In the UK I had to do around 20 lessons, you got to take your test only when your instructor decided you were ready. And you had to have passed a theory test within the last three months I believe. The test was an hour of various maneuvers and questions. I passed on my second attempt. This was twenty years ago.

Then I moved to the US and it was a 5 minute drive around a car park while the test lady complained about her menopausal symptoms, and then “I can tell you can drive” and I passed.

Driving theory course and test, practical driving course and test. It takes some 3 months if you don’t fail in any step. Afterwards, you receive your driving license (first a temporary, then a standard one).

In Poland:

• driver’s permits are not a thing. In general, it’s illegal to drive without a professional instructor (with parents, for example) before getting a driving license, though a lot of people, especially in the countryside, will still do so,
• you can only drive after turning 18. You can start the course a few months earlier, but you can only take the final exam after you turn 18 (there exists a category that allows you to drive after turning 16, but it’s limited and IME extremely unpopular),
• you need to go to a paid course, which includes theory classes and at least 30 hours of driving with the instructor,
• most people drive in a car owned by the instructor or the driving school, as the car must have another pair of brakes for the instructor,
• you need to pass a theoretical and a practical exam in one of the centers (Wojewódzki ośrodek ruchu drogowego),
• the theoretical exam is just closed questions. You need to get 68 out of 74 points, but (AFAIK, this has changed over time) all the questions are known, so people will just cram them,
• the practical exam is first some maneuvers on the center grounds, and then a ride around the city. The exam is rather objective and is failed if you do any big mistake or fail any exercise twice,
• the exams are not easy. The data I found is for each WORD, but in general I feel like the pass rate is around 50% for the practical exam and 70% for theory. It’s not incommon for somebody to only pass their practical exam on like 5th attempt,
• there were supposed to be some restrictions for new drivers, but they had been discussed for a long time, even back when I passed my license before the pandemic, and I have no idea if they ever actually came into force,
• some people think that the system is super flawed. Here’s some discussion by the Supreme Audit Office in Polish: https://www.nik.gov.pl/aktualnosci/system-szkolenia-kandydatow-na-kierowcow.html,
• costwise, it’s apparently like 4000 zł for the course right now. Exams are paid per attempt, 50 zł for the theory and 200 zł for practice. 1 euro is 4.33 zł as of writing, but you need to take into account the difference in purchasing power and it’s probably not much cheaper than Germany even if you pass both exams the first time.

I’m convinced that we should use the same requirements to fly an airplane as driving a car.

As a pilot, there are several items I need to log on regular intervals to remain proficient so that I can continue to fly with passengersor fly under certain conditions. The biggest one being the need for a Flight Review every two years.

If we did the bare minimum and implemented a Driving Review every two years, our roads would be a lot safer, and a lot less people would die. If people cared as much about driving deaths as they did flying deaths, the world would be a much better place.

Swede here, I got mine back in 2022, total cost was about 60000 SEK.

I am 36 now, so I started late, and it took about a year of spread out lessons to get it.

1. The first risk course, this takes several hours, and goes through the dangers of driving, as long as you take part you will pass.

2. Theory, takes about a week or so of evening classes, then you study on your own, you have to pass the theory test with in half a year before you can take the practical test

3. Practical lessons throughout.

4. The second risk course, also called the skidpan, this is fun, it is the first time you get to drive a car without an instructor beside you, just on a track, but still, you get to experience driving on a slippery surface and trying different manouvers, to see how the car reacts. You need to accellerate hard and then slam on the breaks at a specific point on dry and wet surface, then you need to try a swerving manouver as if a moose is about to cross the path of the car, there are also a few more steps to this, this is often considered the highlight of learning to drive.

5. Theory test, you go into a testing room, are asked many questions, and given a score, the questions tend to be focused on scenarios on what you would do here, or if X/Y is right in this case or not.

6. Practical test, you can’t take the practical test unless you have passed both risk courses and the theory test, they all have to be passed recently enough for them to be valid at the time of the practical test. If they are not valid, you won’t get to do the test. The testing officer comes out and meets you, and explains the test, what they will be looking at and how you will be judged, what an instant fail will look like, and what they expect of you. The test is very relaxed, you drive around for a bit, through some crossings, roundabouts and motorways, you get to perform a few manouvers like parking, reveresing around a corner, turning around and stuff like that. At the end of the test the testing officer will give you feedback on the test and how well you did and what you should think about in the future, if you passed you will immediately get a note in the government systems that confirm that you have a license to drive cars so you can manage with just your national ID untill you get your proper license in the mail.

