As 16th birthdays pass, wallets fill with licenses and pockets jingle with car keys. Students see familiar faces driving down Highland or rushing to find a spot in the Community Center parking lot. These students have not only gained the ability to drive, but an abundance of advantages and risks that accompany the shiny new licenses in their pockets.

Driving has affected student drivers’ social lives, boosted their maturity, and granted them with newfound freedom.

However, students must sacrifice time and energy to complete driver’s ed and pass the permit and license tests before they can receive the keys to their four-wheeled freedom.

Under California state law, at age fifteen-and-a-half, a teenager can take the permit test. After passing the permit test, students must wait six months, turn 16, complete 50 hours of driving practice and practice for six hours with a professional driving instructor before taking their license test.

“The process for the permit wasn’t too bad, it was pretty fast,” said sophomore Gracie Petty, a recently licensed driver. “I thankfully never failed my driver’s test or permit test.”

Junior Julien Orban said that the process for the permit test was harder than the in-vehicle driving test.

In some cases, parents are more motivated for their teenagers to get their licenses than the teenagers themselves. In other cases, students take the wheel.

“My parents wanted me to drive, but I wanted it more so I was very motivated to get things done,” Petty said.

Encouragement from parents speeds up the process and helps students learn to drive.

In Petty’s case, because her parents wanted her to get her license, they practiced driving with her whenever she wanted.

After students practice and pass tests, they earn the ability to drive. However, they face restrictions even after receiving a passing score.

Under California state law, drivers under the age of 18 must wait a full year before they can drive a passenger under the age of 20.

“My parents lightly enforce the year rule,” Orban said. “I think it’s an irrelevant and counterproductive law.”

Not only do some students feel that the year rule is ineffective, they also believe that it is longer than it should be.

“I think the one-year rule is meant to be helpful, but I think a year is really long for me not to drive anyone around,” Petty said.

The ability to drive comes with responsibilities and laws. Paying for gas, being focused, and bearing the duty of operating a vehicle and its passengers are a small portion of a long list of responsibilities.

Because paying for gas can add up, many parents pitch in money for gas. For Petty and Orban, their parents pay for their gas.

“Thank god [my parents pay for gas],” Petty said. “I would go broke if they didn’t.”

In addition to giving money for gas, parents commonly allow their kids to drive their car instead of purchasing an additional vehicle.

Sharing a car between two drivers can sometimes be difficult, but it works for many students.

Orban drives his parents’ car; however, he finds that he has ample opportunity to drive.

Instead of sharing a car with a parent, many students have their own car, thus granting additional freedom.

Petty’s parents gave her her own car so that she can drive herself and her brother to sports practices.

Although driving can give students freedom and other benefits, many license-eligible students choose not to get their licenses.

For senior Garrett Keating, not having a license does not generally affect his life.

“I like walking and all of my friends can drive and they graciously drive me places often,” Keating said.

Although not having a license has not affected Keating’s way of socializing, Orban feels differently.

“Being licensed makes socializing easier and more interesting,” Orban said.

Teen driving also sparks “mooching” from others who cannot drive, Petty said.

“My friends always ask me to drive them, even people I don’t know that well ask me for rides,” Petty said.

Through the progression of learning to drive, student drivers develop awareness and responsibility.

Orban feels that driving has made him more cautious.

“Driving has made me more mature by giving me more responsibility,” Orban said.

Although the road to becoming licensed is long and requires hard work, it is never too late to start or complete the process.

“I still have 68% left in drivers ed, so if I keep this pace I’ll be done in four more years,” Keating said.