Cruising into Newport in Maserati's Quattroporte (review to follow), I watched a Mitsubishi Starion drive straight through a stop sign and slam into the side of a BMW 3-Series sedan. Despite my reputation for unbridled, acid-tongued cynicism, my first thought was the same as yours: is everybody all right? After ascertaining that the meat wagon wasn't a life or death issue (at least as far as I could tell), and that plenty of gawkers had stopped to gawk, my second thought was less charitable: if I pull over as a witness, how long would it cut into my 24-hour test drive? And then I saw the Starion driver get out of his relatively unmolested POS and check his front fender for damage and I felt an enormous urge to stop, jump out and clock the guy. So my question is this: how do we get these stupid bastards off our roads? Better (i.e. not speed-obsessed) enforcement? Higher driving standards? How about any driving standards? I'm not saying anything about the Starion driver's ethnicity, but why are some states giving driving licenses to illegal immigrants who can't speak English? What the Hell kind of driving test doesn't require enough English literacy to read a warning sign? Your thoughts?
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I would be happy with enforcement of turn signal usage, and getting people to shut up and hang up their cell phones.
Maser-what now? To answer your question, start teaching kids to drive when they are eight-years-old. Don't give 'em a license or anything, but start 'em young so that by the time they are sixteen, they'll be able to keep their Starions to themselves.
Did you stick around long enough to see if the driver even had a license? Since most every state now offers the license exam in multiple languages, no literacy in English is needed to get a license.
Michigan drivers seem to be getting more incompetent day-by-day. In 2002, I bought a Hyundai and made damn sure it had side airbags, because running red lights and not stopping at stop signs has become absolutely pandemic here. After being "gifted" with a 5-over ticket 6-7 years ago, and paying a huge chunk of money (and having my car insurance go up just as I was trying to get a son into college) made me say to myself "ok, fine, I can just go the speed limit". And I have, well, within 5 mph (except for a trip to Detroit to get my wife to the airport – her father was dying – but I digress). Do you have any idea how FEW people actually try to obey the speed limit in Michigan? In the 1950's almost nobody broke the speed limit. Not only is this the message from my father, but I recently read a 1956 magazine road-test of a Lincoln and the tester's drive on the new tollways from Chicago to New York, and guess what? They kept track. The went the speed limit and only had literally a handful of people passing them the entire trip. I think it was less than 10. My friend and her daughter/my god-daughter were hit head-on by an illegal alien with no drivers license, no green card, no insurance (the illegal fell asleep at the wheel). Not only did the illegal not get a ticket, but she was not deported. I can say this. When I lived in the UK and had to obtain a UK "driving licence" I went through the most stringient test you could imagine. Clearly the Brits do not regard driving as a "right" (as most Americans obviously do), but a privilege. The driving portion of the British test is failed by 56% of those who take it first time, and 70% of those who re-take it. (I passed first time – which was some accomplishment since I had to unlearn all of my bad habits from driving in the US, and having rubber stamped drivers license renewals). I think a comprehensive, British style testing program would go a long way towards helping, but also actually enforcing the laws on the road might do some good. I would also actually raise the speed limit in all places ONCE everyone on the roadway passed the new test (and those who could not, would not be able to drive. Driving is not in the US Contstitution – it is not a right of citizenship, people). Even before I drove the speed limit, Michigan drivers had a bad habit of sitting about a foot from my rear bumper, so actually going the speed limit just means they are tailgating me at a slower pace. I've been on the road following my wife (we were taking two car loads of stuff to the food pantry at church for charity) and a person essentially pulled out from the left and literally drove my wife off the road (she got back on the roadway safely and got in front of the offending moron). I was obviously pissed off, so called 9-1-1 on the cell phone (normally I don't use the cell while driving – studies show this is as bad as drunk-driving). The cops took my report but did not do a thing. Obviously we need competent replacements for virtually all of the police and those who inform the police what laws to bother enforcing, too. (I.E. new politicians from top to bottom, not of the two major parties?)
I always have stopped when I've seen an accident – and have been shocked at how many people watch it then drive on by. The only good thing about lots of cell phones is that accidents get reported ASAP. Driving standards? In this country? Are you kidding? Getting around in your own hunk of steel is a god-given, unailiable right. It's in the constitution, isn't it? And I can drive any damned way I please (and I'm a good driver, let me tell you). I mean, so what if I drive 45 on the freeway – I'm on my phone, I've slowed down to be safer. Duh. And if I use a signal, all that will happen is the asshole in the lane I want to go to will speed up. Stop signs: if there's no car coming, why should I stop? M
I agree 100% with Rocketeer. My big peeve is "decisiveness." Know that your going to do in a car, and do it. If you want to make a turn at the next light don't hog two lanes of traffic, drive at a snails pace, then whip over multiple lanes of traffic 100 feet before the turn. Use your friggin' signal and be in the left lane. Cell phones are the same, they lead to inattentiveness and lack of decision while driving. Don't talk on your cell phone, then get angry at me when I honk at you because you forgot to check your blindspot and almost ran me off the road when you realized your exit was only 1/8 mile away. The solution – more rigorous driving tests. I don't care that you can drive 22 in a 25 mph zone for the ten minutes the instructor is in the car. Why – because no one drives like that. And who knows how you passed parallel parking, because you obviously can't do it now with me waiting behind you. Maybe we should have recurring tests every 5 years or so?
I wish you the best of luck in your quest to remove the mouth breathers from the roads, but I fear that its a little Quixotic. Driving has, at least in my lifetime, never been a privilage you earn but rather a right you are born with in this country. Add to that the political aspect of letting illegals get licenses in my state (ca.), and you throw any sense of qualification or driving standards out the window. But hey, that's what you get when you design entire regions around automobiles rather than public transportation.
I know where I live if you are going 5 over the speed limit you are going to get run over. "The highways here are nothing more than a race track for wanna be NASCAR drivers. i have a friend who is a police officer on traffic duty. He won't stop a driver unless they are doing more than 15 over the limit. too many people going 5-10 over to stop them all. But better driver training is the way to go to make our roads safer. When i went through driver's education class (way back when), the focus of the class was writing reports rather than how to drive. It was sad how little driver training there was. On the cell phone issue, I have to use one for work and spend most of my time on the road. It is a necessary evil for me. I pull over whenever possible but if I can't do that then I remember which item is more important. I'll miss parts of the conversation so I can focus more on driving. it's too dangerous not to.