Go to drivers ed, go online and take a test, get your hours in, take a driving test, done.

3-4000€ what did that person do??
I paid like 2000€ because i needed to take a few more hours. perfect parking in the exam though :)

Recently got mine on December last year. Living in the Philippines by the way. Spent around 200 USD (including driving courses).

1. A theoretical driving course is now required by our government. This is a 2-day (15 hours) course where you are in a classroom setting and the fundamentals of driving are taught (road etiquette, signs, how to drive, etc). There is also an exam at the end which you are required to pass before you are given a certificate of completion.

2. The certificate received after completing the theoretical course will be used to obtain a student permit. This permit allows you to drive a car provided that someone with atleast a non-professional driving license accompanies you. Also, you will need to wait atleast a month before you can apply for a non-professional license.

3. With the student permit, you can enroll for a practical driving course. Our government again requires atleast 8-hours of practical driving lessons from a training center that is accredited by them. This is another course wherein you are taught how to actually drive a car.

4. After receiving the certificate for completing the practical course, and provided that 1 month has passed since you have been given a student permit, you may now apply for a non-professional license. Applying for this license involves a theoretical exam (60-item multiple choice questionnaire) and a practical exam, wherein an instructor will test your driving skills. If you’ve passed all of those, you just need to pay for the licensing fee and wait for you license to be released on the same day. Acquiring a non-professional license allows you to drive by yourself. Although if you want to drive a car for commercial use (such as trucks, buses, etc.), you will need to apply for a professional license.

In Vancouver I’m pretty sure certain drivers just bribe to get their license. Look up Richmond dash cam footage it’s insane.

United States: $60 written/oral test for Learner’s Permit. Allows for young drivers to be on the road during the daytime with their legal guardian. 80 hours of road time and one year of Learner’s Permit required before drivers can apply for full license. Some local governments restrict driving privileges for minors, regardless of license status, like curfews.

Well, first you buy a box of cereal…

US is pretty much a cake walk by many western standards. Take some classes, get a “learners permit”, drive with an instructor for a while, drive with an adult for a while, take a written and easy practical driving test, and you’re done for life.

I’ve got to qualify that it varies a little by the state it’s done in, some states are easier than others.

I’ve driven in a couple other countries and, while everyone has their idiots, the US has an over abundance of them thanks to the ubiquity of cars and what amounts to pretty lax enforcement of any sort of rules or car safety requirements. IOW, pretty much every idiot drives, they often drive unsafe cars that are either maintained poorly or modified in unsafe ways.

In my province in Canada it’s a written test, 1 year driving experience supervised, a practical test, then you can drive with just one friend in the car for another year, and then you take another practical test and have your full license.

Curious about how it goes in your area of the world.

Driving is generally taught by family in Australia, but using a driving school is a requirement now.

Australia 2006ish: take the theory exam after you turn 16 years old and 6 months. if you pass the test you get your Learners permit. After 6 months you may take your practical driving exam. If you pass you have a Provisional license for 3 years which has some restrictions like 0% alcohol or no more than 1 person in the car that is not a relative. After 3 years of holding a P plate you get your Open license.

Australia now; according to my nephew: at the age of 16 you are permitted to take the theory exam. once passed, you get your Learners permit. in order to qualify for the practical driving exam you need to fulfil the following requirements.

• Have 100 hours driving logged. 30 of those hours must be done at night or during wet weather
• 30 hours logged with a driving instructor. Driving lesson with a driving instructor the time with the instructor is worth 3 regular hours and
• hold your learners license for 1 year.

If you pass the exam you have your Provisional license for 3 years. after 3 years you get your open license.

In the USA most places have no viable transportation alternative to cars. As a result drivers licenses are a critical factor in functional independence and fundamental human needs. Even though there are permitting and test requirements to get a license, there is no effective limit on how many times the written, or driving skills tests can be taken. There is also no chain of accountability between those administering the tests and the drivers they approve for licensing. This means that anyone can take the written test a few dozen times until they have seen the finite number of questions several times over and eventually pass. Likewise, taking the driving test many times will inevitably result in the person encountering a “forgiving” skills test proctor.

The Department of Motor Vehicles or DMV, like every government institution in the USA has been subject to a continuous political assault by the Republican party of the oligarchs. The workers are understaffed, underpaid, and it is a notoriously miserable place to work. The results of such an inadequate and negligent political structure produces predictable results.

We also lack any effective mechanism to take the elderly off the road, and because losing a license ends their independence, we have a large number of elderly pushed to drive when they do not qualify.