All his friends were getting their temporary driving permits, which is why Jonathan Morris of Kenwood wanted his as soon as possible - at age 15½.

Likewise, Emily Maschmeyer of Florence counted down the days until her 16th birthday, the age at which Kentucky issues learner's permits.

But their parents temporarily put the brakes on those plans.

"I clearly told him peer pressure is not the reason to get a license," says Jonathan's father, Reginald. "That message was very hard for him to accept."

The question of when teens should be allowed to drive arises anytime there's a tragedy such as the crash two weeks ago in Deerfield Township involving 16-year-old Alexander Manocchio. The Loveland High School junior was reaching for a cell phone, state highway patrol officials said, when the SUV he was driving crossed the center line and collided with a car driven by 22-year-old Karyn "Nikki" Cordell of Maineville.

She and her unborn child were killed.

Manocchio, who got his license the day before the accident, is charged with two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

States set a minimum age at which a person can drive: Ohio issues temporary permits at age 15½ and licenses at 16; Kentucky teens must wait a half-year longer in both instances. But parents weighing whether to allow their teens to drive say it's often far more complicated than when the state says its legal.

"To me, it's an issue of maturity," says Reginald Morris, echoing a sentiment shared by many of the parents interviewed for this story.

He believes 16-year-old Jonathan, his oldest child, is more mature than most people his age, in part because of his experience attending a private boarding school in Indiana.

Still, Morris and his wife, Renea, at first wanted Jonathan to wait until age 18 for his license.

The crash rate per mile driven is twice as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18- and 19-year-olds, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says.

The Morrises changed their minds and allowed their son to get his driving permit at age 16 (rather than 15½) partly because they want him to have driving experience before he leaves for college, and partly because Jonathan could qualify for lower insurance rates for being a good student and a good driver.

He's now on track to get his license in December. To get to and from his summer job at Paramount's Kings Island, he either takes a bus or catches a ride with his father.

Reginald Morris says he doesn't mind the inconvenience. "It's more important to me that he learns how to be a good driver."

In Florence, Mike Maschmeyer taught Emily, who is now 17, and her two older brothers to drive at age 16, despite his belief that that's too young. "It was a peer-pressure thing. Everybody else's kids are driving. My kids wanted to drive. So we let them do it."

But not right away. He didn't feel Emily was ready at 16, so she had to wait a few months to get her permit. She's not permitted to use a cell phone while driving and couldn't have friends in the car with her as passengers for six months. And her parents required her to attend a New Driver Car Control Clinic (www.carcontrol.com), just as her 18-year-old brother did. The clinics teach accident avoidance and defensive driving skills.

The Maschmeyer teens also were required to read a scrapbook of newspaper articles their father began collecting in 2000. The stories deal with motor vehicle accidents involving teens.

"When I read those in the paper, they made a big impression on me," Mike says. "I wanted the kids to feel the same way I did - to take (driving) real seriously."

Certainly, many families find there are advantages to having teen drivers.

Nick, 18, and Kevin Wisbith, 16, of Lebanon drive themselves to work. That relieves their parents, Michelle and Anthony, of some chauffeur duties. Plus, the boys can run errands such as transporting their 13-year-old sister to her enrichment home school program.

"The biggest factor in our decision (to let the boys drive), however, was their level of maturity," Michelle says. "We would not have allowed either of them to obtain a license, nor to drive afterward, if they did anything that was irresponsible, reckless, rude or less than expected."

Kevin got his license at 16; Nick told his parents he preferred to wait a bit, and became licensed at 18.

"That, we thought, is an excellent sign of maturity and a request we gladly honored," his mother says.

Many teens, though, don't want to wait. Sherry Steinbeck, an Anderson Township mother of daughters age 16 and 18, says teens face plenty of peer pressure to drive as soon as possible. Parents feel it too, she says.

Both of her daughters got their temporary permits at 15½. Lindsey, the 16-year-old, got her license a month ago.

Steinbeck has tried putting limitations on her driving - such as not allowing her to have non-family passengers for six months - with mixed success.

"All (her) friends have licenses, and they all want to go out and ride around."

Steinbeck would like to see the minimum driving age bumped up a year in Ohio, so learner's permits are issued at 16½ and licenses at 17.

"I've seen such a difference in maturity in a teenager who's 15½ compared to a teenager who's 16½."

Deby Weik of Independence made all three of her sons wait longer for a license than Kentucky requires.

"I don't know any 16-year-old that I would feel comfortable with behind the wheel. That's too young," she says. Her sons - now ages 28, 22 and 20 - were at least 17 before getting a license.

That required some sacrifices: Weik and her husband drove them to their part-time jobs.

Donna Cox of Lebanon says many parents "basically cut their kids loose the minute they get their driver's license." That was not the case with Cox's oldest child, Rachel, who turned 16 in January and got her license in April. The decision to allow her to drive was tied to certain rules. Among them:

She's not allowed to use a cell phone while driving. Cox checks the itemized statement to ensure the rule is followed.

She's not permitted to have passengers (except for family) for at least a year. Cox sometimes bends this rule, depending on where her daughter is going and with whom.

Rachel must continue to drive with her parents on occasion, so they can observe. And she's required to enroll in a New Driver Car Control Clinic.

There was never any room for negotiation. Donna Cox has had the rules in mind since 1997, when she helped her best friend bury her 16-year-old son in Louisville. He had been driving just four days.

"His death notice and picture have hung on my kitchen cabinet for the last nine years," Cox says, "so it's a daily reminder."

E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com

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