OT: State of licensing in the US, How hard is it where you live? Options

[lapuwali]

Howard's thread about the consequences of not teaching teens how to drive got me wondering.

I went through the whole driver training ritual in 1980, so I have no idea what the current state of driver training is in the US. Texas (where I learned) had a pretty good program. Run in the high school, mandatory, with both driving classes, textbook classes, and an interesting interactive movie.

I'm told that most high schools don't have driver's ed anymore, due to cost-cutting. Is this true nationwide, or only here in California? Is it even true in all of California? I see "Student Driver" cars from time to time (saw one this morning), and I'm sure it's not mandatory. I presume this is strictly a private, voluntary thing?

I also know Europe is much stricter than here. I'm familiar with the UK testing system, how's the system in Germany (Andy?), or Austria (Gustl?), or the Netherlands (Yaroooon?).

Getting anyone to pay for better training in the US is probably politically impossible, though it strikes me that perhaps having the insurance companies help out here by offering a substantial discount from the usual outrageous teen driver rates for those teens who complete an accredited course sounds sensible to me.

[horizontally-opposed]

It's true that California has changed the rules and now teenagers have to wait until they're 18 to drive. More recently, the 16 YOs who could get one had all kinds of restrictions. While I guess this solves some problems, it's hardly the right solution.

When I took my test in 1990, I didn't have to:

-Get on the freeway
-Parallel park

It was WAY too easy.

Insurance is a whole 'nuther matter -- as is enforcement -- but I think every driver should have to demonstrate comfort and skill while merging into a busy freeway and the ability to parallel park uphill in reverse between two cars with a stickshift. (Unless they are physically limited in some way.)

Wow, I'll tell you this view does not go over well at parties. (Nor do my views on SUVs exactly enliven them...)

But when I think about what we spend to clean up "accidents" (i.e. mistakes) plus the hidden costs of traffic (smog and lost time), I think an argument could be made for real performance testing at the DMV. Say a slick course or wet AX in government-supplied Taurus's or Malibus -- it wouldn't be cheap, but I bet it would save money in the long run.

And EVERYONE needs to do it. Get caught on the road without having passed the test, lose your car. Instantly. Hey, forget government-supplied beaters -- I think I just found another source for cars to bang up...

Of course, it will never happen.

pete