National Drivers Test?

Not at all! I was ten years old. Very interesting though

 

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.....

 

I believe everyone out here over 70 needs to do a quick eye chart, possibly more if they (DMV) see or you indicate further impairments.

 

Most people here (WA, I can't speak for OR) can renew on-line or by mail, skipping the in-person hassle, though not on consecutive renewal cycles as they want a fresh picture. But these remote renewals end at age 70, when the vision test becomes required every time.

 

As we've learned with our last several POTUSES, it's NOT the vision that they should be worried about.
Laws aren't going to fix this.
LAWERS and the insurance companies will.....

There are two groups of drivers whose rates are higher than the norm:
Under 25.
Over some notional (actuarially driven) number 'probably' beginning with "7."

 

in ma, online renewal at 5 years and in person eye exam at 10

 

Smol tangent a la WA: Southern Californians moving to Seattle should be given their own snow competency driving test -- not 100% of expensive German SUVs in the ditch come Thanksgiving were from there... but damn, more CA plates than any other state

'Cautious' face, because when a tow truck (usually two) has to yank your 5200 lbs of tan hide and Vorsprung out of the ditch on Bainbridge Island in the wintertime... it blocks traffic on the one highway from the painfully-busy ferry terminal to Agate Pass Bridge off the Island, often for miles. Know from exp, as a moto commuter who could take side roads around it cars couldn't... every year of the six I lived there.

 

Hey, I know, let's spend years defunding the police so they have to spend all of their time dealing with things like murder and armed robbery and drug trafficking so there's nobody available to pull over and ticket idiot drivers being a menace to everybody out on the roads!

People notice when there's no law enforcement pulling people over and they drive accordingly....it's getting just ridiculous! Colorado is especially bad these days and our car insurance rates are through the roof because of it.

 

Last couple of times I was hit, they were uninsured motorist. IMHO; until people realize driving is a privilege NOT a right things won't change. Traffic & registration citations would help immensely in that department. If they aren't paying their plate registration, what are the chances they're paying for insurance????

 

It ain't just Southern Californians, it is also a very significant fraction of native and long-term Seattle-ites who are averse to snow activities. Though they are more likely to stay home in such conditions, so may be under-represented in the ditches compared to their overall prevalence.

There were plenty of them in the ditches during the initial mass-adoption of SUVs around 1995-early 2000s, but this tapered off after they learned that these vehicles did not magically confer any advantage on paved groomed highways.

As the only snow driver in my carpool for an extended period -- even when I was the only one who didn't yet have an ABS / airbag vehicle -- I had to skip carpooling a few times when multiple transit busses spun out (and the articulated busses jack-knifed) and completely blocked the short four-lane hill to the homes of other pool members, and other incidents blocked the alternate route.

 

I believe pilots fall under federal jurisdiction (FAA). Trying to have pilots adhere to 50 different rules and regulations would place an undue burden on an already stressed-out system. Especially if they don't all adhere to a strict protocol, when communicating to control towers or uncontrolled air space. They need to know what the other guy is suppose to be doing; so they don't run into each other.

 

That could be helpful for drivers too.

 

Point taken -- my exps centered on Bainbridge, because that's where I lived (in the tiny little inland neighborhood off Miller Rd, where everyone that isn't a lawyer or judge lives ). And most of the plates in the ditch probably represented that strata of society (a Q7 V8 in 2008, was $62K, or $95K in today's money). And that only represented those who'd just moved there or drove up to visit, & didn't yet register for WA tags (iirc, legally only have 30d to do so). They were indeed mostly CA; w/ WA (usually just clapped-out snow junkers on four different brands of tire); UT (no excuse, really -- SL snows too, just not like the Sound): and a smattering of other more southern states.

Is it that much more snow-chaotic for natives on I-5 thru the bedroom comm'ys / SeaTac on that side? Yeesh... glad I didn't live in Gig Harbor or Tacoma then, and have to use that hairy stretch of I-5, to work in Bellevue (rode couple times around the Sound when the ferries weren't running -- at the very least the poor condition of that freeway in '08 was enough reason to drive north and take the Kingston-Edmunds ferry)

I d u n n o. Came from a decade in AZ to live up there, in a FWD car on ASRs... and still managed to stay out of the ditch several winters, living near Poulsbo + on B'bridge, on both 4 wheels and 2. Germany, was a great education. shrugs

 

I worked and commuted on the north side, not through the south side "free fire" (in multiple ways) zone.

The I-5 portion of my reverse commute was virtually always good, or good enough. The snow and ice and blocking disabled transit bus problems were on the side streets and hills.