you cannot even get teh county cops where i live to arrest drunk drivers anymore. it has become apparent, and confirmed by a deputy i know, that they don't bother if the guy is dirt poor and will not pay fines. outrageous is an understatement. there is no enforcement anymore, so i don't bother with limits anymore either. i obey every other law there there is, just not the speed limit. gas prices have affected my speed limit over anything else. i was behind a city cop last week, and as we waiting at a red light, the light turned green. the guy in front if the cop started forward, then had to hit the brakes as 2 cars were still coming and ran the red light. what did the cop do? was still gabbing on his cell phone. next block, 3 cars ran the red light, cop did nothing. it was almost comical as it happened on the third block when 1 car ran a red light. yep, still on his cell phone. then turned, without a signal, to go somewhere else to waste my tax dollars. before too long, we will be in anarchy…probably brought on by $4.50 gas if something else blows up in the world. hope you're all well armed, and friendly to me ;)
Maybe I can put this in some perspective, as an attorney. The highway cops' mission is not at all related to highway safety. In California, CHP is nothing but a latter day version of a highway man–an armed dude collected taxes from the easiest target. Everyone in California goes 5-10 mph over, and many routinely double that without punishment. And in court, it's so simple to prove a speed violation, that almost no one tries to fight it. Now, "basic speed law" tickets? Every single one is contestable. Of course, if it really were about safety, the only tickets of this kind given would be basic speed law–who cares if someone is going 85 if they are doing it safely? Some people of higher vintages cannot operate their land barges safely at any speed, let alone in the vicinity of highway speed limits. And as abhorrent as it is, DUI is a sexed up political issue the enforcement of which is also not tied to "safety," but, rather to scoring political points. It taps into America's puritanical arteries, and, accordingly, gets instant voltage–alcohol!!! what heathens! But the truth is, there simply is no magic about 0.08. Some people are too drunk to drive, some aren't. Those who are, well, despite the public's concern, they get "drunk class." I'm sure they are reformed forever by that. Another thing the CHP knows: if everyone fought their ticket, the system would fail. But, there's this whole prisoner's dilemma problem in human behavior, so that won't happen. Sigh.
Well, I posted a comment, but it appears to be lost. (Perchance it is travelling somewhere in this "series of tubes" known as the internet and will show up eventually). But to summarize, and since my prior post Glenn has written the same suggestion – more rigorous testing. Driving 21 in a 25 mph zone does not test real life driving. Taking 5 minutes and multiple attempts to parallel parking in a double wide spot is not realistic. (I actually recall some states were removing parallel parking from tests because no one does it anymore. Ggggrrrrr.) Give me a realistic driving test, one that shows a driver is in fact competent on the road. And make drivers retest every 5 years or so. As for enforcement and those responsible for it – Here in Illinois it is illegal to talk on the cell phone while driving, unless that cell phone is hands free. But guess what. Not only is no one ticketed for it, but I actually see officers, in their patrol cars, on cell phones while driving. But enough of that, I'm not going to get heated and go on a longwinded diatribe about the police.
I think the driver's license test should involve surviving 24 hours on the road in the metro Boston area. Driving around here is utterly ridiculous, everyone knows that. The life expectancy of a driving instructor in Massachusetts is measured in weeks, not years, due to the high incidence rate of bleeding ulcers, strokes, heart attacks, and fear-induced anyeurisms. Everyone in this great nation of ours seems to think that 'massholes' are the worst drivers around. I disagree – we're the best (those of us that survive, anyway). We're just the most dangerous, that's all. We take the aggressive habits needed for survival here with us wherever we go, scaring the women, lowering property values and ruining lives. I speed, I swerve, I slalom through the lanes, I hit the curves at speeds more appropriate to a sportscar than a jeep, and yet, I qualify for the super-duper-safe excellent driver discount on my insurance. Knock on wood, not a single ticket in 5 years, and same for surchargeable accidents. In all seriousness, the comments about making the test harder are dead-on. I could have passed the Mass. driving test with both eyes closed. I've never been re-tested. I think adopting a more stringent test, perhaps with 5 year re-tests, outlawing cell phone usage, enforcing the use of turn signals with electric shocks, and keeping stupid people from breeding may be the only hope (at least around Boston, anyway).
Back in the quaint old days, it was considered honorable to actually obey the rules, laws and pay taxes (though one fully expected value for the dollar and a balanced US budget, just as every responsible household had to also live within their means). People actually could pray to any God they wished without interference, the government didn't spy on everyone, selfishness and self centeredness were aberrations, abortion was unknown, people were proud of and optimistic about their freedom and nation… Morbidly hilarious, isn't it, to literally watch a society collapse from within? Guess I now know what the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans felt like in the last days of their great civilizations. Yeah, I've just turned 49 so I actually remember the cusp of those days. Every day I wake up expecting to see Rod Serling. Cue the Twilight Zone music.
As long as driving is regarded as a right not a privilege things will not change. We, as a country, need to change the way licenses are just handed out to anyone that has a pulse. Driver education needs to be just that an education. You can't learn to drive from a book, that just reviews the laws that you will be breaking every day that you drive. Besides, how can the police enforce the traffic laws that they break just like everyone else? The cops in my town drive while talking on the cellphone, don't use turn signals, run through stop signs (no lights or sirens), etc. How can people be expected to respect the laws that the police themselves do not?
Although I am as interested in GM's (possible likely) death as anyone else, this issue really hits close to home. I have lost close family members to people driving who should not be out on the roads. My grandfather managed to total 2 cars in one year based on his poor driving, most likely being 90 contributed to this. No one took his license though and lord knows I have tried. My wife believes she is a great driver and for the most part she is pretty good. However, driving home in pooring rain the other day, she insisted putting about 10 feet between her and the Yukon in front of us. Sure, we were in a new AWD Volvo, but our car wasn't going to stop in 10 feet. In front of the Yukon (any GM truck – Escalade, Denali seem to be driven by lunatic bottle blondes in my neighborhood – I say the Miata is a much more masculine car. More to the point – who keeps buying these things – are they BP, Shell stockholders) was following the Denali in front of it by about the length of a footlong hot dog. As I continually tried to register my concern without looking like an overbearing jerk, I was met with responses like, "its a Volvo" sure but I still don't want to watch it being seperated from the Yukon "its got AWD" thats great if to avoid the accident we swerve up a rocky hill and decide to drive to look over a valley, etc… My point? People seem to rely on their car as this lifesaving forcefield, which it ain't. Solution- better drivers education, random licensing tests, clear explanation of what the things on cars actually do by manufacturers.
I just posted a comment, too, and it also appears to be lost-in-space. Perhaps it will show up soon. Wow, the internet is getting to be buggier than a trailer park in Arkansas. The fact that I could not get any comments to go onto autoblog.com is why I gave up on it. Hope these bugs get sorted out.
Tennessee drivers are notoriously bad. When my younger sister took her driving test here, she was instructed to turn right out of the DMV parking lot, drive several hundred yards, and turn right back into the DMV parking lot. That was it. After 7 years in Nashville I am certain that not a single native Nashvillian knows where any roads other than the Interstates lead. The extent of their navigation is to get on the Interstate and then get off at the exit nearest their destination, even if it takes them 10 minutes, 10 miles, or 1 gallon of gas out of their way. I would love to see German driver education and testing and our interstates become American autobahns. Those who don't pass the driving test are restricted to two-lane highways and access roads.
