Quote Originally Posted by cptschlongenheimer View Post
Ghost makes a good point too....

Maybe there's a middle ground here?
I think that if you want better driver training, and more of a European style of licensing and driving in general, then you'd have to improve mass transit systems.


Basically, the two are linked, Japan and Germany can require tiered licensing and mandatory training because people can still get to work without a license and without needing a car (or bike).

We have nothing like that here...if you're going to ratchet up the requirements then you have to have an alternate solution...and we don't...

In the years since the 1950s/1960s we've done nothing but drive *more* miles every year. IIRC, it's roughly 5x the mileage it was when interstates first appeared. Part of it is urban sprawl, part of it that we're all commuting father to get to work than we used to, but either way, it'd be nigh impossible to reverse that trend without some *viable* alternative...

You could require more training, but at whose expense? The state doesn't have the money to offer it for free, and the economy is killing people with $4/gallon gas, there's not much room for $2,000 just to get your license so you can drive back and forth to your three part-time jobs...

Unfortunately, I think that without both halves (training + alternative transport) you're stuck with what we've got.

Even something like a mandatory "refresher" course/test every 3-5 years would be helpful, but it's another expense and would have to be paid for somehow out of someone's budget...unless you charged the license-holder, and then you're just piling on yet another fee--which wouldn't go over well...

Again, not being *negative* just trying to be realistic...and it seems we're stuck as we are until/unless someone wants to pump a lot of money into overhauling the way every American drives and looks at car ownership and daily transportation...which...won't....happen...