Beginning Driver and Gas Prices

My daughter has been asking me when I’ll teach her how to drive. Now she’s only 14 at the moment. But she will be turning 16 next Summer. I would actually like her to take the motorcycle permit test too. But all of this thinking of my daughter learning how to drive has really got my mind going.

She currently lives in rural Pennsylvania. And I can remember growing up in that area. It was very difficult to find a job nearby. And with today’s gas prices, it almost seems like a waste of time to commute 15 or 20 miles for a job that pays minimum wage. The closer the cost per gallon of gas gets to what she may be making per hour, the more ridiculous the predicament seems.

All of this thinking seems to back up the notion that people should live close to where they work.

The current minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.15. If gas prices reach $5.00 per gallon by the time my daughter is 16 years old. She will most likely be working for one hour just to put one gallon of gas into her vehicle (after taxes are deducted). And since most “economical” passenger cars these days get about 30 miles per gallon, that’s about an hour or more each work day just to put gas in her vehicle to get to work.

I can see how things will quickly get difficult on the teen drivers growing up in rural parts of the United States. No longer can we top of the fuel tank and go drive around with friends and goof off. It seems that everyone is trying to find ways to make their gas tanks last longer between fill-ups.