This Is Why Missouri Needs Driver's Education

"Go Hawkeyes" (joehawkeye)
11/21/2016 at 09:20 • Filed to: None

Just a minor scratch.

If you aren’t aware, teens need no form of organized driver’s education to get a license in the great state of Missouri. Just have your parent’s state they gave you instruction, pass an extremely basic driving test, and you’re granted a license.

I don’t think it will buff out.

Now in my case, the person who hit me was an elderly gentleman. But that still doesn’t change the fact that there needs to be some form of formal organized mandatory driver’s education. And regulations on making sure that licensed drivers are regularly evaluated to ensure they can still operate a motor vehicle safely.

Ford Fusion, now with Mercury Grand Marquis bumper pieces fender accessory.

This guy had no business driving. He is over 80 and admitted he did not see me coming at all. He was attempting to turn into a gas station and didn’t think to see if there was any oncoming traffic before turning. Thankfully I saw it coming and swerved to the right, otherwise it would have been a head-on collision.

To make matters worse, it happened on a frontage road that is technically private property so the police wouldn’t respond since nobody was hurt. So now I get to deal with the headache of fighting with insurance companies.

Thankfully nobody was injured in the accident.

The guy in the Mercury Milan in the background drove by like 15 times.

I bought the Fusion SEL V6 with every option brand new in 2010. In the 6 years I’ve had it my wife and I have put just under 80k miles on it. We were planning on driving it for another year and then giving it to our daughter to replace the piece of shit MINI Cooper we bought her when she turned 16.

My wife is now excited about possibly getting a new vehicle sooner than expected. She likes the GMC Acadia Denali. I’m hopeful that insurance won’t consider the Fusion a total and will instead pay to repair it. But considering a 6 year old Fusion with 80k miles books to $9000 or so I think the extent of the damage will be too great.

Yes my wife and I thew away our votes on a third party candidate.

That Grand Marquis was pretty sweet too. Great condition for being 12 years old. It had only 34k miles on it. he said he bought it at an estate sale 7 years ago with 14k miles on it. Besides needing some front end repair now it’ll be a great car to pick up at another estate sale, I’m guessing in the not to distant future.

So back to my original rant, driver’s education is a must. For all ages. If you live in a state like Missouri that has extremely lax requirements and you have children please do them an everyone else a favor and give them some real driver’s education. Either find a program offered by a company or other organization, or provide it yourself.

DISCUSSION (36)

Jack Does Cars > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:07

Thankfully NC has very strict requirements to get a license (30 hours of classroom drivers education, 12 hours of behind the wheel driving, and holding a permit for a year in which you must acquire at least 60 hours of driving, including 10 at night), and I’m glad that I have the knowledge that I do about the rules of the road. Sure, I got into an accident but it was an unavoidable situation and I knew how to react.

I have a cousin in Iowa that got his license at 14 with no requirements and I think that is, ya know, a problem. I think there should be a national mandate on how people get driving licenses.

Go Hawkeyes > Jack Does Cars
11/21/2016 at 09:24

Iowa allows you to get a permit at 14 but you must have a parent or other person over 18 in the passenger’s seat. Iowa also requires driver’s education to get a license at 16. With a driver’s education course you can get a work or school permit before 18 though. At least that is what the rules were in the ‘90's when I turned 16 there.

I think we can all agree though that the US is largely lacking in driver’s education in all states when you compare the requirements to get a license in some other countries.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:26

My grandpa, who was raised in Missouri, learned to drive in Missouri, but lived in California was pulled over while doing nothing wrong to be given the warning “We don’t drive in Missouri like you do in California.”.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > Jack Does Cars
11/21/2016 at 09:27

Yes, yes and yes! Pls more of this. We got similar requirements in Germany. Getting a license here isn’t easy but doable but costs about 1.500€ or more...

GTI Sprinks > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:27

The bit about it being available at another estate sale in the distant future had me laughing. Good one.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:31

“To make matters worse, it happened on a frontage road that is technically private property so the police wouldn’t respond since nobody was hurt. So now I get to deal with the headache of fighting with insurance companies.”

WTF?

Go Hawkeyes > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 09:35

What is WTF about it?

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:37

I wish driving required thousands of dollars per year and hundreds of hours of training and draconian strict enforcement on the road of even the most minor offenses. Forget your turn signal? $1000 fine. I dont care how expensive and annoying that would get, I would gladly pay it all. Then the only people driving would be people who really want to and really put in the effort to earn it. It is just way too easy to drive in the US and I am sick of it.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:37

I’ve never encountered a situation where police would refuse to show up and document an accident.

LongbowMkII > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 09:39

It’s a pain to get police to document a highway incident.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:46

Driver education in Finland would be called a high performance driving experience in the US.

Honeybunchesofgoats > LongbowMkII
11/21/2016 at 09:47

Really? I can only speak from experience with NJ, but I’ve never had a problem getting police to come to the scene of an accident.

Go Hawkeyes > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 09:47

Must be nice. Around here if it’s private property they won’t do anything. In this case I called it in and an officer did show up because I thought it was an actual road and they thought it happened on the actual highway and not the frontage road. But once the officer got there he said he couldn’t do anything since it’s private property and then left.

