United States: $60 written/oral test for Learner’s Permit available at age 14. Allows for young drivers to be on the road during the daytime with their legal guardian. 80 hours of road time, one year of Learner’s Permit, and age 16 (some exceptions) required before drivers can apply for full license. Some local governments restrict driving privileges for minors, regardless of license status, through things like curfews or maximum speed laws.

In the USA most places have no viable transportation alternative to cars. As a result drivers licenses are a critical factor in functional independence and fundamental human needs. Even though there are permitting and test requirements to get a license, there is no effective limit on how many times the written, or driving skills tests can be taken. There is also no chain of accountability between those administering the tests and the drivers they approve for licensing. This means that anyone can take the written test a few dozen times until they have seen the finite number of questions several times over and eventually pass. Likewise, taking the driving test many times will inevitably result in the person encountering a “forgiving” skills test proctor.

The Department of Motor Vehicles or DMV, like every government institution in the USA has been subject to a continuous political assault by the Republican party of the oligarchs. The workers are understaffed, underpaid, and it is a notoriously miserable place to work. The results of such an inadequate and negligent political structure produces predictable results.

We also lack any effective mechanism to take the elderly off the road, and because losing a license ends their independence, we have a large number of elderly pushed to drive when they do not qualify.