[gibolt]

The real issue is all the current bad drivers. A requirement to start re-testing normal people in addition to the elderly would be a large benefit to society.

[simonw]

I'm from the UK, took driving lessons in the UK but then passed my driving test in the USA (in California).

The USA driving test is so much easier than the UK one!

UK: Varied junctions and roundabouts, traffic lights, independent driving (≈20 minutes via sat nav or signs), one reversing manoeuvre (parallel park, bay park, or pull up on the right and reverse), normal stops and move-offs (including from behind a parked car), hill start, emergency stop.

California: Cross three intersections, three right turns, three left turns, lane change, backing up, park in a bay, obey stop signs and traffic lights.

My understanding is that the USA test is so much easier because it's hard to get by in most of the USA without a car, so if the test was harder people would likely just drive without a license instead.

[foobarian]

Not to mention no stick shift. The driving test from hell in hilly Adriatic cities: parallel park facing downhill

To be fair even people who have been driving many years do this by grinding up the clutch.

[wccrawford]

It depends on the area. My (rural) test was harder than your CA one. My test was easier than many of my big-city friends' tests.

But I've heard of areas that's it's easier, too, like your CA experience.

[jen20]

Similarly, when I did a US driving test (with a UK license), the examiner himself commented on the relative difficulty.

[amy214]

have you taken the maryland test? no road test. an obstacle course

[rs186]

Complete unrelated, I just wish every driver on the road re-learn that cyclists have the same rights of being on city roads like cars.

[Antoniocl]

How this issue skews probably depends on where you live, but in the area I live, I have the opposite complaint: that bicyclists should re-learn that they are legally required (in my city) to ride on roads, rather than barrelling down sidewalks.

That said, this is coming from me as a pedestrian, so maybe someone who was primarily a driver would have a completely different take from both of us.

[Foofoobar12345]

And I wish cyclists would re-learn that pedestrians have more rights of being on sidewalks. That said, the bigger plague on sidewalks are e-scooters.

Additionally, most cyclists I see never stop at stop signs no matter how busy the intersection is.

[bathtub365]

Yep, including not being allowed to run red lights. It would also be great if they had license plates so you could easily report dangerous behaviour.

[stronglikedan]

I just wish every cyclist would re-learn that they're bound by the same traffics laws as every driver on the road. I'd bet accidents are more often than not mostly their fault.

[MisterMower]

Cyclists contribute to congestion and occupy road space that was created through taxes on motorists while paying nothing for these benefits.

Cyclists are not licensed and their bicycles are not tagged or inspected for safe operation on roads, unlike motorists.

Cyclists are rarely subjected to traffic law enforcement despite demanding all of the rights that motorists pay for and are licensed for.

Cyclists are a danger to themselves and others while operating in the same area as motorists, but are not required to carry insurance or wear safety equipment, while motorists are held to more stringent regulation.

In a nutshell, cyclists are free-riding risk takers who are arrogant to boot. When they start acting like motorists and pay taxes like motorists and are fined like motorists for violating the law, I will happily change my opinion.

[bsder]

> A requirement to start re-testing normal people in addition to the elderly would be a large benefit to society.

1) Are you going to fund that? Because it means a significant increase in testing examiners.

2) The data say over and over and over that the single best traffic safety enhancement would be to ban drivers until they are 21. People have to be in their 80s(!) before they are as bad as drivers in their teens and early 20s.

[hamdingers]

1. The people who want to drive should fund their own testing. This is how it works for every other heavy equipment operator's license.

2. Sounds good

[dmurray]

1) could reasonably be self funded. $150 per driver every 5 years is a rounding error compared to all the other costs of car ownership.

2) how much of this is because the drivers are young, and how much because they are inexperienced? If you ban teenage drivers, your 22-year-old drivers will still be inexperienced.

[Alex-Programs]

Is that because they're young, or because they're inexperienced?

[dddddaviddddd]

I would support re-testing on some interval like every 5 years. That said, so much could be done to make the environment safer. Lower speeds, more traffic calming, safer intersections, safer alternatives (public transit, walking, bicycle).

[sensen]

I can't help but think about the failures of basic human-oriented infrastructure when I can't safely ride my bike to the grocery store 2 miles from my home. I don't know what it'll take to change this in our cities, and it feels like an uphill battle when seemingly very few people care about problems like these.

[thinkingtoilet]

Everyone agrees to this, the problem is there needs to be a way for this to be done efficiently so it's not another regressive tax on poor people's time and money.

[tialaramex]

I think the US at least does sight tests periodically? The UK still doesn't do that, you're required to have decent vision to drive, but the license renewals are just paperwork, pay the money and click a web form.

There is talk in the UK of requiring sight tests for the elderly. Historically UK licenses required frequent renewal, when they were centralised for convenience they ceased to have a renewal step, and it was kinda-sorta reintroduced much later once they had photographs because of course a 40 year photo is unrecognisable. But because of the focus on photographs the renewal step is integrated to passports, and is a chain-of-likeness documentation process. If I look a big greyer than last time in the photo I upload, pay, wait a few days, OK, some mix of humans and machines says that's the same guy as the other photo except older, replace image, print new ID.

Since it's aligned with passports (which also care about image similarity) there's no room in that step for like "Do your eyes still work?" let alone "Do you know what this fucking sign means?" or anything resembling mandatory continuing education.

[throwup238]

> I think the US at least does sight tests periodically?

Depends on the state because drivers licenses are their remit.

[HiroshiSan]

Yeah the mindset is essentially drive to spec in the test and then skirting the law from then on.

[soupfordummies]

I think a lot about this (bad drivers) and I’m not really sure how to fix it since I think it’s really a problem of underlying selfishness and perceived-exceptionalism mixed with overestimation of skill.