I was a great driver from my first month or so on. The Reason? Video Games! I'm serious, playing all those racing/driving/piloting games and simulations, while not exactly true to the feel of real driving, at least gave the hand eye coordination and reflexes to be a better driver than my father (the man who taught me) from very early on. I'd think gamers are also better to keeping track of more factors at once than normal people, but I'm 23, what the hell do I know? :p
my comment is gone…
Apparently it is a dumptruck.
I used to be in the Air Force stationed in Germany, and the Germans that were getting their license (at 18!) had to go through a program where they drove at day, at night, on the highway, etc. with an instructor. Some of my friends disagreed with me, but I felt that they were very consistent drivers as a whole. When the unlimited speed dropped for an exit or town, most people slowed to the limit. Those who didn't, were likely foreign! So, all that to say I'm down with a stronger driving training program (something other than your older sibling, grandma, etc…).
Easy. Make getting, and KEEPING a Driver's License a whole lot harder than it is now. It is laughably easy to get a DL and even easier to keep one here in the USA. I've lived in Europe, where the process is much more stringent, and the quality of drivers is significantly higher. It seems here in the USA, the licensing and enforcement divisions of the government are merely a hidden tax collection mechanism. –chuck
More driver’s ed, harder testing. Won’t happen- costs the states money and parents, too, because driver’s ed has disappeared from schools. Why? money, again. Plus if you made it harder to get a license, parents would mutiny. By the age of 16, they can’t wait to get those kids in their own car, so they can end their chaffeur duties. More draconian enforcement of drunk driving and other moving violations- won’t happen. The defendent’s lawyer will always argue that if you take away someone’s DL, they will wind up jobless and homeless and their kids will starve. And for the most part this is true in USA- mass transit covers maybe 1% of the landmass. If you take away someone’s DL in the UK, they can still work, shop and go to school (aside from some very isolated areas). Plus, a lot of the time drunks are driving without licenses, anyway, and with jails so crowded, who are you going to lock up- drunk drivers or armed robbers? Because most of the time, that the choice. Enforcement is, as the lawyer says, a cash cow for most municipalities. They hope that some poor sucker getting fined 300-500$ for going 80 in a 55 zone will terrorize the other drivers enough to slow them?down. Rare exceptions to this include Oregon, where you will notice on the interstate that nobody is going more than 5 mph over the limit, because they write a bunch of tickets.?Running a red light? Most places, the fine for that is low, and between stopping the driver, running the plate and license, writing the ticket, listening to the driver whine, this probably takes 30 minutes out of the cop’s day. Again, should the cop be ticketing red light runners, or chasing armed robbers and rapists? In short, driving here is a mess. Running red (or “orange”) lights has gotten so bad where?I live that?I?usually count to 3 before?I start the car after the light turns green.
Glenn, you hit the nail right on the head – in the US, driving is a 'right' not a 'priviledge'. Hell, When I took Driver's Ed 13 years ago, they showed us videos over 2 decades old, AND the instructor told the girls "you're lucky being female- you can cry if you fail your test and the instructor will most likely just pass you". WTF? On road training should be mandatory. And there should be no state funding for it – if you want to drive, you have to pay for the priviledge. It's the only way it's ever going to get better. The same is true on the opposite end of the spectrum – the elderly should be re-tested in a simple on-road test every 3 years. I watched an old lady run a stopsign, jump a curb, hit three parked cars, and 2 newspaper boxes before swerving back onto the road, and continuing. She finally stopped further up the road. She said she thought she hit the brake. Everyone makes mistakes, but I think they could be limited with more training…
Robert, Lay off the fascist comments about so-called illegal immigrants not speaking English. I was stunned by your lack of political acuity. What next, a diatribe about israel's right to defend itself? Stick to your knitting – in your case automotive journalism. We really do not want to see your nativist dirty underware peeking beneath your flame proof racing overalls.
Here in Manitoba drunk driving is persecuted very heavily. At .03 you get your car impounded for 24 hours, get a fine (I do not recall how much), and loose your license for three months. At .05 you go to jail for 3 months, have your car impounded for the same amount, face a $5000 fine, and loose your license for a year. A repeat offence means you go to jail for a year, higher fine etc. I do not understand how people in the states can have multiple DUI’s and still be on the road. Now if they would do the same thing for people on cell phones, I would be happier. I do not care if you use it for business, at least get a hands free set for the thing.
I guess I'll try to remember the gist of the comment I made earlier and repost it. So if I get two posts on here that are similar, sorry… Essentially, driving issues such as this are just a symptom of a far deeper problem which can be summed up in selfishness and self-centeredness. I am beginning to understand how Etruscans, Greeks and Romans must have felt when their civilizations began to crumble. Once upon a time not so long in the past. I just turned 49, so I actually remember these times as a young boy, right on the cusp of the timeframe I write of. People actually obeyed the rules and laws, were proud to paid taxes (and expected their government to give them value for money in return – as well as keep a balanced budget, just as resposible families did). People could pray to any God they chose in schools (Contitutional freedom of speech and freedom of religion – not freedom from religion), the government didn't spy on everyone, money was backed by gold instead of "promises promises", abortion was virtually unheard of, people were optimistic about their futures and proud of their nation. Now, I wake up every morning and expect to see Rod Serling standing there. Cue the Twilight Zone music.
Glenn, two words: paragraphs buddy! You've got some good things to say, I just can't read them when you've got 15 thoughts in a single long paragraph. As for the QOTD: stricter driving standards is the answer, but implementing it is so politically unpalatable that it isn't likely to happen in our lifetime. If we can't muster the political will to make that happen I'd like to see automatic license suspensions after a driver has two crashes in a five-year period. The suspension would be waived if the driver presented evidence that they've attended a driving school for refresher training. I don't care if the accident was their fault or not. People that repeatedly get in crashes need defensive driver training, even if not their fault. As for the stop sign: the red octagon is a universal symbol for stop. They shouldn't need to be able to read English!
OK lets try this a 3rd time? The problem of driving is only a symptom of a far worse problem, which may be summed up as extreme selfishness and self-centeredness. I am starting to understand how people in the last days of the Etruscan, Greek and Roman empires must have felt. I was born in the late 1950s, and as a boy, I do recall a society where people obeyed the rules and laws, and were actually proud to pay taxes. But, in response, they expected the governments to give them good value for money, and stay within a balanced budget, just as families had to do. Charity was something you only took as last resort, and it was churches, not the government, that doled it out on a person to person basis, not institutionalized slavery basis. This was a time when people could actually pray to any God they pleased anywhere they wished, summing up Constitutional freedom of speech and religion instead of freedom from religion. The money was worth something because it was backed by gold, not empty promises. Abortion was nearly unheard of, as were driveby shootings. People left their keys in their cars, homes and churches were left unlocked. Now, I wake up and keep expecting to see Rod Serling. Cue the Twilight Zone music.
