http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...icles/cfn/2015/7/18/floridians_failing_w.html It's a good thing. Getting a license should require the necessary skills and reasoning. A license cannot be seen as a necessity because then people will be given one even if they should not be driving, and then people die.
Given the way Floridians drive, this is not surprising. And I say that as a Floridan. My favorite move is a right turn from the left lane without a signal.
How in the hell do you fail this test? It's bad enough that there are people driving that really don't belong behind the wheel, this is just insult to injury. Doesn't speak well about the quality of drivers at all in south Florida. It's well known to be one of the worst in the country.
There is a massive influx of caribeans, central, south americans and Puerto Ricans descending on S. Florida. People that were driving a donkey in the mountains of Columbia a few months ago are now driving on Floridas freeways.......God help us all. Florida was the only time I have ever had an insurance company require an inspection to get insurance account of all the fraud in Florida.
I have mixed feelings about this. Being able to drive should be a right. What's next, could the State demand a license to walk? Imagine trying to live your life without driving, or having anyone else drive for you, or drive to bring things to sell you. Perhaps I am just too Libertarian inclined... but a license to drive basically seems like a license on life, in some ways.
South Florida, which consists of the Treasure Coast; Stuart; West Palm Beach; Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood; and Miami-Miami Beach, has a population close to 5 million people. It has one driving corridor - I-95, which runs North and South, and happens to be the most exciting amusement ride in the entire state devoted to tourism and amusement parks. Everybody complains about bad driver's and whose are worst. Driving is a priviledge, not a right. That we have mega traffic jams; speeding motorcycle crotch rockets doing 160-mph on I-95 routinely (with major signs almost every few miles posted Watch For Motorcycles) - whose driver's are referred to by the Highway Patrol as Organ Doners, not surprising. However, with our population, which swells with tourist's all of the time, there are three states whose drivers are nuttier than a rat loose in a tin XXXhouse. If there is one driver from Massachusetts, (particularly a Boston driver); one from Ohio and one from Quebec, anywhere loose in the state, those three vehicles will crash into each other routinely. Boston drivers are notorious for turning left on red lights. Quebec drivers never use their mirrors, and Ohio drivers are always lost, and poking along slower than our 80-year old retirement drivers in 1986 Impalas. Try the Jersey Turnpike for bad driver's sometime. The first time a couple of my friends drove down here from Virginia for a visit, they got as far as Jupiter, pulled over, got a motel, and called me to come up and drive their car for them down to Fort Lauderdale they were so scared to drive on I-95. It is not just the bad driver's on that road - the 30-foot moving vans - all driven by inexperienced people moving in or out of South Florida that clog the roads; but dump trucks that get up to 80-mph and try to drag race on the Interstate. Tractor-trailers are prohibited from Express Lanes and far left lanes, from Fort Lauderdale to the Port of Miami, but routinely get out in the far left lanes in convoy's and clog traffic to a standstill. The Florida Highway Patrol, whose only function is revenue patrol, takes them an hour to get to the scene of most accidents, is never around in rush hour, coupled with the silly idea that our politicians in the state capital (hidden away somewhere up north, where most citizens can't find them and know what they are doing), continue to think that they can widen I-95 with construction, which has been going on for over 20-years, accomplishing nothing. They spent 10-years patching the Ft.Lauderdale - Miami corridor down through the Golden Glades interchange (a monstrosity of engineering confusion), riding that route, I thought was up in Buffalo after the winter, the road had more potholes and bumps than Pennsylvania, who the AAA has voted, has the worst roads in America, for the past 40-years or so. Anyway - tourists beware - it's a jungle out there, and although there happen to be posted speed limit signs - the average speed in the heavily traveled W.Palm Beach to Miami I-95 corridor, actually is approximately 30-40 MPH. I have even been on that road at 4:00am and had to travel at 10-15mph for 20-some miles.........
An example of individual rights having to be sacrificed for the sake of practicality when there are too many people in one area.
Driving isnt a right, its a privelige. If you cant understand the basic rules of the road ...that makes you a danger to others. There are enough dangers when you DO understand the rules of the road lol. Depending where you live, yes it would be difficult getting around (but not impossible) If the test was really tricky I could see a problem...but that was EASY..there were only a couple of questions I was unsure of. Plus they give you a booklet to refresh and stufy beforehand. Supposably Seattle is the 5th worst city for traffic...& as annoying as that is, I gotta say the drivers here arent too bad. ... remind me never to drive in the state of Florida.
I took one of the practice tests. And failed. The test asked things like -- How many points before your license was suspended -- How long a DUI conviction stays on your record -- Whether owing child support can make you lose your license. -- How long it takes after drinking for alcohol to affect your brain. -- What the allowable BAC level is for minors. And so on. I don't know that stuff. About half of the questions had jack to do with actually driving. If the real test is like that, it's a badly designed test.
