ccs020@ucdavis.UUCP (Kevin Chu) (10/25/85)
In California, it is far too easy to get your license, the test is
just too simple. The written part is all BS and the practical part
barely covers anything really practical.
16 year old kids are let loose on the road with only the most basic
of basic skills learned. They are not prepared to handle situations
that occur on the road. I'm amazed that insurance companies even
cover them at all. I know that I was not a safe driver when I first
got mt license, even though I though I was.
Now I know that it is a catch-22 situation, since it takes experience
to become a safer driver, but a harder drivers' test would help to
keep some of the more inept drivers off the road.
Before I took my test, a friend said to me, "Don't worry about passing,
just think of all of the stoners and losers who make it."
I think that says it all.
--
--Kevin Chu
..!{ucbvax,lll-crg,dual}!ucdavis!vega!ccs020gnu@l5.uucp (John Gilmore) (10/26/85)
In article <189@ucdavis.UUCP>, ccs020@ucdavis.UUCP (Kevin Chu) writes: > In California, it is far too easy to get your license, the test is > just too simple. The written part is all BS and the practical part > barely covers anything really practical. As one who has taken driving tests in about 6 states, California is the hardest one I've come across. I got "Chauffer's Licenses" in several of those states because it was trivial to do so and it might help me get a job sometime. Usually they just give you a different written test, and you are then licensed to drive everything from a moped up thru a double-trailer 18-wheeler or school bus. In California, to get a motorcycle license, you have to drive a motorcycle in front of them (and take it around a small obstacle course without putting your feet down). To get an 18-wheeler license, you have to show up with an 18-wheeler and take a test (or have your employer certify that you can drive one, which I suspect 99% of the people do). A license to drive a delivery truck for hire does not let you drive a school bus or a tractor-trailer. The Calif. written tests are about the same as everywhere -- the usual "what color is a stop sign" and "how many feet from an intersection are you allowed to change lanes" and all the other ignored numbers and rules of real-life driving. My favorite "written" test was in New Mexico, where the test is given by a machine that shows you a slide of a road situation and then asks a multiple choice question. It picks 20 out of 100 slides at random and grades your test automatically. They also require eye tests in Calif, though I don't know if you have to retake them occasionally. In many states the AARP has successfully avoided making older people stop driving when they can't see any more. This leads to things like "the usual" way for a motorcyclist to die being to have an old lady pull out right in front of her. This has happened to me 3 or 4 times; I avoided the collision (with difficulty), and screamed at the driver at the next intersection. Mostly they just say "I didn't see you" either as an excuse or a justification of almost killing me on the spot... One word about tickets and "the punks with all the tickets killed my sister and they should all go to jail". I've never injured or killed anybody with a motor vehicle (as a motorcyclist, the stats are definitely against me ever doing a car driver or pedestrian any harm). That doesn't stop the damn government "public servants" from issuing me plenty of tickets. If speeding is "a danger to the public" then why is more than 50% of the public doing it? The Feds have to keep threatening to cut off highway funds if the states don't bring the "complicance" with 55MPH above 40%...
