Driving school wasn’t required, though you can take a “driver’s ed” class in high school to skip the exams at the DMV (you take them as part of the class). The exams are free (IIRC), you just have to pay to get the license when you pass. You only have to pass a written exam to get your “permit” (limited license). You need a certain amount of hours of driving to get a full license; but these aren’t really tracked. You just need a guardian (if you’re under 18) or a license holder to sign an affidavit saying you drove the hours. I definitely hadn’t actually driven the number of required hours when I turned 16 and my mom signed off on it.

It varies widely by state, of course; I started driving in Alabama when I was 15. I just recently had to pay WA to transfer my license from Colorado, I guess that was just administrative fees.

> Driving school wasn’t required

I think the difference might be in the difficulty of the test. Here in the UK driving lessons aren't required, but most people wouldn't pass the test without them (and most drivers wouldn't pass the test now if they had to sit it again).

which basically means those tests are not required to be sufficient at safe driving, since most drivers drive safely(enough) without being able to pass those tests.

Additionally, i would love to compare car accidents stats for countries with strict rules/very liberal rules and no rules at all(like most third world countries with high level of corruption)

Last time I checked, the US was quite far behind Germany in terms of road safety. Having driven in both (and far more dangerous ones), I'd say that there's a noticeable, but not outrageous difference. It largely depends on the state though.

AFAIK, a German drivers' license requires 5 substantial tests (4 seasons plus bad weather) ... while one in USA is little more than 10 minutes of "can you not crash into things at low speed".

You can actually get a German driver's license within 2 weeks if you sign up for a crash course. You have to listen to 14 theory lessons (90 minutes each), pass a computer test about them, do at least 12 45 minute long practical lessons (5 outside the city, 4 on highways, 3 at night), and some optional lessons inside the city (which you actually need more but aren't mandatory).

In the end you have to pass a 45 minute driving test where the instructor tells you where to drive to (mostly through the city), asks you questions about car maintenance and safety, makes you parallel park, and do emergency break tests.

When I sat for mine going on two decades ago, by far the scariest part was parallel parking. Which really says something - if you base it off of what is emphasized on the test, apparently we care more about "are you going to ding someone's car when parking" than "can you handle a motor vehicle at speed in dangerous conditions."

In the US, it's extremely common for driving lessons to be provided by secondary schools.

As somebody who missed out on that, I ended up paying around $400 as an adult for 6 hours of private lessons (yes, that was it), plus a $60 fee for the driver's license and a $9 fee for the driving test.

> As somebody who missed out on that, I ended up paying around $400 as an adult for 6 hours of private lessons (yes, that was it), plus a $60 fee for the driver's license and a $9 fee for the driving test.

Never happened for me either. A few years ago I payed a similar amount for a handful of very short courses that didn’t leave me confident enough to take the test. The consequences are big degradation of QoL. Now looking at probably 1 or 2 grand for significantly longer courses which I’m not even sure will be enough, along with the fact that these sort of places are not compatible with a working adults schedule.

Is it? Where I went to High School they stopped offering drivers education in the 1980s, for budget reasons. Everyone now takes private drivers training courses, or just learns from their parents.