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View Full Version : Driver's License or I.D. card?


INTJoe
10-29-2009, 02:58 PM
I think there are way too many horrible drivers who should not be on the road. Maybe like 20%. I think it is way too easy to become licensed to drive a deathmachine at 70mph, and also too easy to maintain that license.

If I ruled the world, I would make it much more difficult to attain a drivers license, and to maintain it. I would drop the hammer on those accumulating DWIs, DUIs, those with too many wrecks, those uninsured, etc. Basically, people who don't follow major rules, or needlessly put others' lives in danger.

But then I start wondering about the ramifications, in terms of the efficiency of our economy. I mean, these people drive to work (allegedly), and help keep the economic machine running.

Is our society simply willing to allow these people to drive, because it would be too much of a pain in the ass to have to escort them around? (Picture 2 family members w/o a license constantly hounding you to give them a ride to and from work, etc.)

Are we willing to simply let uninsured, drunken, bad drivers roam the highways, so that we don't have to drive them anywhere? We're willing to put up with the deaths, and uninsured destruction?

Is it worth making it much more difficult to legally operate a vehicle? I realize many cities vary in terms of requirement of own vehicle. I live in Houston, which probably leads the nation in VMD (vehicle miles driven) per capita per year. Having a license here is all but required.

Adults are asked to show "ID" and we all whip out our license. It is no longer our license, but our "ID card". It shouldn't be like this. Carrying a license to drive a car should be a privilege, not something we're all basically given so that we can easily prove who we are when asked by an authority figure.

So, in the grand scheme, are we better off keeping these ********* off the road? Or will it just become a huge pain in the ass for those of us privileged?

Webbster
10-29-2009, 03:06 PM
Well, implementing a citizen card like the EU nations have would solve the id problems. (The biometrics are a bit creepy though.)

Malkavia
10-29-2009, 03:35 PM
The US has an ID card system, it's just that since everyone has a drivers license no one gets one because it acts as both.

INTJoe
10-29-2009, 04:42 PM
Do you guys think it's beneficial or detrimental to our economy/society to have the 20% worst legal drivers currently eligible to drive? That's really my question. The ID talk is ancillary.

firebee
10-29-2009, 05:16 PM
Do you guys think it's beneficial or detrimental to our economy/society to have the 20% worst legal drivers currently eligible to drive?

No. In fact, I would venture to say that all of our drivers should be above-average.

Malkavia
10-29-2009, 05:32 PM
Do you guys think it's beneficial or detrimental to our economy/society to have the 20% worst legal drivers currently eligible to drive? That's really my question. The ID talk is ancillary.

To be completely honest its hard for me to just say "kick em all out" because I dont think our country has a good enough public transportation system. It is impossible to get anywhere in Texas if you do not have a vehicle, it is not a walker friendly state. I wish it was more like Europe in that aspect, but I have bigger things to worry about.

INTJoe
10-29-2009, 07:04 PM
To be completely honest its hard for me to just say "kick em all out" because I dont think our country has a good enough public transportation system. It is impossible to get anywhere in Texas if you do not have a vehicle, it is not a walker friendly state. I wish it was more like Europe in that aspect, but I have bigger things to worry about.

So do you think the added vehicle deaths and non-insured destruction is outweighed by the necessity of utility?





INTJoe added to this post, 3 minutes and 40 seconds later...

No. In fact, I would venture to say that all of our drivers should be above-average.

No, you think it's beneficial? Or no, you think it's detrimental?

It's also impossible for all of our drivers to be "above-average" unless we wipe out at least 50% of those eligible.

Maybe you misread my post. Take all people legally allowed (licensed) to drive right now. Take the 20% worst of those, and strip them of the privilege of driving.

Is this overall +EV or -EV for our economy and society? Would this assist progress, or just hold us back?

Certainly, a number of deaths and an amount of destruction is "necessary" to have an operable economy such as the US economy. But I'm trying to figure out what the balance is.