Germany taz
Reform of the driving test: downright murderous
The federal government wants to reduce costs and requirements for driving licenses. The future lies in autonomous driving – without a driving license. more...
Deutsch (original) ·Auto-translated to English
Need for reform in driving licenses? Sure, it exists. The name should be changed to Driver's License so that the jokes that pop up with reference to German history - Führer! Hohoho! – have an end.
But the federal government sees a need for action elsewhere. It wants to make it easier to get a driver's license and, above all, make it cheaper so that today's young people can still get behind the wheel with vigor tomorrow. This is, to say the least, completely the wrong approach. Instead of happily turning to the future, as with the convulsive insistence on the end of the combustion engine, people are clinging to a present that will soon be clearly yesterday. Even worse: the lives of many road users are being played with here.
Because this much must be clear: Driving puts your health at risk! The number of accidents increases, especially when young people - or more precisely: men - are behind the wheel. And those of the accident victims. Lowering the requirements for issuing driver's licenses here is downright murderous.
The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.
Of course, it is understandable that young people insist on an affordable driving license because it promises them mobility and therefore freedom. But if driving costs too much - for some people too much money, for others too many lives - then you shouldn't cheapen tests, but rather look for better ways.
They are obvious: autonomous cars. Controlled by machines that don't have to laboriously learn traffic rules that are later ignored. Of course, they still cause accidents. But they can never be as catastrophically overestimating themselves as young speedsters.
Experts assume that in just a few years driving licenses will only be necessary for horsepower fanatics who drive on racetracks. Meanwhile, the rest of us are relaxing and watching a cool series while driving. Maybe about guides, drivers or other old school types of the 20th century without ever having seen the inside of a driving school. Safe and cheap at the same time.