[OT] Age limits in your part of the world

Squirrel Havoc · March 20, 2006, 18:18:49

All this talk about age got me thinking, how old do you have to be to do certain things in your country?

Here in the states:
---------------------

14 - Motorcyle Permit
15 - Mortorcyle license
16 - Car drivers license
18 - Move out, vote, smoke, gamble at native american casinos, join the military, legal contracts are now binding, marriage (yikes!), own property, play the lottory, and so on
21 - Drink, gamble at vegas, walk into a bar

Then nothing for a while

55 - You're now a senior citizen
65 - Mandatory retirement (which I think is a crock)
90 - DAMN you're old!
100 - Willard Scott says "Hi" to you on tv

I used to know the age limits in Scotland, since the first guy I ever talked to on the net was from there, but I forgot.

fisk0 · March 20, 2006, 19:11:26

Edit: By the way, I live in Sweden. I guess this isn't valid in the rest of Europe

13: (if i remember correctly) you are allowed to drive a tractor, if you do not drive on any roads with normal car traffic on it.

15: You can legally have sex, and you can be arrested and put to prison if commiting any crimes (before 15 your parent gets all the blame), also, if someone older than 15 has sex with someone younger than 15, it is considered rape or sexual abuse.

somewhere between 14 and 16: Light motorbike, and then heavy motorbike

16 - you can take some pre-military duty exercises to easier get to those higher posts in the military when you're 18.

17 - you are allowed to test drive with your parents.

18 - you can get a driver's licence, marry someone, voting and all that stuff - men has to take tests at the military, and may have to join the army. Until you're 18 all health care and such stuff is for free.

20 - you are "officially" an adult

21 - you can buy alcohol and all that crap

65 - retirement

there's more, but I dont remember all of them.

DavidN · March 20, 2006, 22:18:26

Don't the US limits change wildly depending on which state you're in?

In the UK:

At 14 or 15 or something, you can drive slow motorised vehicles on roads such as tractors or quadbikes. I think.

At 16 you can marry and have sex legally, (15 in Sweden? Good gracious.) You can also smoke. But not much after next week, though, thanks to new laws

At 17 you can apply for a provisional driving licence and drive - you don't have to turn 18 before taking the test. I passed about a month and a half before my 18th.

At 18, pretty much everything happens - you can vote, buy alcohol, and so on. I can't remember actually wanting to do any of those things, even though I could.

Most free national healthcare expires at 19.

At 21 you're officially an adult. I think that's pretty much it, apart from having to be over 23 to hire a car.

30 (Scotland) - You die of heart disease brought on by years of deep fried food. Assuming you don't:

65 - Retirement

100 - You get a telegram from the Queen. A bit of a step up from Scott Willard! At least, it would be if telegrams still existed. She sends out cards now.

Squirrel Havoc · March 20, 2006, 22:31:58

Funny theres limits on sex in other countries, by law, someone over 18 cant sleep with someone under 18 without the younger's parent's permission. But if you are 12, you can sleep with anyone under 18 all you want. Most people agree it's not a good idea, but theres no law saying you cant.

Heres the kicker about age and sex here in the states. I'm 27, and lets say I dated a 17 year old. We don't have to have sex for me to be arrested. All we need is a chance to have had sex, and its all the evidence needed to take me to court. So I tend to avoid people under 18, I dont really want to go to prison

Squirrel Havoc · March 20, 2006, 22:34:22

Quote from: "Wong"Don't the US limits change wildly depending on which state you're in?

hmm, gambling is kinda a state thing, and age of consent is actually 16 in some states, but other than that, it's federally mandated. States have no say in anything, I mean in california, medicinal marijuana was legalized, but the federal govt said "no" and used their superior law enforcment to go over that and arrest people who have pot and prescriptions. Piss on the US I say :evil:

speed-goddamn-focus · March 21, 2006, 06:27:50

Quote from: "Wong"At 16 you can marry and have sex legally, (15 in Sweden? Good gracious.)

Actually marriage is 18 here, unless you're not a Swedish citizen, then it's 15.

fisk0 · March 21, 2006, 09:19:50

Quote from: "Wong"
At 16 you can marry and have sex legally, (15 in Sweden? Good gracious.)

You can have sex legally, not marrying (as speed-goddamn-focus pointed out).
Though it is possible to be allowed to marry if you are younger than 18 and the parents accept it, and you have some really special reason, like already have a child or something (I haven't read into it, the book of Swedish laws isn't anything you read for fun.

