The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: Do you think we need more difficult tests in order for a person to obtain/keep a driver license, or do you think the testing is good enough?
Talk about it….
44 comments
I think the tests are fine just as they are. The problem is how the drivers are driving when they are not being tested.
With all of the hit and runs going on I am wondering if these runners have a license or insurance. I wouldn’t walk anywhere in San Jose. Hit and run seems to be a sport there.
I think the drivers test is OK. Still bugged about closing the DMV in Walnut Creek.
San Jose has alot of H1B types. They make $200k, yet have no clue how to drive. I saw a guy (asian) hit a car in the parking lot. I was avoiding him while walking (he obviously didn’t have a clue how to drive). I asked him if he was going to leave a note or pay for the damage. He tried the I don’t speak English thing and went off. I guess it is culturally ok to hit and run in Asia
I hate that no English garbage.
They need to go back to more training and testing of strictly driving rules and techniques like it use to be 40 years ago. Drop the drug and alcohol part in the driving school and make it a required second course to be able to apply for a license. There are way to many young drivers out there that break the most basic rules of the road that make it dangerous for everyone. Drivers training was to get everyone to drive and act pretty much the same way so we all have a idea of what the other driver is going to do. Now we all have to drive pure defense just to get anywhere since half the time you have know clue what the other driver is going to do are will do unexpectedly
Also when I got my 1st license I was required to show everything that is now required for a “Real ID” . WHY DO I NEED TO DO IT AGAIN!
A thousand times yes, considering that automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans under 55, according to the Association for Safe International Road Travel.
If that’s the case, then why are Newsom and Biden going after guns?
For people that have been driving for years, the test is ok just the way it is, but the written test should be required every time they renew their license, just so they can keep up with new laws. For anybody just starting out, and applying for their first license, they should be required to attend classes for a couple of weeks at their own expense, to fully understand how a motor vehicle works, and how to operate and drive one. The initial driving test, both, written and behind the wheel, should be tougher, and longer.
Yes, Seginus. Yes, 1000 times. Most idiots are are no roads.
I hear ya, them idiots are are no roads for sure these days….
Seginus, now that’s a new one…..
Found out when my granddaughter was learning to drive that driving schools teach just enough to pass the test. I had to fill in with more real life lessons. She passed her test that was all of 5 minutes long. Yes, the tests should cover much more than they do now.
My son took his driver training course 25 years ago. His teacher was from India and was approximately 30 years old. The teacher only started driving himself 3 years prior to teaching my son. Needless to say, I became my son’s driver education teacher!
No matter the test, people will be idiots and selfish behind the wheel. Cause it’s all about them.
Driver training used to be a one semester course in high school. No longer offered. A person using driving skills everyday, algebra on the other hand? I say cut back on the needless stuff like math for non-STEM types, and even (gasp) cut back on racial studies.
I’m fine with the test for the majority of license seekers. However, there should be some sort of annual test once you reach a certain age (let’s say 70, just because).
These folks already know how to drive since they’ve been doing it for 50+ years so maybe no changes to the written/driving exams. But things like vision, motor function, and reaction time do tend to diminish with age. At least test the seniors’ vision every year.
Professor—Drivers over 70 have to renew their license in person every five years.
Thanks, Dawg but I already knew that.
That’s why I suggested “annual”.
No. Crack down on those that are getting violation tickets and at causing accidents.
Yes. Especially for first time. Include testing on the ability to avoid poles, walls, and trees that swerve into your path. Also driving and texting skills, and what to do when another motorist starts shooting at you. Then add a Rorschach test for each new driver. Because, it’s important to screen out the dangerous psychopaths
I don’t have my driver’s license to drive a car I only have my driver’s license to drive people crazy
Many years ago when I took my initial test in Pa., I went with an actual state trooper. Very different from what others are describing.
The tests are fine. The problem is that drivers choose to disobey the law. The punishment for a first time moving violation such as speeding should be three days on a work crew picking up trash, painting over graffiti, etc. A second moving violation within a ten year period should result in two days in jail. No exceptions.
As with almost every other criminal/social problem, if existing laws were strictly enforced, everyone would be a whole lot better off. FYI- If someone commits “Hit and Run”, don’t expect the police to do anything. Same with no insurance and no license. The opposite of Love isn’t hate, it is NEGLECT, and Democrats ruining California are experts at it.
Not really because that isn’t going to stop the ever-increasing running of red light and stop signs. The weaving in and out of traffic at high rates of speed like they are on a racetrack and treating speed limit signs like they are just suggestions It’s not the DMV testing that is the problem it’s he driver when they get out on the road and think it’s all about them
I remember when driver’s education was provided in the public school system. We had the course itself, the driving simulators and then of course driving an actual car with a couple of your fellow students & the instructor. The cars were furnished by the school and had a brake on the instructors side as well as the driver’s side
There was a certain amount of peer pressure to be a good, safe driver when your classmates are in the car with you. If you were bad your friends would never let you hear the end of it.
