Governor Mike DeWine called for all Ohioans to have to take complete driver’s education before obtaining a license.  As it stands, an adult 18 years or older can just challenge the test with no formal training.  If you pass, you get your license. If you don’t, you need to take an abbreviated driver training course like the one sold here on this site. 

“Whatever age you are, if you’re getting your license for the first time, you need to take driver’s training. To say that once you turn 18, you don’t have to take any training just does not, frankly, make any sense at all,” DeWine said Thursday.

Sounds kind of crazy, right? How do they know what you know? Well, before you take the actual driving test to make sure you possess the physical skills to operate the vehicle, you have to take a written test too testing your knowledge of the roads and laws. So your knowledge is tested. It isn’t like they just hand over a license. 

Gov. DeWine makes it seem like people just walk in off the street and take the test with no preparation at all. While some do I’m sure all of my friends studied hard in that drivers handbook and bugged the crap out of their parents to let them practice driving. Other still grow up in a rural areas of the state where they have been driving vehicles on private property as soon as they can see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals. 

I think what Gov. DeWine is failing to acknowledge is that many of the people that wait to get their license until they are 18 do so because they can’t afford the full Driver Ed course in the first place. If they couldn’t afford it at 16 what makes you think they can afford it at 18?  It is hundreds of dollars! Not everyone can afford that so many wait. Or, it is necessary for someone under 18 to have the permission of a parent or guardian. We have a lot of kids that are in foster care and shifted around and that isn’t always an option for them. Now you’re going to put a barrier to getting a license? In a society that was built and designed around cars? Seems like a systemic barrier is being set up for getting a license for people in poverty, but I’ll leave that for smarter people do decide. 

The way I see it, this is another example of governmental overreach. They (Typically the GOP) see the opportunity to privatize something to get more money out of us and they can’t help themselves. In Florida recently they wanted to use State Park lands for more golf courses. If you know anything about Florida, they have more golf courses than any other state. It was just an opportunity for the government to pass things on to their developer friends.  Like in this instance, I bet if you looked around long enough you could find a driver’s education school contributing to DeWine’s campaign or a buddy of his has ties to one and has his ear requesting his help in getting the state to require education for everyone. Their sales will explode! In all fairness, ours would here too because we offer a 24 hour course but if you’re capable, you’re capable. This is like a poverty tax. Like an overdraft fee. They charge people with literally no money more money…