the problem has two halves:
1. Kids aren't responsible any more. They stay at school until they are 18+ and never get a job, rather than leaving school at 15+ and HAVE to get a job to keep them in shoes.
2. Because of irresponsibility, they drive irresponsibly and have no idea of the value of money and of life and limb.

Remedy?

[Audax67]

So the problem has two halves:
1. Kids aren't responsible any more. They stay at school until they are 18+ and never get a job, rather than leaving school at 15+ and HAVE to get a job to keep them in shoes.
2. Because of irresponsibility, they drive irresponsibly and have no idea of the value of money and of life and limb.

Remedy?

Remove money. If no effect, remove limb. If no effect, remove life.

[karlt]

So the problem has two halves:
1. Kids aren't responsible any more. They stay at school until they are 18+ and never get a job, rather than leaving school at 15+ and HAVE to get a job to keep them in shoes.
2. Because of irresponsibility, they drive irresponsibly and have no idea of the value of money and of life and limb.

Remedy?

Description doesn't match the kids I know.

[Mick F]

Yes, I agree. Some of the kids I know are good upstanding chaps and chapesses.
So why does young persons' car insurance cost so much when it didn't before? Why are they penalised?

What's the difference?
Why's it changed?

[karlt]

Yes, I agree. Some of the kids I know are good upstanding chaps and chapesses.
So why does young persons' car insurance cost so much when it didn't before? Why are they penalised?

What's the difference?
Why's it changed?

Like I said, the presence of "hot hatches" and glorification of speed, and confusion of technical skill with good driving (like the driving instructor "I've got good judgement" issue elsewhere in this forum - he thinks that because he can judge his position with millimetre precision (or thinks he can) that makes him a good driver) makes the risky behaviour of a minority possible and more widespread. Combine that with more crowded roads, and the chances of meeting someone coming the other way when flying around a blind bend is much higher, so the chances of them not getting away with it on any given occasion is a lot lower. Therefore more crashes, even if the driving itself weren't any more stupid. The fact that some technological and societal changes may well mean that it is just exacerbates the problem.

[Mick F]

So why don't they produce cars with 30 odd bhp like the 848cc Mini? Mine would do 75mph flat out - and it needed an hour's notice for that!

[Audax67]

So why don't they produce cars with 30 odd bhp like the 848cc Mini? Mine would do 75mph flat out - and it needed an hour's notice for that!

I remember the horrible day when they boasted that the MG Metro was the fastest MG ever produced. The Metro, for god's sake.

[karlt]

So why don't they produce cars with 30 odd bhp like the 848cc Mini? Mine would do 75mph flat out - and it needed an hour's notice for that!

Because no-one wants to buy them. Kids can't afford to buy new, and very few people with the readies for a new car want something like that.

[jan19]

I remember a newspaper article a while back which was answering a question from a parent wanting to buy their child his/her first car. The parent put safety first, followed by insurance cost, and they gave a budget (which I can't remember) which made it clear this car wasn't going to be anything like new.

Well, predictably as they'd specified safety first, the likes of Volvo came up. However, to get a really good solid car, so did the premiums - these cars were usually not bottom of the range models. Plus, no self-respecting teenager is going to be seen dead in a Volvo, no matter how safe they are.

It always came back to the small nippy hatchbacks which are not in the highest rank for safety but which were cheap to buy and *relatively* cheap to insure. Even the much maligned Metro (and we had one) might take an hour to get to 75mph but it was very quick around town and as likely to get into mischief as any BMW.

Jan

[hubgearfreak]

So why don't they produce cars with 30 odd bhp like the 848cc Mini? Mine would do 75mph flat out - and it needed an hour's notice for that!

60ps and 99mph any good?
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/?cmpid=ID63 ... /new/up-nf