They will give anyone a Lic. to drive these days... this guy for instance...
http://superjens.com/xterra/sample.wmv

working on a whole collage of them and adding as I get them, this one is from today.

...not much amazes me nowadays...too many morons on the road. You give a great example.

Driving School should be mandatory for all drivers. ...maybe add 100 hours of training too.

They do that in europe, I think. For someone to get a lic, they have to take a very long course. Then pass a bunch of tests - much harder than ours. Oh, and by they way, the class costs like $1000 to take. I am sure if we did something like this in USA, we would weed out alot of bad drivers!!!! or at least, turn those bad drivers into better ones.

I liked drivers ed when I took. I thought it was a blast! Of course my teacher was nuts so that helped im sure. He would put his hands out in front of him and "drive" around in the class room and "crash" into desks, walls to prove points.

Hey Jen, what does it Cost to run a video system like that in the Xterra...

By the way I own a 2002 Xterra XE 4X4 Silver Ice... thought i would introduce myself

It's not required?? Hmmmm - maybe California just requires it. I know my friends and I all had to take it. It was something like 50 hours class time and minimum 15 hours driving time (I may be wrong on that). Doesn't seem to help the drivers around SoCal, though.

Didn't have driver's ed where I'm from.

Basically, the way it worked was, when you turned 16, you went to the DMV (or whatever it was called back in Coquitlam), and take a written test, based on a small study guide.

If you pass that, you had a learner's permit, and now you were able to learn to drive, on the city streets, with instruction from any licensed adult (in my case, my father).

All it took was 30 hours of practice driving under a licensed-driver's care (based on your word--no way to verify anything), and you could take the driver's test.

I had about 12 hours in the car with my father.
I passed the driver's test easily.

And I've been driving fine for the past thirteen years . . .

Getting a liscense here is too easy. I had to learn in Germany...my bad luck. Took 24 hours of theory classroom instruction, plus 5 hours of mini roads in a go-cart (pedal Powered) to learn basic signs and rules and then 50 hours behind the wheel. Every conceivable scenario, city, country, Autobahn. Cost - 3200DM = $2000. Good thing about it, no renewal ever, it is good for life. Bad thing if you learn on an automatic, that's all you'll be allowed to drive. Everyone, I mean everyone can drive a stick in Germany. Funny, they go much faster, have smaller roads, and yet driving there is far safer than here. Hmm...I wonder if all that instruction has anything to do with it...oh by the way..no learners permits, at 18 you find a school pay your money and learn. If you fail the test, you get to do it all over again, including paying.

THIS IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE DONE!!!!!!!!! If you make it harder to pass you will weed out the morons. If you make it expensive.......you also weed out a bunch of poor people driving beaters. Then you can tax the snot out of the driving schools and make public transit better.