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.

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Jan 5 2006, 01:25 PM)

I have a reasonable grasp on what they are now in California, but how about elsewhere?

can't remember all the details, it's been too long ...

but here it goes, germany, early/mid '80s:

~35 hours of theoretical. at a drivers-school. sitting on a chair
in a classroom with about 20 other people. like real school, you know.
learn everything from road signs to traffic rules to how a car works.
we had models of engines and braking systems etc.
(that was *before* computers!) ...

~15 hours of driving. with your instructor/teacher. in *his* car.
which was prepped with a additional set of pedals on the pass. side.
so he could slam the brake on you if you didn't use it.
included anything from parallel parking, to stop/start on a hill
to rush-hour traffic to autobahn to night driving.
oh yeah, stickshift only! if you were to take your driving test in an
automatic car, your license would be restricted and you're not allowed
to drive a stickshift. ever. 99% of the cars in germany are (at least
were back then) stickshift.

once you got all your hours done and your teacher feels like you're
ready (he can reject you from the final test and you'll have to take
more lessons), you have to pass a final written exam and a driving test
in which you will also have a inspector from the TÜV in the car.
he will make the final decision on if you are worthy of a drivers license.

you can fail this final test twice, fail it the third time, and you're OUT.
for the rest of your life. no license for you ...

i also got my motorcycle license at the same time. that added at least
~5 hours to the theoretical and ~10 hours to the driving.

the whole enchilada cost me about $3000 for the car license and another $1000
for the motorcycle license.

~$4000 total and took some 4 month time.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/driving.gif) Andy