Even if it’s on a public road here, if nobody is injured and all vehicles are drive-able, they will sometimes just tell you to exchange info and come to the station to file a report at a later time.

Go Hawkeyes > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
11/21/2016 at 09:50

That’s a good idea and all, but with the way this country works we’d end up paying even higher taxes to supplement welfare programs for poor people to be able to drive.

BKosher84 > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 09:52

I once had a cop tell me we shouldn’t have called him to document an accident I was involved in (Was at a big intersection waiting to turn left behind someone.. That said someone put his truck in reverse and backed into me) because “The damage wasn’t bad”.

I didn’t know the cop was moonlighting as a insurance inspector.

smobgirl > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 09:52

Last time my car was hit it was in a private parking lot and police wouldn’t respond either since there were no injuries.

Honeybunchesofgoats > BKosher84
11/21/2016 at 09:54

“Oh, so then you’ll use your tax payer funded salary to pay for my repairs then?”

I’m really glad I’ve never had that sort of encounter.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 09:56

I’ve says it before and I’ll say it again, I think drivers over 55 should have to take an exame to make sure there, sight, hearing, motor skills, general awareness are at a point where they can safely control a vehicle. Working at a gas station I see elderly people come in all the time that can hardly get their credit car out of their own wallet, or see what bill they are taking out, but then they go out and hope behind the wheel of their 2008 Impala. I know teen drivers are dangerous because they are careless, but elderly drivers are the ones that really scare me.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 10:00

I still can’t believe the police wouldn’t even respond. Does the law suddenly cease to apply on public property?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 10:04

That’s messed up, my mom was in an accident in a parking lot recently and had a cop report it. The reason being it’s common for people in her area to wreck their cars and then intentionally get into a fender bender, and place blame on some else. In this instant the woman had big yellow paint marks down the side of her car and made my back into her car as my mom was leaving a parking spot. She tried to claim all the damage was from my mom lightly tapping her bumper.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 10:06

I am okay with paying more taxes if we actually get better things.

Svend > Honeybunchesofgoats
11/21/2016 at 10:54

In the U.K. even on public roads if no one is hurt, the road is clear of obstructions, no fighting, etc... police won’t attend. Some will issue a reference number to give to the insurance company and you just go from there.

Go Hawkeyes > BKosher84
11/21/2016 at 11:15

I had that happen a year ago or so. Guy backed into me at an intersection because he was trying to get the light to turn green.

PS9 > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 11:26

Just have your parent’s state they gave you instruction, pass an extremely basic driving test, and you’re granted a license.

You can’t be fucking serious with that. How is that not a recipe for a rediculous amount of danger?! Can you imagine some Nouveaux Riche kids being thrown the keys to his dad’s hellcat with the words, ‘Have fun, son!’????

Well now that I know what is on you roads, I’m never visiting Missouri.

Jack Does Cars > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 11:31

Iowa is weird. Especially the Pella/Knoxville/Oskaloosa area.

Jack Does Cars > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
11/21/2016 at 11:33

The drivers education class was $55 dollars, the permit was $32, and getting my actual license was $32 as well. So $119 to get a driver’s license isn’t at all bad and now I realize how lucky I am.

BigBlock440 > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
11/21/2016 at 11:51

Public roadway laws do cease to apply on private property, yes.

BigBlock440 > BKosher84
11/21/2016 at 11:55

Why should police be called for a minor fender bender? If there are no injuries and the vehicles are mobile, move it to a parking lot and work it out like adults.

BKosher84 > BigBlock440
11/21/2016 at 12:07

Because he backed into me on a main road where he could have easily lied to insurance about?

Go Hawkeyes > PS9
11/21/2016 at 12:32

You couldn’t obviously wanted to have visited Missouri before that anyway, right? Only reason I live here is the company I work for pays me ridiculous sums to do so.

And unfortunately I am serious about the driving requirements. In the 6 years I’ve lived here this is the third time someone has hit me. Never had an accident before moving here.

Go Hawkeyes > Jack Does Cars
11/21/2016 at 12:33

But some good fun racing in Knoxville!

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > BigBlock440
11/21/2016 at 12:44

I’m not sure that’s the case here in NE. For example, stop signs in parking lots still apply.

Jack Does Cars > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 15:06

And the best thing about Iowa: Casey’s General Store.

Go Hawkeyes > Jack Does Cars
11/21/2016 at 15:23

Best donuts and pizza around, hands down. They have stores in Missouri as well as some other states too. I stop at one every morning in fact. Probably the reason I’m grossly overweight.

bubblestheturtle > Go Hawkeyes
11/21/2016 at 18:36

Driver training costs money. A real test costs money. Taxes are evil. Printing that expensive plasic license costs money, so I would expect that to change at some point. But then I am a pessimist.

Go Hawkeyes > bubblestheturtle
11/22/2016 at 07:46

Taxes are not inherently evil. Taxes used to subsidize those who are perfectly capable of supporting themselves but choose not to are what is evil.