I think most of us were far better prepared to be drivers when it came time to take the actual driving test. So in short NOW I think the tests should be more difficult to try and make sure people are actually ready.
Yeah, it should be harder to get and easier to lose. Anyone convicted of going 100+ MPH on the highway (banning a verifiable emergency) should automatically have their driving license revoked permanently.
Not sure it would result in any changes in the way people are driving these days. Common sense says that you are supposed to stop at red lights, but SO many people keep on driving through them! Also, the crazy people who drive at least 20 mph over the speed limits and get upset with those only going about 5 miles over the limit. And then you have those self-entitled drivers who speed and cut back and forth through the cars on the freeway just so they can get to where they’re going when they want to!!!
The tests should be in English only.
No interpreters allowed.
Cellophane—In 1986, Prop 63 made it official, the voters overwhelmingly voted to make English the official language of California. As always, the Dems don’t care what the voters want, and do whatever they please at the taxpayer’s expense anyway.
Just watching the way others drive speaks volumes on its own.
…oh heck yes… they actually took out the freeway part of the drive test because it made too many people fail & complain… so you can be on a freeway next to some one that has never driven on a freeway! Same for parallel parking… you can make 15 errors – and still get your license… You get 3 drive tests – then if you fail all 3 , you just take the written again then get 3 more drives tests.. I’ve taken people out on drives that had 4 permits! That’s 12 tries and can still get their license! (DMV Examiner)
No. The current test (written and behind the wheel) is the fine the way it is. The test is designed to prove that the drivers know the basic laws and ability to operate a car in a safely manner. So when the drivers get into an accident, they can’t claim that I don’t know the law or how to operate a car. As for making the test harder to prevent hit and run, ect, drivers who can’t pass the test just will break the law and drive without a license; same as people who have guns but can’t legally own a gun.
Weak argument Paul.
I’ll bet that was straight from “The Bleeding Heart for Dummies” handbook.
The current system is a joke, and a bad one at that. There should be a driving test that requires you to demonstrate that you can drive and respond correctly to emergency situations, not just jamming the brakes on. You should have to demonstrate correct avoidance maneuvers at a high enough speed such that you do it at some minimum level, perhaps 0.5g. You should have to demonstrate car control in a skid, which can easily be done on a large wet paved area. Freeway driving, including proper merging should be a required part of the test and should be done when there is sufficient traffic to make it somewhat challenging. You should be tested the first time you get a license and then periodically after that. Perhaps the subsequent testing should be done at 10 year intervals until something like 55-60 and then 5 year intervals after that.
All testing should be done in English, as that is the language of the road signs, including the electronic ones that change to notify of things like accidents.
Agree 100%
As a decades long commercial licensed driver I have most definitely seen the dumbing-down of the testing process here in California.
When I passed my test in 1962 in Ohio I parallel parked perfect, 1st try (3 trys were allowed.) The test took a couple miles. 1st time I took one of my kids to Pittsburg for his driving test he was done so quick I thought he failed it– he passed, and the hardest thing he did was angle park. At age 74 I missed 0 on the written test in Oregon, and was told most people miss a couple!. The tests should be English only and the driving part harder. .
Test should include getting onto the highway, and not at 45 miles an hour, and a parking test. If you can’t park between the lines, no license for you.
Probably, although it won’t help. We are in the age of “I’m OK you suck”. In other words, Bay Area drivers lack courtesy. That, like stupidity, probably can’t be fixed.
The young drivers are naive and poorly skilled. Most would have no idea how to get out of a high speed skid when avoiding a collision. As such, it’s probably best for them to let go of the wheel and cover their eyes while trying not to drop their phone.
At least 50% of the cars on the freeway are tailgating. If something happens it practically guarantees an accident.
Too many drivers don’t use their signal.
Lastly, most drivers don’t realize that if you are in a tight turn and you press your break it will cause you to skid out.
Current testing can’t capture how they really drive when not being tested. Maybe they should include a take-home box/dashcam installed in the car which records random driving segments over the course of a week Motion activated so it doesn’t record while parked. This may capture a more accurate representation of a person’s driving habits.
The drivers licensing should be the same across the board with written and actual driving test. When standards are dropped for a certain group, that is when things go south. Fire the people that allow this.
And insure the new applicants can speak English……..all the signs on the roads seem to me to be in English. Next time you go to a DMV office, look to see how many multiple language DMV booklets that they have. Close to 15 last time I look for them.
Instead of making everyone that already has a driver’s license take more tests, the effort should concentrate on bad drivers. If a person is getting tickets, getting into accidents or has other driving issues, then they should be getting tested until they improve their driving record.
People who don’t get tickets, and aren’t in accidents should not be required to test once they already took the initial test to get their license. This is excluding those people who have been reported by doctors/family members who are concerned about a person’s driving (usually because of age or medical issues); those persons should be required to follow current procedures of having their license restricted or removed.
I think the actual physical driving test should be more difficult. The way people drive today, is down right crazy
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