What is a hardship license?

Location and Distance Between Home and School

Where you live is a big factor in whether a hardship license will be granted.

In metropolitan areas with extensive public transportation, hardship licenses are less likely to be necessary. For example, if a teenager needs to get to school ten miles away in San Francisco, it’s not a big deal. They can just wake up a few minutes early and hop on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). San Francisco has mastered public transportation, so there are very few circumstances where a young teen would need to drive.

Los Angeles is less proficient, but still, between the bus system and Uber, teens can pretty much find their way wherever they need to go.

But in more rural areas, attending school ten miles away could be a real problem. Despite the old adage about people walking to school ten miles away, barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways, that actually sounds a whole lot like child abuse by today’s standards. The hardship license is a much healthier alternative.

This requires a signed letter from the principal, explaining that there are not any other viable transportation options to reliably get the teenager to school.

Illness

Speaking of health, one valid reason to get a teen hardship license is for health concerns.

For example, there is a teenager with a need for doctor’s appointments that are only available when the teen’s parents are working. That teen may be granted a hardship license so that they can drive themselves to their appointments. Alternately, there could be a parent suffering from an illness which prevents them from driving the teen to school. That would also be a valid reason, in the eyes of the state, to obtain a hardship license.

In cases where there are medical reasons to need that license, the state will require a letter from the doctor. That letter would need to describe the condition and give an estimated date when the situation may be resolved.

Work

If a teenager is working to supplement their family’s income, that’s a solid indicator the teen is responsible enough to have a hardship license. Keep in mind, this isn’t like having a summer job for some extra cash. The job would need to be necessary to the teen’s family for their financial well-being in order to qualify for a hardship license. To get the hardship license for that reason, a parent would need to send in a written statement detailing the financial need of the teenager’s job. Of course, the teen would also need to have no other options to get to work than to drive.

Do You Need To Get A Permit First?

In short, no. You do not need a permit to apply for a hardship license. But don’t worry. They’ll have plenty of other hoops for you to jump through.

Under normal circumstances, the minimum California driver’s permit age is 15 ½ years old. Also, a permit can usually only be obtained after completing a driver’s education course. The next step would be to take and pass a permit test at the DMV. From that date, new permit holders must wait six months before becoming eligible to test for their licenses. Even if they turn 16 less than 6 months after earning their permits, they must have the permit for six months before being able to test for the license.

On the other hand, if a driver reaches the age of 18 and has never had a valid license, that driver can skip the driver’s ed course and test for a permit. That permit has a little more freedom than the standard teenage permit, but there are still limitations until the full driver’s license can be earned.

Vegas.Com App

If you’re going to Las Vegas, this app is an absolute necessity. I’ve never seen any other tourist destination have an app, or even a website, that is so all-inclusive. Through the Vegas app, you can book your flight, hotel, and entertainment. But that’s not all. All of these come with huge discounts. The more you bundle your trip together, the more you can save. Deals vary day by day, but it’s a safe bet to assume you can get at least 20% off your hotel. Sometimes that discount can jump to 60% or more for certain hotels. Certain hotels offer discounts to shows or restaurants located within the hotel.

When buying tickets to shows, even without bundling, there are discounts on ticket prices, or sometimes extras, like tickets to a buffet or a free drink (for those aged 21 and up). I used the app myself some time ago, and here are the deals I got. I saved 25% by bundling my flight and hotel together and enjoyed a free trip to the hotel’s buffet. I saw the Cirque Du Soleil show I was interested in. Using the app, I got Category B tickets (lower orchestra) for Category D (balcony) prices. I’ll never go to Las Vegas without first using this app.

Hopper

Flights are expensive, and frequent travelers have picked up on a secret. The prices of flights fluctuate all the time, usually several times every day. Some people have exact formulas on the time to buy plane tickets, but it can’t be that exact, since it varies from one person to another. The one I’ve heard most is that it’s best to buy plane tickets for domestic flights roughly six weeks before the departure date, on a Tuesday, between 3:00 and 4:00 PM, local time. I’ve done that, and that method is far from flawless. However, new apps and websites have popped up that have allowed people to get the best deals possible. My personal favorite is Hopper.

