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Comment by basisword | Hacker News Reader

>> 40% point drop in 16 year olds getting a license since the 80s as urbanization puts people closer to stuff and ride share appeared.

Is it urbanisation? I've noticed this trend in the suburbs in my country too and there seem to be a couple of reasons:

1. Driving tests have gotten progressively more difficult and more complex over the last 10-20 years.

2. The cost of learning to drive is insane and getting more expensive.

Personally, I put off learning to drive and now that I'm in my 30's I'm finding it very hard to justify the cost and time investment necessary, despite wanting to get a license. Until I need it, I think I'll continue putting it off.

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Hmm, I don't know what country you are in, but this doesn't sound like the US at all. There's a recent spike in the cost of driving due to gas prices and car supply, but afaik driving tests here have always been fairly trivial and still are.

The states that I'm familiar with require a number of hours of supervised driving before allowing teens to get their licenses, along with the enrollment in certified driving schools. That can be both expensive and time consuming, especially if parents are working and don't have the time to do supervised driving with their kids.

The skyrocketing cost of living all over the country means that parents must work more, sometimes multiple jobs, in order to make ends meet.

Not OP, but I can confirm old country made it super hard lately. On the other hand, IL DMV seems to give away DLs like they are candy.

Anecdata only; if anyone has data, I will happily retract this statement.

>> IL DMV seems to give away DLs like they are candy.

In the USA DLs are by far and away the most common form of identification. Many people don't have passports, just DLs.

You can get a non-drivers ID in the exact same place, in the same way, just without the driving test.

Yeah. I can back up the OP's claim with some anecdata as well. If you've ever had a license in IL, you can pretty much guarantee they'll give you a new one with no testing right now.

I know 3 people that have renewed in the last 6 months. They all commented that the experience was weird. They'd be told that they would need to do all sorts of exams, but never end up having to do them. They would just get the new license.

I've lived in a lot of places, and I've never once had to take any kind of exam to renew a license. Not sure who told them you need to do that - I don't think that's a thing in any US state, and probably not in most countries either.

Renewal of a license is mostly just updating the photo.

You can also transfer licenses between states with no exam. Not necessarily between countries though, some allow it some don't.

I think the OP was talking about an initial license though - for the most part exams are not very hard, you just need a basic level of skill, and some knowledge.

> Driving tests have gotten progressively more difficult and more complex over the last 10-20 years.

If true, this is a massively good thing.

That seems in doubt as young drivers are not improving (we would see lower auto insurance rates if so.)

A Swiss colleague was doing his pilot license at the same time as his son was doing a driver license. Both were about the same price, but apparently flying a Cessna is somewhat easier than driving a car.

I don’t just use opinion polls, but the sources for the explanations are opinion polls.

Top responses to “why not get your license” point to availability of public transit, ride share, viability of walking, or biking, all of which are not an option for folks beyond the suburban fringe.

Can you even get a license at 16 anymore in all states? I know when I was getting mine two decades ago it was already getting to the point where people were saying “I might as well wait until 18”.

IMO the only real downside of waiting till 18 is that your insurance rates are gonna be sky-high for the first few years regardless of your age when that happens. If you've held a license for 2 years with no accidents then your rates are gonna be cheaper, regardless of whether you actually drove anywhere.

That's offset by teen driver education being a fucking racket though. The entire thing is just a scheme to extract a grand from mommy and daddy.

Wait till you're 18 and suddenly the need for that course and the hours of supervised driving will vanish. Pass the driving test and the written and boom, there's your license.

You don’t think the fact that immature teenagers operating fast, heavy vehicles is dangerous factors into that at all?

But sure, driving education requirements should be more thorough across the board, not just <18.

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