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Comment by hamdingers | Hacker News Reader

We don't even try. In the US you demonstrate that you know the rules at one point in time and that's it, as long as you never get a DUI you're good.

For instance, the 2003 California Driver's Handbook[1] first introduced the concept of "bike lanes" to driver education, but contains the advice "You may park in the bike lane unless signs say “NO PARKING.”" which is now illegal. Anyone who took their test in the early 2000s is likely unaware that changed.

It also lacks any instruction whatsoever on common modern roadway features like roundabouts or shark teeth yield lines, but we still consider drivers who only ever studied this book over 20 years ago to be qualified on modern roads.

1. https://dn720706.ca.archive.org/0/items/B-001-001-944/B-001-...

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Some places will dismiss a traffic ticket if you attend a driver's education class to get updates, though you can only do this once every few years. So at least there have been some attempts to get people to update their learning.

This only happens if you get a traffic ticket, which is rare and getting rarer.

Ironically this means the people with the cleanest driving record are least likely to know the current ruleset.

Which, ironically, would mean that knowing the current rule set is not needed to drive safe.

Not getting tickets does not mean you are a safe driver. No amount of crashing results in traffic school, just certain kinds of tickets.

> No amount of crashing results in traffic school, just certain kinds of tickets.

Well, sufficient at-fault crashing will suspended your license, and among other requirements for restoring the license may be traffic school, DUI school, or some other program depending on the reason for suspension, so this is not strictly correct. You can't use optional voluntary traffic school to clear points from a collision from your record BEFORE getting a suspension the way you can with minor moving violations without a collision, but that doesn’t mean collisions won’t force you into traffic school.

Which states/counties/cities? IME that rarely happens, tickets are often used for revenue-raising. And some recent laws e.g. 2008, 2009, 2025 CA cellphone use laws cannot be discharged by traffic school, AFAIK.

Phoenix, Arizona

> Anyone who took their test in the early 2000s is likely unaware that changed.

That's silly. People become aware of new laws all the time without having to attend a training course or read an updated handbook.

I took the CA driver's written test for the first time in 2004 when I moved here from another state. I don't recall whether or not there was anything in the handbook about bike lanes, but I certainly found out independently when it became illegal to park in one.

I don't doubt that many people are aware of many of the new laws. But I strongly suspect that a very significant number of drivers are unaware of many new laws.

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