Driver's licenses

[dazzleman]

Not to mention that the drivers test could be passed easily by a quasi-reatrded monkey.  If you fail the test, do everyone a favor and stay off the road.  And please remove your genes from the pool while you are at it.

Ain't that the truth....

My driving test consisted of driving around the block, basically.  It could hardly have been easier.  If anything, the test should be more difficult to prevent unsupervised operation by people before they are ready to deal with real challenges on the road.  The road test I took contained no real challenges.  If I'd failed, it would have been for some obscure reason.

[dazzleman]

I would just be quicker to take the bloody things away from people. 

DUI?  You never get to drive again.

Reckless driving?  You never get to drive again.

25mph over the limit?  You never get to drive again.

5 moving violations in any 5 year period?  You never get to drive again.

Park in a handicapped spot illegally?  We make it legal for you to use one in the future.

Dude, do you drive yourself?  Just about EVERYBODY who drives has done each of those things you listed at one time or another.  Well, I never had 5 moving violations in a five-year period, but I had 3, and most of my friends have had at least that many at various times.   And on the highway under the right conditions, I've gone 25 mph over the speed limit, or close to it, countless times.  I also had a close call with a potential DUI once, but that was a lot more rare.

I'm not saying people shouldn't be penalized for these things, but your penalties are a little harsh.  In my opinion, I was never penalized enough the times I got nailed, and neither were any of my friends in the cases that I know about, but I think appropriate penalties could be a little stricter than the slap-on-the-wrist fines that I've gotten without approaching the draconian penalties that you proposed.

[dazzleman]

[
Nope, I don't drive.  My eyes are too messed up.  Idiots still gave me a license though.  This is how I know that the little slip of plastic does not indicate the actual ability of the posessor to control a motor vehicle.

Other than the 25 mph over the limit they are really not harsh standards.  It takes a lot, I mean a lot, to get a reckless driving charge; even then it is usually reduced by the judge.  You yourself pointed out that it takes a lot of effort to get 5 moving violations piled up in 5 years.  Most people get to 2 or 3 and catch on to the need to control themselves.

The crippling people who illegally use a handicapped spot was a joke.  Would be fun if a judge offered it to a chronic offender though.

You're right that the piece of plastic a license represents doesn't really mean much, unfortunately.

I have to be honest - I got 3 tickets in less than 3 years, and I never caught on to the need to control myself.  There was no reason to -  I wasn't penalized heavily enough.  Every time I got nailed, I simply paid a light fine and kept speeding.  After those 3 tickets, I went a long time after that without another ticket, but that was only luck.  Getting tickets never made me slow down.   I agree that stronger measures should be taken against persistent violators, but I think suspension for a period of time is more appropriate than lifetime revocation.

Reckless driving can mean a lot of different things.  True reckless driving should bring a heavy fine, suspension for a period of time, and possibly jail time if serious enough.  But reckless driving is a very elastic term, and in some states simply means going 20+ mph over the speed limit, which is something I do all the time and have been ticketed for.  A lot depends on the context.

Under your rules, almost nobody that I know would be able to drive.  Come to think of it, that may be a good thing!

One thing I favor when it comes to licenses is a more difficult road test, and possibly periodic retesting to make sure people are keeping up their skills.

[dazzleman]

It must be easier to get a license in America (or at least in certain parts of America).  Here, at least, the license does actually represent quite a bit: it means that you passed a written exam, a vision exam, and two road tests in which you prove your competency to a certified instructor.

Here it's way too easy to get a license in my opinion.  Details vary with different states, but I know of no state that conducts a realistic competency test for driving.

My road test consisted, basically, of driving around the block on side streets, with a parallel parking (one car only, low curbs) and a u-turn.  No traffic light, no multi-lane road, and certainly no highway-type driving.  The test did not contain any of the challenging situations that drivers face on a daily basis.

[dazzleman]

It must be easier to get a license in America (or at least in certain parts of America).  Here, at least, the license does actually represent quite a bit: it means that you passed a written exam, a vision exam, and two road tests in which you prove your competency to a certified instructor.

Here it's way too easy to get a license in my opinion.  Details vary with different states, but I know of no state that conducts a realistic competency test for driving.

My road test consisted, basically, of driving around the block on side streets, with a parallel parking (one car only, low curbs) and a u-turn.  No traffic light, no multi-lane road, and certainly no highway-type driving.  The test did not contain any of the challenging situations that drivers face on a daily basis.

Doesn't CT have Behind The Wheel? It's more useful then an actual drivers test IMO. You actually do drive on highways, multi-lane roads with center turning lanes and in some challenging situations.

Is Behind the Wheel a simulated driving test?  I never heard of it before.
I don't know whether Connecticut has it.  As far as I know, Connecticut gives the traditional driving test behind the local DMV office.

In any case, I took my driving test a long time ago, and it wasn't in Connecticut.  I was living in New York at the time, and I took it there.  When I moved to Connecticut and switched my license, they waived the road test since I already had a license from another state.