Hopper asks you for your departure location and your destination, then it asks for your travel dates. It color codes the travel dates so you know right off the bat which dates will be cheapest. From there, it lets you know the cheapest fare available at the moment. From there, it also tells you if prices are likely to drop lower than that, and how low they’re likely to drop, including advising to either buy now or wait. It also tells you how much prices will increase and when. Best of all, you can set the app to notify you in the event of a sudden price drop, or to pester you to buy your tickets when the price is best.

HomeAway

HomeAway is an app that has saved my sanity. I imagine that’s not something many apps can claim. A few years ago, my family decided to have a reunion in Yosemite. While the actual event was in a hotel, we were required to drive up and find our own lodging. (Pro tip: for family reunions, it’s better to drive the “luggage car” alone than spend five hours driving with someone who desperately needs a defensive driving course NY.) Even searching a full year in advance, options were extremely limited.

One option was a heated tent (not an option with my 89-year-old grandmother).

The other option was two hotel rooms, each with two twin beds and restrooms down the hall. One would be for my parents, the other for my grandmother and me. Each of those rooms would cost $330 per night, so we would be paying $660 per night for four nights. That was not tolerable for me, so I searched elsewhere.

Enter HomeAway. A quick search through their system brought me dozens of options. People were renting out their vacation homes, and for our needs, these options were both infinitely better and much more affordable than the two tiny hotel rooms. Ultimately, the place we rented had three bedrooms, three bathrooms, parking, a kitchen, a pool table, and a hot tub. The price was $475 per night. In the end, HomeAway saved my sanity, $740, and possibly the lives of my immediate family. I’d give it five stars.

Minimum Age and Driving Record

There are only a couple things that can really hold you back if you want to be an over the road (OTR) driver. First, the minimum age is 21. There’s no getting around that; it’s the minimum age limit handed down by the Department of Transportation. Next, your driving record must be reasonably clean. Your state may allow you to take an online defensive driving course to remove points. Being rear-ended won’t raise any eyebrows, but a few accidents where you’re at fault will. A speeding ticket earned at a young age is fine, but a bunch of points on your license can certainly stand in your way. Better take that NY Defensive Driving course to get those points down if you want a career as a truck driver!

Education

No college degree is required. For many trucking companies, a high school diploma isn’t required either, but it’s still definitely preferred. What companies do require is a valid CDL license.

Students will first need to obtain their CDL (commercial driver’s license) permit. That can be done through a written exam at their local DMV. They’d want to study the material first, then take and pass the permit test. After that, there are a couple of options open to them.

The first option is to pick a qualified, reputable truck-driving school. Most schools offer flexible schedules and can be completed in two weeks, if the student works hard. Schools will take the student all the way through obtaining the CDL, most even providing the truck necessary to take the road test. These schools require payment up front, which seems to be the only downside. On the other hand, many trucking companies offer tuition reimbursement, up to a certain amount. This is usually paid at a rate of $100-200 per month until the tuition is fully paid off.

The second option, which is better for those who don’t have much money saved up, is to go through paid training with their preferred trucking company. These programs are taught by many large trucking companies known for hiring (for lack of a better term) entry-level drivers. No experience is required. Most companies will provide transportation to the training facility for a stay of about two weeks. Room and board are also usually covered. During this paid training, students learn everything they need to know to become trainee truck drivers. Completion of the training also guarantees the new driver a job with the company. There is one drawback though. These programs cost nothing up front because the cost is usually applied to the driver’s paychecks for their first couple of years as a driver. New drivers end up paying much more than if they’d paid out of pocket for the first option.

On the Road Training

After completing the training and orientation for their chosen trucking companies, new drivers will be assigned a trainer. The trainer will take the trainee out on the road and teach them all the tips and tricks that simply can’t be learned elsewhere. Once the trainer and the company deem the new driver ready to drive solo, they are set free on the open road.

Lack of Training

Purchase of a PAL-V flying car costs $399,000 (for the more affordable option), and it comes with flight training. That seems appropriate, since the vehicle more closely resembles a helicopter than a car. But their website is somewhat fuzzy on the training process. The site boasts of beautiful training locations but doesn’t say how many hours are required. There’s no mention of what exactly is covered in the training. All it really says is that the training will be quick and easy.

