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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2023 22:02:24 GMT -5
What was the legal driving age in the late 30's and early 40's? I am watching a Season 7 episode which was shortly after Elizabeth turned 13 years old in her Birthday/Poltergeist episode and she is driving the car with Aimee Godsey next to her when Corabeth passout. Jim Bob teaches her. Was this something they just did on Walton's Mountain or was the law different back then and kids that young could drive a car.
Wow I sure wish I could drive a car right now.
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Post by ellaroo on Jan 3, 2023 1:37:14 GMT -5
I have no idea about the actual driving age but I know that because where they live, they could get away with driving at an early age. I knew some people back when I was in school who lived on land and learned how to drive a truck at 13. Who knows?
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Post by e knight on Jan 3, 2023 11:20:24 GMT -5
I'd suspect that no state had an age limit until somebody abused the privilege, later on when roads were more crowded and dangerous..
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2023 15:31:45 GMT -5
The roads on Walton's Mountain were not very crowded and they were all dirt roads from what I have noticed watching the show. I guess they could have been sort of like a kid riding an ATV or something like that through the dirt and the mud now.
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Post by goodnight on Jan 3, 2023 18:32:36 GMT -5
I remember that episode, she drove JohnBoy's car into the pond with Jason instructing her. The Baldwin ladies let her drive their car and didn't she crash into the fence? Or was that Miss Emily who did that the one time she had to drive?
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Post by flossieskid on Jan 6, 2023 4:26:18 GMT -5
My husband is 18 years older than me and was born in Missouri but moved to California when he was very young. He was able to drive at age 14. He is almost 6’3” so he looked a lot taller and many thought he was an adult. But, he was suppose to drive only to school and work . Yeah…..that didn’t happen!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 15:30:34 GMT -5
My husband is 18 years older than me and was born in Missouri but moved to California when he was very young. He was able to drive at age 14. He is almost 6’3” so he looked a lot taller and many thought he was an adult. But, he was suppose to drive only to school and work . Yeah…..that didn’t happen! I just recently turned 13 at the beginning of December and I am only 5 feet tall and I look like I am 10 so I won't be learning to drive until I am at least 16 years old.
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Post by goodnight on Jan 6, 2023 16:21:06 GMT -5
My husband is 18 years older than me and was born in Missouri but moved to California when he was very young. He was able to drive at age 14. He is almost 6’3” so he looked a lot taller and many thought he was an adult. But, he was suppose to drive only to school and work . Yeah…..that didn’t happen! I just recently turned 13 at the beginning of December and I am only 5 feet tall and I look like I am 10 so I won't be learning to drive until I am at least 16 years old. I was 4 ft. 9 when I was in the 3rd grade, 5 years younger than you. I was the tallest kid in class at the time. By the time I was 13 I think I was my full adult height of 5 ft. 9 inches. It took until probably the age of 13 before the boys I went to school with started catching up in height.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 17:34:29 GMT -5
I just recently turned 13 at the beginning of December and I am only 5 feet tall and I look like I am 10 so I won't be learning to drive until I am at least 16 years old. I was 4 ft. 9 when I was in the 3rd grade, 5 years younger than you. I was the tallest kid in class at the time. By the time I was 13 I think I was my full adult height of 5 ft. 9 inches. It took until probably the age of 13 before the boys I went to school with started catching up in height. I am one of the shortest but there are a few kids who are shorter in my grade. My mom isn't really that tall. She is about 5'6" and I have never seen my dad before, but my mom said he wasn't really that tall and not 6 feet tall. I will probably be more on the short side. I really want to be a Dancer when I get older so I hope to get a little taller than my mom, but not really tall. As for the boys in my school I guess they don't really notice me much because I look like I should be more in Elementary School and they drool over the really popular girls who have already matured in that way.
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Post by tasteoftherecipe on Jan 16, 2023 13:14:58 GMT -5
In 1926 The Street Highway Safety Commission issued the Uniform Vehicle Code. Now this wasn't an actual law, it just was a recommendation that all States adopt the minimum driving age as 16 years old.
Now after World War II was over in the 40s most of the States adopted the minimum driving age as 16 years old.
As for the Mountain/Country back roads that the Waltons traveled mostly, they might have been the exception from time to time.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2023 14:19:12 GMT -5
After seeing some of the craziness from the past with the smoking ads another thing popped into my head and I remembered I posted a thread about the driving age back then. This is a little different from that, but instead of making a new thread, I thought it was pretty similar so I added it to this.
I recently re-watched the episode where Mary Ellen and Erin move out of the Walton home and into their own apartment. They take John Curtis with them. So they pack up the car and Mary Ellen drives and Erin is left holding John Curtis in her lap in the front seat of the car for the drive. This blew my mind. I knew they didn't have seat belts for adults back then, but John Curtis was a little baby and there he was just being held in Erin's lap. No one back then thought that was unsafe at all? Heck, because of my height just a few years back I still have to be in a booster seat with a child restraint. I think I was 10 years old before I went to a regular seat belt and I still sat in the back seat of the car. I just can't imagine that people didn't think that was unsafe.
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Post by goodnight on Jan 30, 2023 17:11:12 GMT -5
I remember sitting on my grandpas lap while he drove. My brother stood up in the back seat while we were going somewhere when he was 4 or 5.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2023 17:19:14 GMT -5
I remember sitting on my grandpas lap while he drove. My brother stood up in the back seat while we were going somewhere when he was 4 or 5. This just blows my mind.
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Post by Easton on Jan 30, 2023 18:33:53 GMT -5
It was unsafe but, back then, they had no option but to hold a child in their lap. It was also unsafe for the kids to ride in the back of a truck, especially if they sat on the sides of the box, but that's just the way it was. But you have to remember that speeds were nothing like they are today. Top speeds for the truck were around city driving speeds. John-Boy's car, possibly highway speeds. And vehicles didn't crumple the way they do today.
I suppose you have to think 'old'.
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Post by goodnight on Jan 30, 2023 18:38:13 GMT -5
I remember sitting on my grandpas lap while he drove. My brother stood up in the back seat while we were going somewhere when he was 4 or 5. This just blows my mind. We also rode bikes without helmets.
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