I agree that it's more than just the driver's test.

There's also the "everyone for themselves, screw you" attitiude out there that means that the average person has next to no consideration for others when they get behind the wheel.

 

I think it's also "it's not your road, so I'm not pulling over to the right for you" attitude.

The lack in overall courtesy, common sense, education and simply ability to read signs has degraded the US freeways throughout the years, in my opinion.

When I got my license, my DMV test had a freeway portion. Now they removed that part since it's too dangerous. It's more dangerous in the long run when you have non-residents and newbies getting on the freeway at 25-40mph.

I believe enforcement plays a major role also. HOWEVER, I don't think CA VC21650 and VC21654 (Slower Traffic Keep Right) are enforced enough!

State Keep Right Laws: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html

http://www.californiakeepright.com/index2.html

http://slowertraffickeepright.com/

 

I agree.

.. there's the "I'm too busy to care about you driver", "The I'm so important I have to talk on the phone driver", "The I'm a nice person that doesn't have to obey the law driver"... among others.... as I said, a screw you attitude prevails. It's all general disrepect.

On top of that the behavior of drivers in some states (each has their own quirks) is downright bizarre.

In PA a merge means "stop" (in the minds of a PA driver at least!). You will see drivers come to an absolute stop at a freeway or expressway merge. The number of collisions and near collisions I've seen astounds me. I'm now careful when I'm merging behind a PA driver in any state because of this dangerous habit (I had one do it to me in CT).... never ever follow behind a PA driver.

In addition to the above behaviour they will find the slowest car (in the middle lane) and sit on their bumper - even if all the other lanes are clear and the road in front of that car is clear. Do they get a frontal lobe removal with their driver's licenses?

 

LOL here in SoCal, if there's a curve on the freeway, the entire freeway slows down until the road straightens, where everybody starts to go fast again. Funny but irritating and stupid.

 

Not as dangerous as driving 40 mph in a 65mph zone in the left lane.

I'm from The Netherlands, but have lived in MA, CT, NC for the past 10 years and I'm sorry to say but a large majority of people in the US don't have a clue how to drive a car. In my humble opinion it all starts with education, or in this country, the absolute lack thereof. Getting a drivers license here is an ABSOLUTE JOKE!!

 

And Florida is known for over-populated old-fart drivers, as well as rednecks in huge pickup trucks.

 

Oh, I remember.

My current driving style is a hybrid of CA and MA. I call it passive-aggressive driving. Assertive with out being offensive.

My commute from South San Jose to San Carlos used to be a real adventure... I-85 in the morning used to have the left lanes at a complete standstill and the right lanes moving at 60mph. Drivers impatient at being in the stopped lanes would abruptly stick their noses out into the 60mph lane and wonder why they got hit... it was a real test of reaction times.

The best story that I still tell was a day on my drive home. I got onto I-280 in San Carlos at the same time as another car - typical peak traffic meant that we really were not going that fast. The car in front of me proceeded to immediately set off weaving in and out of traffic at high speed endangering those around him. I just went with the flow. 1 hour (or so) later I got off at Blossom Hill Road at EXACTLY the same time as the dufus that had been weaving and risking the lives of those around him. That lesson taught me that his behavior really get you nowhere except into an accident.

The best accident I ever saw was in Mountain View - a real Hollywood style pile-up that I saw in my rear view mirror (maybe half a mile behind me). A car weaved across two lanes and took out all four lanes of traffic in a domino style crash. I actually saw a car got up in the air. That was over 10 years ago and I still haven't seen a crash as good as that one.

 

Yup, anyone who has taken a European driv ing test knows how difficult a driving test should be.

 

I want to share my experience taking a driving test here in Washington State.

First, it's important to preface this description with the fact that I am from Canada. When you move to the USA, they require you to take a road test. So, my road test in WA was just a few years ago as an adult, so that may have skewed things a bit.

The DMV person got into the car with me after checking that all my lights worked on the car. I backed out of the parking stall, turned left onto a residential street, drove one block and stopped on the side of the road by a corner.

I was then asked to back up around the corner and proceed back to the DMV. I don't think I covered more than a quarter mile.

That was it. That was the entire driving test. I passed. Given enough practice, so would a blind person.

 

That was pretty much the same as my CA road test... drive around the block, do a U-turn and head back to the DMV. I was astounded. I almost wanted to ask him if he was being serious.

The funny thing was that they made a big fuss about 1) not taking the test in a rental car (even though I'd gotten prior permission) and 2) having someone to drive me home if I failed the test. Hello - I was driving on a valid European license and it was legal for me to drive myself home. Additionally, you would have to be a blind mindless idiot to fail that test.

 

That's what my driving test in MA was... drive out of the DMV parking lot... turn a right. Stop on the side of the road and back up straight for 10 yards. Two more rights and back into the parking lot. took about 2 or 3 minutes and after we were done the DMV clown congratulated me!! Ignorant me actually asked him what he was congratulating me for, because I didn't get it that this was the actual test and that we were done...

When I moved to CT, I just changed my MA license out. Moving to NC however was a whole different story. They don't 'recognize' other States licenses here, so you have to do a multiple choice test (my 4 year old probably would pass it) and they may ask you to do a road test... I did... another DMV parking lot and another 1 block drive around it. Great to see your tax dollars at work!

 

Geez you guys had easy tests. My test consisted of driving down a major street, turning into residential, and getting on (and off) the freeway. The lady even tried to trick me by casually telling me to pull over in front of a fire hydrant seeing if I'd notice the hydrant or not.

In the major street, she made me merge lanes a couple of times.

This was in the early 90's too, so relatively recent.

 

Hardly rocket science though. My UK drivers test took approx. 1 hour of driving in various conditions, along with demonstrating various driving skills, i.e. 3-point turn, parallel parking, backing around corners, etc.

 

1 hour? Nice. I don't believe the US has any kind of social driving reform planned anytime soon. They have too much stuff to worry about (and people they couldn't find), unfortunately.

 

The point being that if you want better behavior on the roads it comes from better drivers and that only comes from better driver's ed. and testing.