The police set up drinking and driving roadchecks at random major highway onrams/offramps. I've only seen a couple of speed traps on the highway proper, and police very rarely. Inside city limits, however, is another matter.
As others have pointed out, America does not have the luxury to really strengthen the driving laws. The majority of the US was built after the Car, and over 50% of the economic and population force are in states that have expanded after the invention of the air-conditioner. Take Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, or any other major city in the southern region of the U.S. They were all built after the car and you can't practically walk anywhere. This infrastructure was built on the assumption of easy private transportation via car. Europe, on the other hand, had several hundred years prior to the car and their infrastructure was based initially around the horse and buggy and walking, so it is not necessary to have a car. In the US, NY, Boston, and a handful of other major metropolitan areas have a suitable enough public transportation system that drivers licenses aren't important. LA, the largest city in the US, however, has no public transportation to speak of. You can thank GM for that…
My three cents: 1) Incentive The police officers can keep part of the fine as their work bonus. You bet they will be more motivated. 2) Progressive punishment Say if a certain offence gets a driver $100 fine, then make the second offence $200, third one at $400 … So that repeat offenders are truly punished. 3) Prevention Hit-and-run and drunk-driving should be considered "intentional", since the driver explictly made the decision to brake the law. Thus all the subsequent incidents are delibrate, i.e. if some one got killed, then it's murder.
Start packing while you drive?
I think we need to be realistic here. Except in the downtowns of cities in the US, most people simply NEED to drive. Don't get me started on the joke that is public transport in most of the US (Boston and perhaps a few other places excluded). In order to get to work, to get groceries, to do ANYTHING in many if not most places in the US a car is neccessary. That's why are standards are low. That's why we don't take people's liscenses away even in serious cases. As much as I with all of you would love to see a stricter liscense test, I recognize the reality. Unless public transport is massively overhauled and extended people will have to take cars. It SHOULDN'T be a "right" to drive, but when you can't live without a car then that becomes the case. On another note, this comment system is not working. I've tried to post this about 3 times now. Lucky I copied it, but in Firefox it won't let me paste so here I am using IE.
The answer does not lie with cleaning up, and expecting enforcement to get better. The real answer is what you can do: – Open your eyes. Be vigilant. This is what driving should be anyway. Cut down the distractions to yourself. Avoid riding in other people's blind spot. Watch out for the tailgaters (nobody is twisting your arm to follow me, so if you're to close to me, I'll slow down, eventually you'll pass me) Always expect the pet, kid, 80 year old dude to jump in front of you. Same thing for intersections: watch for those lights, they're known to turn red on you (at the very worst moment) Keep your distances from the other idiots. Keep right if you can. Keep right to let the other idiots pass you. They won't go faster anyway, neither will you, and being ahead won't do anything to your manhood. Arm yourself with a powerful cell phone jammer (don't use it however, for those are illegal) – Make sure you have a good insurance. Favor a bigger premium for a lower deductible. It's a good idea to get better protection than state minimum. 20% of drivers don't have insurance. Be kind to yourself, make sure your insurance protects you against uninsured drivers. You are never in complete control. And when you think you are, this is just an illusion. I got rear ended in stop and go traffic by a dimwit who stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes. The sad thing is that it happens all the time. Even more clueless, she was asking "well, who's responsible for this? Whose insurance is gonna have to pay?" Cops are there to levy road tax. Safety concern are good for mother associations lobbying politics that are chauffeured by helicopters.
I'm going to build my mad max machine now… and get in as much road course and rally driving training as I can… Gotta buy some fire arms (thats still on the to do list) and then its just a matter of waiting till the chaos begins… Good thing we have run flat tires now-a days… never know when caltrops will be a requirement for making it in/out of NYC. Driving is too essential to the american way of life for *.gov to make it any more difficult to acquire a license. More difficult means fewer drivers, and thats angry voters and reduced tax revenues from vehicle sales, insurance, registration fees, fines OH fuel… cant forget that ever so slightly taxed item. You have a better chance of making it legal to run people off the road that "threaten" you in texas… than you have of making it harder to get a license in any state. NY has a laughable ad campaign about "45 means 45" "55 means 55" "65 means 65". Uh yeah thats great…. but thats the easiest aspect of driving to discuss… why not focus on be decisive and focus your attention on what is far ahead not just what is 50' in front of your car. Lets be realistic about this… its just easier to build safer cars that kill fewer people on the inevitable inpact caused by a poorly skilled/trained driver… than it is to train the lot of you to drive safely at any speed. Just add more airbags and straps to retain the occupants, those are cheap compared to the $$$$ it costs to actually teach a person how to drive properly at speed. I know what it costs because I've spent thousands of dollars on HPDE and winter driving training voluntarily.
The scene: a crowded DMV waiting area, decorated in shades of gray and off-gray. A frazzled-looking woman, dressed in work clothes, is standing in a lengthy line with an eight-year-old child. She is holding a ticket with the number 172 on it.
DMV EXAMINER: Number 172!
WOMAN: That’s me.
EXAMINER: How can I help you?
WOMAN: I need to renew my driver’s license.
EXAMINER: Have you completed the Advanced Drivers Training Course?
WOMAN: I’m sorry?
EXAMINER: The Advanced Drivers Training Course. The state legislature said that everybody who wants a driver’s license has to take the course.
WOMAN: I didn’t know about any course!
EXAMINER: So you haven’t taken it? Look, lady, stop wasting my time. The line to sign up for the advanced course is over there.
(EXAMINER points to a line twice as long as the line the woman is standing in.)
WOMAN: Wait a minute. How long is the course?
EXAMINER: Twelve hours.
WOMAN (agitated): Twelve hours? Who will watch my kid?
EXAMINER: Not my problem, lady. You wanna renew your license, you take the course. Don’t wanna take the course, you can take the bus. Number 173!
(WOMAN steps aside with a dumbfounded look on her face)
NARRATOR: Bob Fairweather says hard-working people like you who just want to get to work or take your children to school should face an additional, expensive obstacle called Advanced Drivers Training. Bob Fairweather thinks you should have to take this training even if you’ve never had an accident or gotten a ticket. Isn’t your life complicated enough? Vote for George Patronage. He understands working families face enough challenges.
. . . and that’s why higher license standards are a political non-starter.
I grew up in a single parent household because my mother was a crappy driver. A few years ago I nearly lost my father due to a civic driver running a red light. My father owes his life to an Audi A4 which bit the dust for him. I’ve been hit a couple of times, never anything serious and never anything I could have avoided.
It is ikely preferred by automotive and Gas company execs and lobbyists that driving be made accessable to as many people as possible. Your safety doesnt mean shyt to the industry other than if you die pre-maturely (before you can no longer physically drive yourself) then you can’t buy cars/fuel/insurance etc… and that just wont do.