In contrast, obtaining a driver’s license is neither quick nor easy, but that is to be sure drivers are safe on the road. We shouldn’t be lax on license requirements just because there are less flying cars. After all, there’s no online defensive driving course for flying cars.

Potential For Disaster

A car crash can easily be deadly, but there are also countless little fender-benders every day. Everyone generally walks away from those accidents, but imagine what can happen when those accidents are up in the air. Once gravity becomes an extra factor in collisions, what would be minor accidents on the ground become major accidents in the air. Plus, when that flying car crashes to the ground, there’s a good chance there will be a car underneath it. Unfortunately, most drivers are not prepared to deal with falling debris, which could cause an even bigger catastrophe on the ground.

That is just in the case of two drivers/pilots that have gone through the “training” crashing into each other. There’s also no information on the PAL-V website on what to do in the event of equipment failure. In a car, if a tire blows out or we run out of gas, we pull safely to the shoulder or, at worse, stall on the highway. If something goes wrong in a flying car, there could be people FALLING OUT OF THE SKY.

There are also drones to consider. Never mind the military drones, which are operated by people who have gone through the necessary training. The issue is the drones that can be purchased from a local electronics store for about $100 and operated from cell phones. Will the PAL-V hold up if a drone crashes into it? Will the driver have gone through enough training not to panic if a drone smashes their windshield? These are just issues that can result from accidents. These drones are given out as Christmas gifts. A child might not understand the consequences of intentionally trying to damage a flying car, and disaster could follow.

Ultimately, if the idea of flying cars is ever going to work, we need to have strict regulations. Right now, people are so excited about the technology, but proper rules haven’t been put in place yet. Drivers/pilots need to be given extensive training, and flight paths should be established to keep flying cars at a safe distance from each other. For now, the world seems barely able to handle self-driving cars. Flying cars may be a step too far.

You Laugh

Everyone who has ever been through standard traffic school will tell you the same thing. They will tell you that it is long, and it is boring. It was meant as a punishment (unless you’re taking it for insurance), and it feels like one. However, comedy traffic school seeks to change all that. It is written by professional comedians, so the content is entertaining. As an added bonus, many states allow students to take traffic school online. You don’t have to be sitting in a hot classroom for six to eight hours, bored out of your mind. Instead, you can be laughing in the comfort of your own home.

You Learn

The simple truth is you learn more when you’re interested and entertained. The logic there is easy to understand. You absorb a lot more information when your mind isn’t constantly wandering to what you’d give up to be done with your traffic school. Your shoe collection? An arm? Your soul? There’s no need to barter such necessities. When the material is fun, you learn it better. Comedy traffic school makes the course as entertaining as possible, while still meeting state requirements. The course is broken up with comics and videos. All of that added up means students spend more brain power learning the material, and less counting the seconds on the clock.

You Remember

Do you happen to remember the exact rules for passing another vehicle on a two-lane highway in California? Probably not, but you may remember the awesome comic you read about it. That memory can lead your brain back to the proper rules. Many scientific studies have been conducted on this issue, all of them leading back to one simple fact: laughing helps you learn.

The only caveat seems to be that the comedy has to be relevant to the material, which makes sense. A classic “man walks into a bar” joke isn’t likely to help anyone learn about street signs. For that to work, the author would need to come up with an appropriate, relevant punchline. In fact, humor that is not relevant to the topic is completely counter-productive. It distracts students and makes it harder for them to remember the material later.

When done right, humor lowers stress, allowing students to focus on and even look forward to learning. When people laugh, the brain releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Many activities can release dopamine, but laughter is among the easiest, safest, and most affordable. (That’s because other options include, but are not limited to, gambling or high-risk activities like skydiving). Without getting too bogged down in the science, dopamine is an important part of how the reward center in the brain works. In short, when dopamine is released into the brain, a person retains whatever information they’re receiving better.

All in all, science (and simple logic) agree: if you have to go to traffic school, comedy traffic school is better.

What Is A Car Subscription?

Car subscriptions have made themselves stand out in a few different ways. The most impressive is that they bundle everything together. Leasing or buying a car means also needing to have insurance and taking care of any maintenance issues. These new car subscriptions bundle all those things together. For a monthly fee, drivers get a car and insurance. Many subscriptions also take care of the maintenance.

