Driving Under the Influence of Celebrity

Just as I was starting to feel comfortable trusting Miley Cyrus to act her age, and not suspecting that any of the Jonas Brothers would take a public misstep, I was thrown for a furious loop when I saw a photo (courtesy of TMZ) and a video (PerezHilton.com) of 16-year-old Nick Jonas driving 16-year-old Miley Cyrus in his vintage Mustang.

The Disney stars apparently got into a fender bender. Judging by the video, Cyrus was directing Jonas while he tried to avoid hitting a car parked on the passenger side, which he clipped, and then drove off.

I'll repeat this: I saw a photo and a video of Jonas in the driver's seat, with Cyrus in the passenger seat, leaving a Los Angeles restaurant after having lunch together. The "Best of Both Worlds" star misguided the driver, who scratched a parked car, and then calmly just drove away.

Anyone get where I'm going with this?

Well, I've just been informed that my teen wants to move to Los Angeles because the "Teen Driver Law" he has to adhere to in our California city doesn't seem to apply to teens in La La Land.

In our household, the constant battle over "can I take my friends here, can I drive my friends there" rages on, while we give our restricted-licensed teen the same firm answer over and over, "No, not until you've had your license for a year".

Now you see why I'm upset?

The DMV Teen Drivers web page states the conditions under which a teen can get a semi-full Driver License with restrictions clearly printed on the reverse side of the card:

"Effective January 1, 2006, persons under age 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian or other person specified by law when:

*Transporting passengers under 20 years of age, at any time for the first twelve months.

*Driving between the hours of 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM for the first twelve months."

So this young celebrity violation begs the question, again: Is it OK for some young people to disobey the law, and not others? We've seen this double standard play out in public courts countless times; young stars with DUIs, getting in car accidents and other lawlessness they seem to be immune to. (I hate to keep naming the same people, so I'll let you fill in the blanks about who I'm referring to.)

Also mortifying to my young dwellers, especially to my 13-year-old daughter, was seeing Jonas displaying the type of young celeb misbehavior we'd thought we wouldn't see from him or any of the Jonas siblings anytime soon. Where was the talented singer's omnipresent bodyguard, Big Robb, when you need him?

I really want to imagine that the "A Little Bit Longer" crooner got a good long lecture from his responsible parents when he arrived home after that little joy ride. And I don't want to think that Nicholas Jerry Jonas is yet another Hollywood teen role model falling off the pedestal either. But the jury is still out on this count. As for the Hannah Montana star-turned-traffic-director, she better stick to singing.

In the meantime, the multi-talented singers' car encounter looks like the worst of both worlds; two 16-year-olds at the helm of an automobile they could hardly control, sending the wrong message to their fans. Sorry to be the whistle blower here, but this famous teen driver infraction was all over national television in case you hadn't noticed.

If any legal consequences arise from this teen's Hollywood offense, I could probably use it as a case in point against my own kid's urge to chauffer his friends around, guardian-less, before he's ready. For now, I'll have to buy some earplugs to try to ignore my boy's reasonable claim, "How come I can't do it, but Nick and Miley can and we're the same age!"