Driving in St. John's, good luck and godspeed!

The state of NL traffic is horrible, nobody knows how to drive, and everyone thinks the problem rests with the other driver. The real problem is rooted in the foundation of our driving system. The tests for permits are too easy, the driving test especially in rural areas of the province is a JOKE. I've heard many stories about how the instructor just passed people after a number of fails. My own personal experience with the test was shocking, I couldn't believe how easy it was to pass. Given how often many of my friends failed, that to me tells me they probably shouldn't be allowed to drive. Your video does a good job highlighting some of the common rules broken by NL drivers. The constant running of reds, the darting out into oncoming traffic, etc. It's stuff we all see every day. I'm glad there are people out there documenting it, if anything maybe it'll shame some people into thinking about what they're doing.

Compounding that fact if that a significant majority of the people I grew up with took the test in the summer. The logic is simple, it makes it way easier to pass. The reality of that is most people don't have a damn clue how to drive in the snow and ice. We allow inexperienced teens to drive like savages in the snow and ice. Some grow up and become those asshats in their F150's who fly past plows during blizzards.

If we actually cared about the state of our traffic we'd at least make winter / hazard driving tests mandatory. The type of system like they have in some Scandinavian countries. Drivers are tested on their abilities in hazardous conditions, spins, icy roads, etc. I'm baffled that we can live in a place that has the potential for slippery roads for 6-7 months out of 12 and have no component in the test that determines how well you can operate in these conditions.

The other thing that I'd suggest is having to retake the tests every 10 or so years. Why is it that we test once and then that's fine forever? The logic is you get better as you get more experienced, but I challenge that logic, I contend that you get lazy, and comfortable and you do things that you probably shouldn't because you're so used to it. For example this week my girlfriend was almost run off the road by a person driving at a much higher rate of speed than 80km/h during a morning snowstorm. The accident almost occurred because she was traveling at a reduced speed on the outer ring road to match the conditions, while he was driving his normal "getting to work" speed. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't cleaned the snow off the top or sides (including windows) of his car.

But hey, it's not all bad right, at least the sidewalks are being cleared more regularly this year, so the risks to pedestrians is lower.

And look, I'm not an idealist, I don't expect any of this to happen and I'm aware that it would only come about with a tax increase, which won't be popular, not to mention the fact that a lot of people would simply be denied licenses. But maybe not everyone should get a license.

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