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Katie, as the father of an honest, smart, hardworking 16 year old daughter with a permit I can tell you it was a huge deal for me. All I could think about was her getting into an accident. In NJ you can take a test at the DMV (not sure what it's called), and if you pass, you need to get an accredited driver training instructor who you drive with for a certain number of hours and after that you get a permit. You have the permit for an entire year before you can take the driving test to get a Cinderella License which let's you drive alone until 18 I think, but with it has number of restrictions about who you can drive, when, where, etc. In addition she's taking the classroom Driver's Ed at school. Hasn't driven my truck yet, but I've been in the car when she's driven her mother's and I have to say she does OK and I'm more at ease over it now. It's a big hurdle to get over for some parents.
Your mother might be more open to the idea if she knew you were planning on taking advantage of a driver training/safety program. Also, find out at what age you will actually be allowed behind the wheel by yourself. Maybe see if she'd agree to you two writing up a contract of some sort so she knows you won't be even thinking of drinking while driving, or racing, or ever behaving recklessly behind the wheel. Sometimes if you hit them with unquestioinable logic they can't help but say yes. I think in my case one of the biggest things is that my daughter will be doing a whole lot of supervised driving long before she gets out on the road by herself.
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