.

yrk · March 21, 2006, 17:43:33

Ugh, it's complicated in Denmark...

Generally speaking you are a child if you're 0 - 14, "youth" if you're 15- 17 and adult if you're 18+...

The gory details:

0: You are covered by national health insurance for life. You can legally drink (but not buy) alcohol.

12: You are allowed to speak on your own behalf in divorce cases...

13-14: Some special employment laws apply to you...

15: You are criminally responsible and can be tried and sentenced. You can legally consent to sexual intercourse but it is an criminal offence to "induce" a person under 18 to sexual acts "by gravely abusing superior age or experience." You are allowed to hold a full-time job but the minumum wages are lower than for adults (18+) and there are still special laws that apply. You can buy alcohol in retail but restaurants, bars, etc. are not allowed to serve you. (An adult can buy you a beer though... I think...)

16: You are eligable for some pre-military duties. You can get a license for tractors and light motorcycles. You can own a gun if you have a special permit and is a member of e.g. a shooting club (i.e. it becomes a sports-thing)... You can under some circumstances and with a special permit, get married... You can theoretically get drafted for military service in times of war of national crisis. This has never actually happened though...

17: You are allowed to take drivers lessons but can't get your license before you turn 18. It is illegal to drive on public roads without either a license or professional driving instructor, so no getting taught by your parents! You can join the "national home guard" (a kind of hobby military)...

18: You are legally an adult. You can walk into a bar and get hammered and you can get a driver's licence (when you sober up), you can marry, vote and buy a gun (you need a permit though). As in Sweded men has to "try out" for military service and are declared fir or unfit, and if fit may have to join the army. Women can volunteer but are not drafted.

20: You can buy "especially dangerous" (i.e. automatic) weapons...

21: You can rent a car... Some crimes are sentenced harder when the victim is between 18 and 21, compared to above 21. On the other hand criminal offenders between 18 and 21 are usually not sentenced as hard as those above 21... You can get a drivers license for trucks/lorries and buses (and appearantly some large motorcycles).

25: Regarding unemplyment benefits, some special rules apply to people below 25...

67: Retirement age. It's not mandatory though and many people retire sooner or later than 67.

There are probably more that I don't know about...

cyperkid · March 21, 2006, 17:52:44

don't know all the special things (as i was kinda late with ALL definitly)
but the most thing i know:

beer was available with 16. (but i think rules got more strict right now)
it's nothing strange to see beer bottles in the hands of aged-14 boys here.
(to explain: Germans are said to have the world's largest average beer consumation...we HAVE to start early)

and to skip this topic: i'm strict anti-alcoholic since 19

fisk0 · March 21, 2006, 19:00:23

Quote from: "cyperkid"and to skip this topic: i'm strict anti-alcoholic since 19

So am I. Most kids in Sweden start drinking alcohol when they are about 14 (even though it is illegal), and I think it is as disgusting now as i though when I was 14.

DavidN · March 21, 2006, 19:32:21

Here too... and I'm a non-drinker as well.

I'm detecting a pattern here.

speed-goddamn-focus · March 21, 2006, 20:55:55

C00 (that's a pattern break, meaning I drink alcoholic beverages on occasion.

Randilyn · March 22, 2006, 03:47:26

Strict non-drinker here.

Matt Hartman · March 22, 2006, 16:40:24

Interesting stuff guys.

It seems to be that there's a similar thread throughout the world about legal ages. I would only guess that a lot of European countries model closely to the states, as usually is the case these days on several factors.

I know when I was 10 and my family took a vacation to Jamaica, the law for drinking age was if you can hold the glass up, you can drink. I think I had some kind of rum drink.

)

Also, in the last 20 years in the states the laws have become much more progressive. I can remember in the 70's when the drinking age was 18 in California, cigarettes was the ripe old age of 16.

The reason behind that is because in the past, children matured at earlier ages than they do now. For instance, the legal drinking age eventually was upped to 21 as young adults started to become more irresponsible with the drink.

When I was in Pakistan, I don't think there were laws for anything. Usually the religions practiced there keep people in check and for some, meaning having to bootleg things.

I saw children working the streets for money and old, old people busting their backs pulling carts and whatnot. Definitely a different world altogether.

I drink wine. I used to drink Guinness and regular beer, but I got burned out on that. Wine is a happy culture.