The more expensive subscription options, such as those offered by Cadillac and Porsche, allow drivers to switch between cars. For example, subscribers can have one car to get around during the week, then switch to something else for the weekend. This can’t be done every weekend, as the most generous policy so far is 18 switches per year. Still, for those with lots of money and a love of cars, this service sounds great.

The less expensive options are more like leasing a car. They still bundle insurance and maintenance (in some cases), but the cars won’t be luxury vehicles. The cars will instead be gently used, and they can only be switched if something goes wrong with them.

Car Subscriptions Reasonable Limitations

Despite how good these deals may sound, most of these services are provided by companies that need to protect themselves. That means many of these subscriptions come with understandable limitations that nonetheless may make them less appealing to potential subscribers.

There are several of these that subscribers may see. Each company may use any or all of them. Some companies will impose mileage restrictions, only allowing a certain number of miles per month or year. Other companies will not allow their cars beyond the borders of the United States. Most cars are equipped with technology that allows the owners to track how and where the cars are used. People who defy the rules set by the company will probably face hefty fees, and the car will be revoked.

All the companies will definitely also check a potential subscriber’s driving and credit history before handing over the keys. They want their cars back in good condition, so that means only allowing responsible drivers behind the wheel. If you got a ticket, hopefully you took some traffic school online so you can be eligible for these services. As for the credit checks, these companies do not want to have to fight for the money they’re owed. Without decent credit, these companies won’t allow the cars out of the lot.

Are Car Subscriptions Better?

Ultimately, it’s up to personal taste, but there are a few situations in which car subscriptions are truly superior. If someone needs a car for three months, this service is better than just renting a car from the airport. If a driver is swimming in cash, the luxury car subscriptions can certainly be appealing.

However, for mere mortals, the cost difference isn’t that impressive. The price of the bundle is rarely less expensive than a car payment plus insurance. At least when a car payment is finished, the driver is left with a car. At the end of a subscription period, a driver is left minus thousands of dollars and with nothing to show for it.

The 2009 Study

The original study was conducted by a group of neuroscientists from the University of California Irvine. They tested a group of 29 individuals on a virtual track designed to simulate difficult driving conditions. Of the 29 people tested, 7 had a certain gene variant.

• This gene variant causes the brain to produce less of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

• This means a smaller part of the brain is stimulated during certain types of activity, such as driving.

• During the test, the 7 people with the gene variant did not do as well on the simulated track as those without the gene variant. The test was repeated a few days later with similar results.

Proof?

This may cause some people to believe their genes are to blame for their bad driving habits. However, there are a few issues to address before they can really jump to that conclusion.

• For one thing, this was a very small test. To really trust the results, the sample size would have to be much larger.

• Secondly, the test hasn’t been repeated, or if it has, the results haven’t been reported.

• If we want to be sure of results, the study should be completed again with a different sample group.

• Finally, there doesn’t seem to be a reliable test available commercially to find out if people have that gene variant. It’s hard to claim a genetic predisposition to drive badly when there’s no way to be sure a person actually has that gene.

In short, it might just be more cost effective to take online traffic school instead of doing a full gene mapping. ?

Nature Versus Nurture

Despite the lack of concrete evidence from the study, there may be another way in which driving skills are passed down. Most new drivers are taught how to drive by a parent. If that parent has some bad driving habits, those can easily be passed down to the teenager.

For example, imagine a man named John learned to drive in 1935. That was before turn signals were standard equipment on cars. John never got used to the turn signals once he had a car with them. Because of that, he might not have taught his son Jack in 1960. Jack then thinks turn signals are unnecessary and doesn’t teach them to his son James in 1985. Finally, James neglects teaching turn signals to his son Jimmy in 2010. Now there’s a guy driving around in 2018 without using his turn signal, all because his great-grandpa James never learned about them.

That’s an extreme hypothetical example, but the point still stands. Driving skills may not be genetic, but they can definitely be passed down. Bad drivers are not going to be the best teachers for their children. All those little habits that make them dangerous on the road are what their kids will learn. On the other hand, good habits can also be passed on. Safe drivers can teach their kids all their good habits, and those lessons will stick with those new drivers for life.