It is cheaper to build cars that are slightly less lethal on impact and market them to shitty drivers than to take those shitty drivers and make them less likely to drive into things. But hey safer drivers means two things kids… fewer cars being replaced by new ones and fewer cars getting expensive $$$$ replacement parts. Auto industry suffers when you are a safe driver and forget to wreck your several year old car so that you are forced to buy a new one or buy a whole bunch of parts and some labor too the collision repair industry would like to send their regards.
I’m going to repost this without the encoding issues. Way odd.
GasGuzzler – I think it’s actually just Chicago where it’s illegal to talk on your handset while driving. I have an acquaintance who has been ticketed twice but still keeps doing it. Needless to say the cost of the tickets could have easily paid for a Bluetooth headset.
I was tapped from behind by some idiot today who had no good reason for the front of his vehicle to intersect the rear bumper of mine. The rear bumper did its job without damage (save for a small scratch from his front license plate). Of course the front of his car was full of unfixed damage – a dent in his bumper, a cracked headlight lens, a bent front license plate. At least it wasn’t as bad as the virtually new cars I see all the time with major dents in the side. I struggle to figure out how there can be so many damaged cars on the road when I’ve somehow managed to go five years without any kind of a collision until today.
I agree with the previous posters about fixing the ticketing model. When that happens the ?€œeasy outs?€� offered by many states that allow drivers to avoid reporting a ticket to their insurance company should also go away. If most people get two tickets a year (the number of tickets that Illinois will let you get out of by taking an online defensive driving class) then I’m sure the insurers can factor that into their rates.
The way most people drive drives me nuts. The only time they use their turn signals is when they’re announcing their intention to barge into your lane because they somehow wound up in the left lane when they needed to make a right turn. The rest of the time they just telegraph their intentions through the old over-the-shoulder swerve or a slow drift to the right side of the lane. I also can’t get over how it takes some people two minutes to get up to 40, at which point they start driving 50 in the 40 zone. It’s sunny and dry out, but for some reason I’m always behind some dolt in a 330i or a G35 who refuses to actually use the machine. It’s a status symbol, not a car.
Rant off.
MARK HASTY FOR PRESIDENT… or something like that.
My sentiments exactly!
I'm not sure if it has been mentioned before, but adopting the German model would probably go a long way toward establishind a more skilled and safer motoring public. Sadly, I don't see us going down that proverbial road, but it would be a gigantic step in the right direction.
The counter political spin to Mark Hasty's scenario should show scene upon scene of mangled wrecks, blood on the asphalt, weeping parents, weeping parentless children, quadripalegics, etc. All the while a narrator commentates and discusses that many of these losses could have been avoided with more stringent driver licensure standards.
My solution? Eliminate the speed limit on the highways and let the morons weed themselves out…
Wolven:
What about when one of the “morons” drives into you? Thats cool with you too then…. or? Your “morons” are really nothing more than poorly trained drivers doing what they believe is okay.
We as a species are not really evolving a whole lot anymore and I think that its better to make the argument that you are simply reducing the level of stress the planet is under to provide energy & food for the person that ran off the road and died.
If you dont want them to be morons you need to show them a better way because allowing them to weed themselves out is likely to cause your insurance to go up and for a whole bunch of innocent bystanders to get buried in the process.
In my first ever micro economics class, the prof (the head of the department) was teaching about incentives. Eg, safer cars made people more likely to take risks. This was met by the usual arguements that people don’t intentionally get into accidents (watching people drive, that’s rather debatable). The counter arguement? Think of how you would drive if you had a 6 inch dagger coming out of the steering wheel instead of an airbag ready to blow…
As for driver’s licenses, one problem is that in the US and Canada, they are a primary source of ID – whether buying alcohol or applying for a library card, it’s the primary form of photo ID. People for some reason don’t like the idea of ID cards, but the driver’s license is all gravy…
btw, jail time is the wrong answer to DUI. Confiscation of the car is. The government can then sell it for money or use it as a bait car. We’ve started to do this in some cases with road racers and their lovely custom rides.
I have a good friend who is from Oaxaca and has managed the sole Winchell’s Donut (sic) House left in Seattle. (He has done that since 2002.) He supplies me with my last guilty pleasure: doughnuts with cheap coffee. (No, not all Seattlites share the desire to give Howard Schultz four or five dollars a pop, for a hot beverage, most especially now that he has sold the Seattle Sonics basketball team to a consortium from Oklahoma.)
I’ve learned a lot from him and I think it is reciprocal. I know I’ve helped him sometime when he needed a letter written to an apartment manager, or needed someone to talk to an operator for him, working as a human interface, when he was trying to get a new credit card machine to work.
But we have agreed to disagree on several things; and one of them is the desire of certain officials in California to no longer give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He smirked while I tried to make the point that, unless you could read the materials needed to train to get the license – pretty minimal stuff compared to say, Skip Barber or Bob Bondurant – and traffic signs, you were a danger to yourself, as well as others. He seemed to see the point; however, he figured it was just another way “for the man to keep him down,” as they used to say in the 1960s.
Thing is, it is a paramount thing since so many young Latinos are rapid auto enthusiasts. Yes, they might run POS (piece of shit) clapped out Mitsu Starions. But way back in the late ’40s, you had the low-riders showing the Barris brothers the way to make a lead sled. The exact vehicles have changed, but not the level of enthusiasm.
I think it might help if you could get someone such as Edward James Olmos or Paul Rodriguez to do some public service ads about the importance of knowing the rules of the road. Both men have street cred and are intelligent members of the Latino community. (I can still recall watching Paul Rodriguez rip up former Congressman (Orange County-CA) “B1 Bob” Dornan on the old “Politically Incorrect” show.
Thing is, driving is indeed a privilege and not a right. The right to move about freely is guaranteed by the Constitution to American citizens; and in that sense, it is recognized as a basic right of human liberty.
But back when the Constitution was written, no one would have just thrown someone on a wild horse and expected them to ride very well – not without much following practice. It is the same with automobiles, as anyone reading this site knows. We need to get on politicians and law enforcers to make them do the right thing. It would be for the safety of all.
Eliminate airbags and put a big spike on the steering wheel; the bigger the car, the bigger the spike. I’m sure everyone will keep their distance, obey the speed limits and think twice before running a stop-light then :)
“(I actually recall some states were removing parallel parking from tests because no one does it anymore. Ggggrrrrr.)”
Um, in California, I just got my license a few months ago. I spent TIMES more time in the DMV waiting line than the actual test.
Wanna know what I did for my test? I drove a few blocks around the DMV, all residential area.
No where near the freeway, no parking. Of any kind. Max speed? 35.
Now, I happen to have already done plenty of driving in my life before I got my license, and I’m a pretty good driver. It actually pisses me off that us teenagers don’t have to have MUCH more skill in driving to get our license. I know tons of friends who have licenses that shouldn’t, and I also know some people like myself who could drive better than 60% of California’s population by age 12.
