Anyone remember this? Was talking with a friend and we both remember it being a big deal at the time. I was not even close to old enough to drive, but dad and brothers took it. Mom never drove. Supposedly there was a citizenship special, also. National Drivers Test - Wikipedia
I think actualising it, would be the Show of Shiteshows in 'Murrka I remember living in Germany... and how disciplined drivers were there. Mind you, this was the Bavaria of the '80s... so could've devolved into selfish slop like everywhere else in the world connected to the internet. But even in quite rare circumstances... drivers there (in snow most obviously) knew what the eff they were doing, and what the rules are... and why obey them (mostly, revocation of your licence for life tends to damp the red mist). PCSing back to VA... had to contend with Freedumb again... 'eh. that's just a guideline'... 'man, I got places to be'... 'just one for the road'. Rules for drivers are far stricter in Germany than anywhere here... and tiers where you prove your skill level theoretically and practically (plus very long and expensive driver schools), are de facto gauntlets for you to earn your right to drive with others on-road. And Germany isn't even the most strict, expensive, or most-difficult country to earn your licence in (try living in Finland)... One example, was the standard we as US mil had to conform to, in order to qualify for military vehicle licences there, in the '80s: there was a challenge to memorise 100 signs of the road. You know how many you could get wrong? Zero. Because you had to know them all. One wrong, is not conforming to standard, try harder next time. And our test was a very, very, dumbed-down test compared to what German civvies had to pass. Never gonna happen. I've love to see tiered licences for motos in this country, where every rise in cc from 50 must be tested and minted by a non-industry sanctioning body -- deaths from teen urchins buying 200bhp Kawasaki H2s and killing themselves, a young mum and her 2 kids in a Tate-rage flail... would be much less common. But we have no intention of putting order and common sense over freedumb in this country -- or we'd already be doing it
The TV program was in 1965, a time when there was still a large portion of the population that had grown up without a family car. While some states had mandatory driver licensing, and later testing, before WW-I, many other states didn't require testing until the 1950s. Decent driver education was still in its infancy.
It just shows how most people can't articulate the written word without visual cues. Scores improved in subsequent years of broadcasting? Now that driver's ed has been stripped from the high school curriculum, at least in my neck of the woods. I see matters getting worse, since parents needs to pay someone or teach their kids how to drive. I wouldn't want my brother in law teaching any kids how to drive! He doesn't use seat belts, didn't teach my nephew to adjust seat n mirrors and didn't 'aim-high', while driving - always jerking the wheel because he was following the line in front of him. I corrected most of that when I was visiting, but without constant reminders - he's going to fall back into bad habits. My sister NEVER lets him drive. At the end of the week, I convinced her to let him drive. She stated that he was much improved; but a month later; she had to kick him out of the drivers seat again - back to his bad habits. Amen.....
