Maybe there were Podunkvilles in the '70s in the U.S. with bare-bones driving tests, but I (and I think most everyone who road-tested back then) recall three-point turns, parallel parking and other elements demonstrating knowledge of safe driving skills as described here.
When I was in college I decided that I needed to get a driver’s license because I realized that after I graduated I would not have any form of identification except my student ID card. This was in the early 70s, before there was such as thing as a state-issued ID card. So I d=signed up for a driver’s ed class; after a few weeks I went in for my driving test. This was in Quincy IL, which was a fairly large town; the driving test consisted of driving around town, parallel parking, and parking on a hill. I don’t recall if I had to demonstrate a three-point turn.
Then after graduation I went home to Chicago. There was no way I was going to try driving in Chicago traffic, so I decided I was going to just keep renewing my license until the state required my to take the driving test (I did get a kick out of getting a safe driving certificate from the state for never getting a ticket.) Fortunately, before that happened Illinois instituted state ID cards, so I was able to get one of those before I had to get behind the wheel of a car.
In my crazy 30s, I got a few speeding tickets and the points added up to force me to do a retest. I was in a shit mood when I went to the testing site. When the cop got into my car I wasn’t wearing a seat-belt (legal then), had the radio blasting, and a coffee in my hand.
The cop asked me to turn down the radio and I did. I raced through the course, completing my 3 point turn so quickly that I screwed up the order of cars going through the course.
The cop should have failed me on attitude alone, but he just laughed and told me I know how to drive, I just need to slow down a bit. I took that advice to heart and haven’t gotten a speeding ticket since then.
Sorry, this is the Evil MFer thread. You’ll have to take your good cop story elsewhere. No warning issued this time, but don’t let it happen again.
I was the Evil MFer. Speed demon, I was.
Does any state require you to retake the driving portion? I’ve moved states twice, and Kansas believed Minnesota that I knew how to drive (and also how to drive a motorcycle), and Missouri believed Kansas. Written test in Kansas, I don’t remember for sure about Missouri, but presumably a written one there also.
I still have a motorcycle endorsement, but I haven’t been on a bike since probably 1981.
I have a distinct recollection of being concerned about possibly having to retake the driving portion at some point in the future, but it’s entirely possible that the policy has changed since then.
My stepfather, at the age of 90, had to retake a Minnesota driving test after moving two miles east from South Dakota into Minnesota. Because of his age, perhaps? The only question he got wrong on the written exam was When do you need to stop for a pedestrian? The corr3ct answer is Always.
My mom learned to drive in the 1940s. Stick shift, even. Forty years later we couldn’t go visit my brother because she wouldn’t drive in Chicago. It has nothing to do with a driver’s license! 
Damn FIBs.
Almost certainly. Out of curiosity about LurkMeister, I checked Illinois and post age 75 you have to retake the driving portion at decreasing intervals as you age.
I’ll take this opportunity to share my written drivers test saga. When I moved from Minnesota to Kansas and went to get my new driver’s license, the nice clerk asked if I wanted to keep my motorcycle endorsement, I just need to take an additional, short written test. Sure, says I. I’m a great test taker, how hard can it be.
Hard enough, I failed. I was told I could try again in a week, and given a book with the Kansas motorcycle regulations.
I scanned it, found the parts pertaining to the questions on the test, learned the proper answers.
Turns out, Kansas had two versions of the qualifying test. This marks the only time I have ever failed a test twice (and possibly the only time I failed a multiple choice test even once). I went home, read the entire damn manual and passed try #3.
This was my question as well, and it’s been partially answered. I think every state should have the same requirement as Illinois regarding elderly drivers (and I’ll be there soon enough, as I’m 71.)
But does any state besides Illinois require a driving test to renew the license? Hell, a cursory search reveals that in some states, renewal can be done online.
In Pennsylvania I renew online, unless a new picture is needed. For the picture, I wake up and do not shower. I start drinking beer and smoking cannabis, extreme wake and bake. I eventually get my gf to drive me to the place and have my picture taken. For the ride I have my window down and my head outside as much as possible. The woman who does the picture gives me an odd look and asks if I need to prepare for my picture, Nope.
I’ve done this several times and it is always fun. And I get a picture to remember the day.
Same here, in a suburb of Boston.
I hope I never have to retake the test. I never learned to drive and text at the same time, so they’d fail me. Do you get to use your own phone in the test?
I’m afraid I’d fail the test by spilling my soup during the parallel parking.
I renewed my license without a driving test in Massachusetts some months ago, and I’m 75, with a clean record, for what that’s worth. “Drivers aged 75 and older must renew their license in person every five years. They are advised to fill out an online questionnaire to bring with them to the RMV. They will also be required to complete an in-person vision exam.” Cite.
Regarding having to retake the driving test, I had gotten my original license in Illinois in 1973 when I was 21. Obviously, this was before online renewals were possible, but I was able to renew by mail, except for one time when I had to go in to the DMV to have my picture taken for my new license since this was a new thing then.
I did consider getting a driver’s license when I moved to NC in 2006, since I figured that driving in Chapel Hill would not be as bad as driving in Chicago. But I never got around to it, and after a while between the cost of gas and my escalating health issues I just dropped the whole idea.
This reminds me a bit of the Unabomber:
“Casey got his PhD! Onto job apps,” Goonan’s mother wrote in a 2022 Instagram post. He previously completed his undergraduate degree at UC Riverside.
This sounds like a woman desperate to get her son out of the house.
I had no idea what a three point turn is so I just watched a video. I’ve never done that in my life and I’ve been driving for over 50 years. If I need to reverse direction, I just pull into a driveway or parking lot. If that was on the test I took when I got my license, I sure don’t remember it.