In my 8000ish miles I’ve driven (yes, in about 8 months), I’ve come across so many morons. Many of them not even on the cell phones or anything, they ust cant drive worth crap. I really appreciate the moron that cost me getting my car’s carpets shampooed because he thought it was fine to jump in front of me-as I was going 40-from a dead stop. I managed not to hit him, but the 3 Starbucks in the passenger seat found their way to my carpets.
It amazes me. It should be a few hour-long test, with many, many different conditions.
/rant
BC and Ontario use a graduated licensing program where it takes roughly 2 years to receive a full license. In BC, you can drive at 16, but with a curfew, a co-pilot over 25 w/valid license and passenger restrictions and a big shiny sign on your ass.
After a year of this, you can drive without the curfew or co-pilot, but with the same passenger restriction, and a 0-level for blood alcohol. Also, it is my understanding that your license is automatically suspended for at least 24 in any accident (even if the other driver is at fault)
There are two road tests, half an hour to graduate from a learner’s permit to a Novice license, and a full hour-long with highway (but no parallel parking) for the full license.
Our driver-licensing program is run by the auto insurance company, so they have a vested interest in half-competent drivers.
Dare I say one thing – that youth who grew up playing video games are creating more younger drivers that are good drivers, because of the increased level of hand-eye coordination and decreased response time to problems? However, at the same time there are more people who have little regard for traffic law because of said video games. There was an article about this somewhere, but damned if I can find it. Google failed me!
It’s a unique thing though – I’m seeing a clear seperation, one that I didn’t see 12 years ago when I got my license – you are either really good at driving, or you shouldn’t be on the road at all. the middle ground is thinning out.
I will say I have seen less of the “scared woman driver” stereotype lately, but I’ve also seen some of the worst “ghetto driving” that I’ve ever seen. Ahh…Pittsburgh.
And someone mentioned parallel parking being eliminated from tests – very sad – because I see that as the biggest weakness. Parallel parking taught you to respect and know the dimensions of your vehicle at all times. A lot of younger people that I know can’t parallel park by backing into a space – they either pull into it head on and park crooked, or pass it up and look elsewhere. My mother used to be able to whip an 82 Olds Delta 88 Broughm into a space that was 6 inches bigger than the length of the car, and people now can’t seem to put an Elantra into that same space, despite it having a turning radius to die for.
Remember when the passenger side mirror was optional?
Edited to add one thing – I hate the fact that most people who are afraid of driving in the ‘elements’ don’t do anything to make it better. As soon as one raindrop falls, traffic starts stacking up. Don’t even get me started on snow. People often ask me how I drive so well in the snow – because every year, during the first snowfall, I go to an empty parking lot and play for 30 minutes or so – this way I know how the vehicle reacts, dips, dives, and spins – and I learn to control it. Take it upon yourself to learn a few things about your car – it could save your life…
Raising the driving age, as some states are considering is foolish… I’m with Jonny… start em young. Legit learner’s permits when you’re 13. That gives you three full years of supervised driving before you turn 16.
Last winter, I was late for work the one day. A woman in a Subaru station wagon (all wheel drive) decided that since it was snowy she had to drive 6 MILES PER HOUR for about 3 miles, first down a steep hill, on two-lane roads. We live in northern Michigan – surprise – we have snow about 4-5 months of the year some years.
She needed to have been taken out of the car, have the license removed from her on a permanent basis, and told to move closer to town.
I know it was 6 MILES PER HOUR because I have a Prius and the number is right there in front of me.
About a year ago I was waiting at a stoplight on my way home. Across from me in the oncoming lane was a guy in a pickup waiting for the light to change as well. To my amazement( or maybe not ) , a woman , on a cell phone , not paying any attention , ass ended the pickup truck. The guy driving the pickup got out , walked around to the back of his truck to survey the damage and to my amazement ( or maybe not ) the woman never stopped talking on her cell. The guy walked up to her window and tapped .She opened the window and the guy grabbed the phone and tossed it into traffic , got back into his pickup and drove away.
The majority of every bone headed move I ever see on the road has an idiot on a cell phone involved.
Glenn: does 6mph actually qualify as driving? Sounds more like parking to me! And sorry about the paragraph comment… the website ate my paragraph breaks too.
As for cell phones and driving, I’m firmly convinced that I will meet my doom when some cell-phone distracted moron creams me on my motorcycle.
dean:
My favorite phrase in traffic: “Careful there, you’re almost moving.”
Playing video games doesn’t teach shit about the friction circle in the real world. Who cares if you can react a few milliseconds faster if what you do is the wrong thing.
Car control skills are simply not taught in American driver’s ed. Sure, step on gas, step on brake, turn wheel, use signals [for the first and last time], what about evasive maneuvers or skid pad exercises or threshold braking? Nope, not done.
So, enjoy driving that Skyline GTR on a non-existant street in Nowheresville, but don’t tell me your ability to avoid a collision on a rainy freeway has been instilled by playing a video game.
Mark Hasty, whoever you are, thank you for a great laugh! Making it harder to legally drive in this country just isn’t gonna happen. All day long these days the radio in my office broadcasts campaign commecials for the upcoming primaries. Basically, it is a contest to see who can pander to the voters the most.
One suggestion. If you really want to see unqualified immigrants wreaking havoc on the roads, try Toronto.
It’s fairly hard to get a DL if you grow up in Canada, but if you immigrate, they give you one on the spot, even if your home country hands out licences like candy. No, I mean NO experience is required.
And it shows.
Any idiot can get a drivers license right now. Intense driver training and, god forbid, develoment of skills should be enforced. Plus, refresher courses every few years. It seems that even reading street signs properly is no longer a requirement.
During a long drive, I thought about some of the European and German traffic laws and standards as they have. European and Japanese fender-style sidemarkers would be a godsend to me because when people change lanes towards me on the freeway, I won’t think they’re trying to ram me. Also, the strictly enforced lane discipline (No passing on the right) in Germany makes changing lanes towards an exit much safer than now. You don’t have to worry about someone going a lot faster slamming into your rear.
My driving instructor during my hands-on drivers’ ed told me it was okay to do 10-15 over the speed limit. My own driving test consisted of driving around the block and parallel parking. My French roommate found it absurdly easy as did my Chilean roommate, to get a drivers’ license.
Also, I think learning how to drive properly goes a very long way. Here, we think of old people as driving around with the emergency brakes on and their feet on both pedals while wandering between lanes because they can’t see over the steering wheel. In contrast, a friend of mine visiting his 68 year old uncle in Germany said that his uncle drove his BMW 528i on the autobahn faster and better than anyone else he knew here in the ‘states.
As for illegals driving around, it really sucks. My parents have been rear ended by an illegal in a caddy. A friend of mine was T-boned by one last year…his own insurance company wouldn’t cover him and he almost got fined. The guy with no insurance or license suffered no consequences while the perfectly legal driver gets shafted.
