We Should Abolish the Left Turn, Science Suggests

  • Or maybe teach people to drive better, and make the US driving test (because I doubt the UK wants to ban left turns...) worth more than the paper it's written on, instead of the pathetic excuse for a "test" that it is.

    - No hill-start or hill parking

    - No emergency stop

    - No driving on different types of carriageway

    - No higher-speed driving

    - No reversing

    - No reversing around corners

    - No 3-point-turn

    - No distance measurement ("how far away is the red car ?")

    - No use of the hand-brake (or parking brake if you prefer)

    All of these were on my UK test. None of them were on my US test, which consisted of exiting the DMV, turning right 4 times around a block and turning back into the DMV. Seriously.

    And the written "test" was a walk in the park too - one of the questions on mine was a picture of a stop sign, and the multiple choice answer to "What does this sign mean" included "You must stop at the sign"... [sigh]

    Also, if you take your test in an automatic car in the UK, you get a restricted license that only allows you to drive an automatic car. WTF is up with passing on an automatic and then driving a manual car. Half the skill is in the clutch balance, and hill-starts are a lot harder.

    I'm sure there are places in the US that have a harder test than I took in California. I'm equally sure there are places that are easier (though come to think of it,... I mean, how?) But a lot of people think they can drive when in reality they've never really been tested