You might be a finely responsible young man or woman, but statistics don't lie. You have too many minor brethren that make up the majority of motor vehicle crashes.

So, to protect everyone from your relatively high odds of crashing, we rein you in, especially during your teenage years.

To start off, you'll get this piece of paper that says "Provisional Instruction Permit" on it. You're permitted to drive, but only after you begin your driver training lessons. A real, licensed instructor—a.k.a. not Mom—has to sign the permit for you to be legal to drive. And this is a big deal. The car will start whether that paper is signed or not, but if a cop pulls you over and finds that you're driving illegally, your road to becoming a licensed driver could be blocked.

After you get your permit signed, you can practice with any licensed driver over 25 years old, and that includes Mom. So, you can't drive alone. Anywhere. This is huge. If a cop catches you driving alone with only a permit, it's likely that you won't get your real license until you're at least 18.

Same deal if you get in an accident or get a ticket. The belief is that in this probationary time, you'll be extra super extra extra cautious. And if you're not, then you aren't ready to be inflicted on everyone else who has to use the same roads as you.

To get your license, you have to have had a permit for at least six months in California, and Mom or Dad needs to sign off that you've had at least 50 hours of supervised instruction with at least ten hours done at night. Once you have it, you still can't drive anyone under 20 years old unless a licensed parent, 25-year-old licensed driver, or certified instructor is sitting right there with you. You also can't drive between the hours of 11:00PM and 5:00AM without a chaperone. Those provisions are in place for a whole year.

When you finally turn 18, "Provisional" will be removed from your license, and you'll receive a normal license.