I was reading the article in Autoweek magazine August 4th, 2014 issue, Piston Slap by Mark Vaughn, and its written with a lot of humor... and he concludes that to get a drivers license in the USA, you have to A) parallel park without killing 14 people and B) causing 72 million dollars in damages.
It's obvious that other countries with higher speed limits like Germany, and other European countries take driving licenses far more seriously, and the USA will give one to any 16 year old that can pass a 50 question test they can look up online, that has little to do with driving safely, and a operations test that doesn't judge them in the dark, or foggy, rainy, snowy, or icy roads... and auto renews a license without a physical check to verify the drivers health and eyesight.
Mark points out that there are 35,000 deaths from traffic accidents each year, but nothing done to make getting a license more focused on testing for safer driving skills.
He wrote a funny article, and I've been a shill for Autoweek so long they ought to send me a free subscription... but anyway, he got me thinking about the ridiculous idea that a drivers license in the USA is given with little safety testing, and no driving in normal conditions other than whatever the weather happens to deliver for the 20 minutes or so a kid gets behind the wheel with an instructor that focuses on parallel parking and rail road crossings... actually questions 2 and 3 below on the written test as well as my sarcastic example of driving instructors. This is pathetic.
It's obvious that other countries with higher speed limits like Germany, and other European countries take driving licenses far more seriously, and the USA will give one to any 16 year old that can pass a 50 question test they can look up online, that has little to do with driving safely, and a operations test that doesn't judge them in the dark, or foggy, rainy, snowy, or icy roads... and auto renews a license without a physical check to verify the drivers health and eyesight.
Mark points out that there are 35,000 deaths from traffic accidents each year, but nothing done to make getting a license more focused on testing for safer driving skills.
He wrote a funny article, and I've been a shill for Autoweek so long they ought to send me a free subscription... but anyway, he got me thinking about the ridiculous idea that a drivers license in the USA is given with little safety testing, and no driving in normal conditions other than whatever the weather happens to deliver for the 20 minutes or so a kid gets behind the wheel with an instructor that focuses on parallel parking and rail road crossings... actually questions 2 and 3 below on the written test as well as my sarcastic example of driving instructors. This is pathetic.
from the California state DMV http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/interactive/tdrive/clc2written.htm
Over here in Ireland they keep making it harder to get a license, 2 separate tests one for a provisional license and another for a full license. mandatory driving instruction, and not a semester of driver's ed in high school but expensive private driving schools. minimum age for a provisional is 18, and the net result of all of this "if we make it harder, the roads will be safer" thinking is that they are not safer. it doesn't really work all that well at all.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Don! That's a lot of requirements to pass, and when compared the the hour or so American drivers need to get a license, astonishingly thorough... but I've never been to Ireland to experience the roads. Are drivers tested on bad surfaces, in bad weather, or at night? Do you have any experience with American roads and drivers to compare your views with? Is it possible that the problem is that we humans are generally lazy and lousy at most things we do, and no matter how much or how thoroughly we are trained, few stand out as being good at anything?
DeleteHi Jesse, testing is done on local roads near the test center which are usually in urban areas, no to night, yes to bad weather, because thats thats we generally have. I am an american, took drivers ed in high school in the late 60s held drivers licenses in several states, 20 years in US Navy so moved around a good bit before I retired. I moved to Ireland 13 years ago and have experienced driving in Spain, France, Italy and Croatia as well as Ireland to compare with my 49 years (33/as a licensed driver) in the US. I think you can teach rules of the road and how to work a car but you can't teach common sense, you can't teach courtesy, you can't teach people to think about the potential implications of their actions. Thank god most are reasonably good at this stuff but an alarming number are not.Driving conditions are very different in different places, human nature is pretty much the same.
ReplyDeleteThank you Don, you're likely the most experienced driver I'll see commenting on this topic, your helpful insight is very appreciated!
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