Compared to Europe the bar to get a driver's license is extremely low. We need to improve driver education and we will all be safer as a result.
This is because the United States is very car-centric and not being able to drive can limit your opportunities greatly. I’m all for setting the bar higher to get a drivers license but there needs to be alternatives put in place first.
For example, a person who grows up in a poor neighborhood has less access to opportunities and if they can’t drive, their opportunities are vastly limited even more because of how spread out things are especially in a lot of poor neighborhoods. They would also have trouble doing things like getting groceries, picking up kids from school, etc.
Driver education can be reviewed and improved within years if not less.
We don't need perfection we need to do something now.
But while the upfront license cost is higher, lifetime license cost is low: no French person has had to ever renew their driver’s license. Lots of tattered pieces of valid paper out there. But renewals will start in 2032 (I think).