Are rules truly meant to be broken? As students receive their licenses, they are faced with a new found freedom and the possibility to break not just rules, but laws. Are you willing to break the speed limit in order to get to school a little bit faster? As a new driver, will you squeeze three or four friends into your car instead of the allowed two?

After driving with my mom in the car for six months, getting my license seemed like the epitome of freedom: I then drove into the brick wall of rules.

Only one non-family member in the car at a time.

No driving from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Points are doubled if caught speeding.

This is the case for nine whole months.

These rules may seem trivial to some, but for a new driver they feel like shackles. Haven’t you already learned enough in the six months of a temporary permit? You passed your test after all.

Teen drivers may be looked upon as reckless, but in reality they probably know the information better than older drivers. Drivers education shows multiple videos of car accidents, hit and runs and drunk drivers to both notify and scare teens past the point of simply being able to concentrate behind the wheel. They would do anything to avoid the moment when a police officer asks for the number of a parent or guardian.

However, there are too many drivers breaking restrictions to count, simply because they are harder to follow than your two friends both asking for a ride to the next event. Nine months seem like an eternity to us. And who decided that we need nearly a year to figure out the road when we have already learned enough from our own parents and driving instructors to pass our tests.

Three months? Sure. Nine? Too long.