mom@sfmag.UUCP (M.Modig) (10/28/85)
> In California, it is far too easy to get your license, the test is > just too simple. The written part is all BS and the practical part > barely covers anything really practical. > The road test had been watered down considerably even seven or eight years ago (I have no idea what it's like now). But at least you have to take the written test at least every other time you renew. In New Jersey you only have to pass once. And, according to some of my colleagues at work, in New York you can actually purchase a list of the test questions that are used to compose the tests for that state. In South Dakota you used to just have to go into the local county sheriff's office with ID and proof of age. (Not sure if that's still true). From the people I've talked to, it seems California is one of the more difficult states to get and keep a driving license. In some states it is also very easy to get bus or truck licenses once you have a regular license. This would seem to enforce my general opinion that driving is regarded (though not by me) as more of a right rather than a privilege, since it seems a driver need show only minimal competence to get a license here. Licenses in other countries such as Britain are much more serious matters and considerably harder to get. > Before I took my test, a friend said to me, "Don't worry about passing, > just think of all of the stoners and losers who make it." > > I think that says it all. > Agreed. OK, then, what SHOULD be the minimal requirements for getting a license? Mark Modig ihnp4!sfmag!mom
ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (10/29/85)
... > They also require eye tests in Calif, though I don't know if you have > to retake them occasionally. In many states the AARP has successfully > avoided making older people stop driving when they can't see any more. > This leads to things like "the usual" way for a motorcyclist to die > being to have an old lady pull out right in front of her. This has > happened to me 3 or 4 times; I avoided the collision (with difficulty), > and screamed at the driver at the next intersection. Mostly they just > say "I didn't see you" either as an excuse or a justification of almost > killing me on the spot... > I have been in the same situation. I have had to head for the dirt to avoid a moving steel wall on wheels. A very good friend was recently in intensive care for the same reason. I have 20-20 vision in both eyes and very good relexes. I have also cut of a motorcyclist on more than one occasion. The point? No matter how much you *WANT* to help bikers, they are still hard to see. (The last one was a small trail bike in my blind spot while driving into the sunset. The side lighting blinded me somewhat when I did my reflex look to the side. His yellow paint was lost in the general yellow glare. Didn't make me feel any less like a chump when half way through changing lanes the guy pulled past me on the center line ...) You ride your bike and take your chances. I did. I wrecked two bikes before I gave up on the idea. You don't have to be old, feeble, or uncaring to not see a bike. -- E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems 'If you can dream it, you can do it' Walt Disney This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)
kemasa@sdcc13.UUCP (kemasa) (10/31/85)
California might be one of the harder states to get a license, but it still is too easy. My parents had all of us kids take private driving lessons, which prepared us to be better drivers. I can imagine being able to get a license after only driving a few hours. I couldn't even get my license until I had taken the driving section of the class from High School (We got to go driving for I think 3 hours for three days, had a good time, the only comment the instructor made was to one guy who was going too slow on the freeway), the private school wasn't good enough for the state. The actual test only took 10 minutes, just driving around the block. I haven't been back to the DMV for about 7 years and I don't have go in until 1988 because I haven't had any tickets. We some of the people on the road who "know how to drive" scares me, I wish that it was alot harder to get a license, so hopefully less people would be killed. I could have gotten my license from just the state classes, but I don't think I would feel safe. I also think it would be a good idea if people could take their car out ant learn how to control it in a skid, and under other such cases, I don't think most people will remember what to do just from seeing a paper telling them. A note about motorcycle and cars: I have seen it said that the cars should watch out for the motorcycles, which is true, but in rush hour traffic I have been scared by several motorcycles who go past me at about 30+ when I am stopped and because freeways are not straight and with that much difference in speed you might be trying to change lanes and not see the motorcycle. Another comment is that I was driving in LA rush hour (I used to and still kind of do live there, or survive) and I had stopped and the lanes are narrow in places and a motorcycle pulled up right next to the rear fender of my car on the passenger side. Traffic started to go and so I took my foot off the break and started to go when I felt a bump, it turns out that the motorcycle rider put his foot in front of my rear tire and got mad when I ran it over. I stopped and he calmed down saying that it happens alot and that is why he got mad. With a rider like that I don't feel at all sorry for him. I have a couple of friends who ride motorcycles, one of which has taken the classes and is very careful and watchs out for cars, the other is just plain crazy, but what do you expect from a Digital Employee (I used to be one until I decided to leave the real world and go back to school), the reason I say this is that I doubt that I would ever have a problem seeing the one who had taken the class because he is where you would expect to find a car or a motorcycle. I really don't think it is up the driver of a car to look everywhere for a motorcycle, yes they should be looking out, but I wouldn't look a mile back on the freeway for a motorcycle or a car before going into the emergency lane if I had car problems. HOW ABOUT A DEMAND FOR A RETURN OF EMERGENCY LANES IN LA!!!!!!! There was a bad accident that I had the misfortune to see, a car was stopped with a flat tire and was hit by a car doing about 55+. The woman from the stopped car was very lucky and was standing by her car and saw both cars destroyed. Kemasa