Riding In Cars With Girls

Last summer, while teaching my niece, 16, to drive, I got my own turbo-charged lesson about the teen relationship to the road. In my dotage, I had forgotten the driving principles that every teen seems to live by--for instance, that fast is really good, especially when you're going around a corner. A rearview mirror works really well for checking out how nice your sunglasses look, and every maneuver is enhanced if you can casually dangle your left elbow out the window. After spending two months riding shotgun with a teen, I completely understood why my friend Nancy facetiously handed out bicycle...