MX5Bob – perhaps you should re-read what I wrote, and make sure you understand it this time. I’m saying people have better hand-eye coordination, not that it makes them better drivers by default. There still is a learning process involved. If you have better reaction and coordination, once the car control skills are learned, the person is a better driver.
I mean really, I’m not foolish enough to just be like “oh, well, video games automatically make better drivers”, so back off. My driving ability has been honed over a few courses and many hours of playing in rain and snow with several vehicles.
How about this thought, for a solution?
Place drivers education outside the scope of politics (gasp!) and government bureaucratic moronic supendously bad stupidity (gasp!) and put it in the hands of private companies which provide the drivers tests, and completely different private companies which provide the training?
Then utilize the British methods lock-stock-and-barrel, and require that everyone obtain a PRIVATE driver’s license or get off the road.
Brave, huh?
Yeah, it’s only our lives at stake, the government couldn’t care less. If you don’t believe that statement, look at the comments above, and open your eyes out on the roads and look for yourself.
To expand on MX5Bob’s comment about car control skills not being taught in driver’s ed. You are absolutely correct. I would wager that 80% of North Americans don’t know what understeer or oversteer is, let alone how to identify it when their car is doing it.
Driver testing in North America largely consists of the basic mechanics of operating the vehicle. Push the accelerator to go, brake to slow down, turn the steering wheel to change direction. Obey traffic signs and your good to go. Test emergency maneuvering? Hell no, who the fuck needs to stop suddenly in the rain?
There are some private driver training outfits that teach emergency skills (e.g. Young Drivers of Canada) and of course the advanced driving schools (e.g. Barber) but until licensing authorities require such courses we’re screwed.
I agree with the comment about video games being helpful. Helpful for me was that my Dad started letting me steer when I was 6, and by the time I was 9, I was driving the car in empty parking lots, despite a monster clutch. I also did the dodge’ems, but I would always try to see how long I could go without ramming or being rammed.
It would be nice if all the anti-aggressive driving people could come to realize that what makes driving safe is having people who really know how to drive, even in emergencies. We have a culture where people think of safety entirely in terms of cars that can protect them after the crash, rather than driving skills that can prevent the crash.
sivado writes:
Robert, Lay off the fascist comments about so-called illegal immigrants not speaking English. I was stunned by your lack of political acuity.
These aren’t fascist comments. Immigrants have always tried to learn English quickly, until the current wave. Drivers shouldn’t be on the road if they can’t read the road signs.
Furthermore, illegal immigration is a big problem in this country. The shibboleth is that “immigrants do jobs Americans don’t want to do.” The truth is that poor immigrants from south of the border, used to Third World wages, do jobs for pay that no American should have to accept. Studies have shown that mass immigration depresses the wages of Americans, particularly the most deprived Americans.
And as for those of us who love driving, in the 1990s, immigration added the equivalent of three New Jerseys to the US population. The numbers crossing the border are way up since then, do to the various specters of amnesty from Bush, Kennedy (my senator), McCain, and the rest of the odd bedfellow coalition of guilty liberals and big business Republicans. If the Senate amnesty passes, look for another 100 million to be residing in this country in 20 years, on top of the 300 million already here. (The US is already the fastest growing industrialized nation in the world.) And don’t suggest taht the Great Plains have plenty of room, unless you’re prepared to move there yourself. In fact, don’t even suggest it if you do move there. The Ogallala acquifer, the underground reservoir that supplies the Great Plains, has been steadily receding. Yes, unless we stabilize the population, driving is just going to become more and more unpleasant.
As for any supposed lack of political acuity on Mr. Farago’s part, it is you, Silvado, that lacks political acuity. Two thirds of Americans, when asked to choose betw the senat and the house bills, choose the house bill, provided the question is asked in such a way that people realize the house bill isn’t going to result in a quick roundup of the estimated 12 million illegals. In fact, with employer sanctions, and other measures that would make it much harder for illegals to find work here, they would deport themselves. Even pluralities of liberals (such as me) and Hispanics support the House bill over the Senate bill.
Even here in liberal Mass, where the mass immigration lobby thought the bill to provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants would be a slam dunk, the bill failed to pass by 96-57 or so.
Anyone who wants to be involved with this issue should go to numbersusa.org. More info is available at the Center for Immigration Studies (cis.org, or maybe cis.com) and fairus.com.
Place drivers education outside the scope of politics (gasp!) and government bureaucratic moronic supendously bad stupidity (gasp!) and put it in the hands of private companies which provide the drivers tests, and completely different private companies which provide the training?
How about before you drive, you have to get a private company to guarantee your license, and if you get in an accident that is your fault, that company has to pay for the damage you cause?
…
…
…
Oh, wait. We already have that in most states.
I don’t think better testing will really help keep bad drivers off the road. (The eldery are an obvious exception, but from personal observation I don’t really see them at the scenes of many accidents.) The problem is that people aren’t paying attention while driving, which is something you cannot test for during a test. Of course I’m going to pay attention while the instructor is sitting right there.
We need people monitoring for actual dangerous driving. One effective way to do this is to have an unmarked cop car going in and out of traffic, looking for dangerous drivers (not necessarily speeders) and then issuing them a ticket — maybe not even bothering to pull them over.
I don’t think most cops would want to do that, though, since it would be dangerous. Maybe we need to employ people to monitor roads from buildings or bridges — but I suspect it would be hard to learn the environment of traffic in the few seconds you would have.
qfrog said:
What about when one of the ???morons??? drives into you? Thats cool with you too then???. or? Your ???morons??? are really nothing more than poorly trained drivers doing what they believe is okay.
“My” morons are the well over 50% of the people that simply DON’T know how to DRIVE. They’re ignorant, rude, hold up traffic (several do it on purpose), create congestion (one of the leading cause of wrecks) and maintain control only as long as all they have to do is aim and go slow. In the event of a slide or emergency situation, they’re totally lost. They are often the CAUSE of an accident, even though they weren’t actually IN it.
As to one of them driving into me… I’m willing to take my chances in exchange for letting Darwinism take it’s course (survival of the fittest).
I didn’t read all of the comments (it’s at 61 now), but I did see a few people comments about Europe and how the stringent testing here makes for better driving, etc…Sorry, but in my experience this is bullshit.
I’ve lived in France for the better part of 3 years now. I managed to get a French license by running around in circles, doing a hand stand on one hand, jumping through a flaming ring and other circus acts…(actually, it had more to do with “moving” from NYS to another state to “exchange” my CT license for a French one…lots of bureaucratic BS).
Anyway, the French driving test – which I think everyone needs to realize is good for LIFE! No eye tests every 5-10 years here…Grandma learned to drive pre-WWI in some motorized horse cart and that’s good enough for 2006 – is much more comprehensive than the tests in the US. They need to prove a certain amount of competency behind the wheel, and like someone said about Germany, this involves, day-time, night-time, city and highway driving.
