Depending on how you want to play the driving game, you can work a lot of different angles with your teen. On the one hand, you can give them the impression that they have something approaching a right to drive (by never threatening their privileges, no matter what they do). On the other hand, you can become downright draconian about it, and say things like, “you can drive… if you can figure out how to work the accelerator with a broken right foot.” Or you can work the driving game somewhere in the middle, and lay out a set of rules that you expect them to follow if they expect to keep their privileges intact.
For one thing, you could leave the seat belt in an unusual position every time you get out of the car, and then check it after they have been driving. If they have not used their seat belt, the punishment should be pretty severe. If they do not do their chores around the house, the car becomes off limits until they go two weeks of perfect chore completion. If they get drunk and drive, they do not drive again until they are 18- unless you want to take a hard line on it. Your own stance is going to be individual, but the punishment should always fit the crime.
Driving is a very big responsibility that is completely wasted on most teenagers. They see cars as fun toys (which they often are), when in reality driving is about work. When your teens see driving as a serious responsibility that they are not entitled to being allowed to do, it should temper a lot of their less reasonable impulses. Once they are responsible drivers, you can allow them to drive all of the time. Unfortunately, by this point they are usually old enough to leave your home on their own, anyway.
