Driver Licensing

Abstract

During the past half century, driver licensing has developed from a tax on the users of highways to a major safety activity, and it has spread to every state in the Union. Con trolling who should drive and under what conditions was less important than taxation in the early days of licensing, but today this relationship has been reversed. Licensing is granting a privilege, and the courts have repeatedly upheld this principle; the public, however, must be constantly reminded that a license to drive is only a privilege and not a right. Laws generally provide for examination of drivers and restriction of licenses, but, based as they are on the theory that high-risk applicants can be detected and rejected, they are so limited in effectiveness that continued driver improvement work is necessary to deal with those whose driving records contain conspicuous numbers of unfavorable reports. Driver licensing depends for success upon supporting activities of police and courts both in en forcing license requirements and reporting driver experience. Years of research will be required to develop its full safety potentialities.