They are more disclined on the highway…holy shit, I can’t tell you how annoying it is to come back and try to drive on the NYS Thruway, where some asshole spends 2 hours in the left lane at 55MPH…but other than that, they are just as bad drivers as Americans. They are arrogant, they are brainless. My experience is that in any medium-sized city, the drivers are as bad as anything you’re going to find in NY City.
I don’t know what to tell you, but I don’t know that harder licensing is the solution…Better enforcement, stricter penalties for real violations (speeding in-and-of-itself is not dangerous, speeding and cutting through traffic is aggressive driving and should be penalized appropriately). The great thing here in France is that they have a couple of different vehicles that means they can take the licenses away from bad/drunk drivers: They have the mini cars that don’t require a license – they are something like 500 cc and less they do about 45 mph and they’ll get you to work and home and to the supermarket. Also, 125cc motorbikes (and mopeds) don’t need any real licenses so deadbeats can drive those too.
salokj, I think the rest of the people in their comments noted how much better German and even British drivers were – anyone who has ever been to France or had a friend even visit France, knows that their drivers are TERRIBLE.
So I don’t think our point about more stringient testing is invalid because the French can’t drive any better than most Americans.
nonce, if you like the idea of big-brother looking at drivers and just writing them tickets from what they see on cameras, you’ll have to try driving in Britain, Australia, Canada, etc.
Here in Michigan and in many other states, you cannot be given a ticket for an infraction unless it is given to you in person by a police officer.
Glenn,
Tell me if I understood? The Germans and the Brits drive better because of more stringent testing, the French drive the same as Americans despite more stringent testing. The French drive that way because they are that way. Am I correct so far?
So to continue this reasoning – more or less testing/ticketing/whatever won’t make a lick of difference in the case of the French, so why would it make sense in the case of Americans?
By my understanding, you’ve just argued for less control in testing because if it’s a cultural issue, what’s the point of wasting more money on the same result?
I really don’t think that the testing/licensing process is less stringent here in France than in Germany, but we can all agree that the Germans drive much better than the French and Americans.
salokj,
Perhaps it is cultural that the French are poor drivers and don’t care about others on the roadway. The Italians also have a terrible reputation for bad driving – at least in the eyes of other drivers who have the misfortune of driving in Italy along side them.
So does this mean our American driving culture and (lack of) standards is getting less nordic / north European, and more latin / south European?
I dunno. Could be.
All I know is the driving standards suck here and are getting worse. Having lived in the UK, I can tell you that driving is better there. Whether this can be attributed to the better education or not is only a guess on my part, but it seems interesting that Germans also have a far better standard of education for driving, and their driving is far better than Americans.
Besides, when I lived in the UK, I had to take the British driving licence test as if I had never driven at all. 56% of testees fail the first time, 70% fail subsequent retests. (I passed first time, thank you very much). You as much as admitted that you were able to get a CT drivers license and just change it for a French license since the French didn’t seem to have such an agreement to just swap licenses with NY. So you took the easy way out, whereas there was no such option for me when I lived in the UK (though I was given to understand that Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians could just swap for a British driving licence).
Perhaps there is less stringient drivers education and more relaxed licensing requirements in France than meet the eye. As you said, if you drive a certain class of vehicle you need not even bother getting a real license and passing the proper test. Doesn’t France have those tiny low speed city cars in which anyone can drive without a proper license?
I suppose that more tickets and so forth may not make any difference in driving standards in the United States. You may have a point, there. We may never find out because the likelihood of this happening is probably nil.
When I was underwrting for a specialty insurance company, I noted that the only police forces in the United States that seemed to be writing tickets for tailgating or following too close were in southern New England (not New York, certainly).
Certainly tailgating is pandemic, as is red light running, not stopping at stop signs, excessive speeding, staying in the left lane instead of having lane discipline, talking on cell phones and weaving, etc.
I also had access to Federal and international driving statistics and driving standards are poor in the US compared to similar stats in the UK. Very poor.
The UK driving standards are improving, while ours are deteriorating. The UK is a far safer place to drive than the US, overall, despite smaller roads and far more traffic (the UK being not much larger than Michigan, yet having 8 times the population).
I don’t have all the answers, salojk, I’m not the answer man / genius.
Anyone want to try their hand at a practice British driving exam online? You may not do as well as a Brit because of signage and cultural differences, but you might want to “have a go” and see how you do. In no way is this test online as difficult as the real deal, I might add.
Go to http://drivtest.carltononline.com/test.htm and click on “practice test”.
What have you got to lose except a little pride?
Glenn,
I don’t know much about UK licencing, but here in France you’ve got a ton of stuff to do, including a minimum of 20 hours of professional instruction, class room instruction, driving experience with parents/guardians. There’s a written test where you must answer at least 35/40 questions correctly. The road test is a minimum of 25 minutes with technical questions and at least 2 “manouevers” to do – K-turn, parallel parking, etc.
I don’t see how me figuring out the loopholes to the French system means that I am more or less qualified to judge the standard of driving here. When I knew that I had to get a license here, I looked into the process- it’s nothing like the process for getting one in NYS. I didn’t take the “easy” way out as much as I took the intelligent way out (economically and time-related).
The UK accepts exchanges from the entire EC plus a handful of other countries.
I am also on “probation” for 3 full years and am considered like a new driver, since they won’t accept my 11 years of driving in NYS. I have only 6 points (out of the normal 12), which is now only 5 points (stupid speed cameras), to play with.
And yes, those tiny low speed cars that you speak of – those were the cars that I was discussing in my previous post.
It may very well be more difficult to get a license in Germany or Britain, I’ve never lived there or discussed with them the difficulties that they have had – yes, I think that the US standards are low (I have friends from Jersey that never had to leave a parking lot to get theirs), but I know for a fact that the level is higher here in France (then in the US) – there are certain aspects where the French are better drivers (as I said, lane discipline), but as a whole, the driving experience is not leaps-and-bounds ahead of that in the US.
Technology coupled with political pressure from media stories (once the media start to “notice” the god-awful carnage on roads despite modern cars filled with safety equipment) may solve the problem of poor drivers.
Currently, some cars have cruise control which will not “allow” you to tailgate. I just read something on the web about a system under development where there is an electronic “eye” which looks for speed limit signs and can slow the car down to those limits for the driver. The Prius has a system in some countries where you can have the car parallel park for you (the driver only operating the brakes, not the steering). There are GPS nav systems in cars.
So, how long before we simply get into a “car”, speak the destination or put it into a keyboard, push “power” and sit back while the car drives with perfect road manners, no risk-taking, no possible collitions (barring a catastrophic power outage everywhere at the same time and sudden failure of all satellites at the same time).
Being a car guy, I rue the day it ever happens. For one, all collector cars would be banned from the roadway (they’d have to be).
I have a 16 year old daughter that I'm teaching how to drive. It's scary as hell to expose your child to the kind of potential carnage that exists out there. Sometimes I just want to sell all three cars and ride the bus…