To get a driver's license, you need to learn and pass the rules. After that, you get a so-called permit: with this document you have the right to drive a car in which another person with a license is sitting – an instructor, friend, or family member. After taking lessons with an instructor, you can take the practical driving test, but to be allowed to take this test, you must attend a safety lecture and get a corresponding paper. Then you take the practical driving test, and if you pass, you immediately get a license, which is called a "license." More precisely, the "card" with a photo is sent by mail within a month, and on the day of the exam you are issued a temporary permit.
During the exam, you need to drive along a test route and perform several exercises. One of them is turns, similar to what is tested in our country, and another, purely American, is called "parallel parking." A car is parked at the curb, you need to approach it closely and align yourself at the same level, parallel, but in the next lane from the curb, and then reverse behind it and stop directly behind it at the curb. Where this exercise came from in America is clear: being determines consciousness.
The American traffic police, Motor Vehicle, issues not only driver's licenses (licenses) and permits, it can also issue a document called a "non-driver license." This document grants no rights related to driving a car – it is simply an identification card. An American does not need a passport unless he travels abroad, and the non-driver license serves as the identification card that a person may need in life. When obtaining a permit or non-driver license, you must fill out a questionnaire. If you only need a non-driver license, you do not take any tests, you just present the required documents and have your photo taken. If you are getting a permit, then a non-driver license is not needed, because the permit is also an identification card.
In general, in America, no one carries a passport with them all the time. If they have one, it stays at home, and they carry (take with them) a driver's license – just in case they are asked. For example, if someone buys an alcoholic drink, they may be asked for ID. Why carry a passport for that? Moreover, a driver's license and non-driver license can be obtained by non-citizens of the USA. ID comes from the word identification, something that identifies a person, that is, it has a first name, last name, and photo. The word "ID" is used in the sense of "show your documents...". By the way, in New Jersey, drivers who have held a New Jersey license for more than four years are issued new licenses without a photo.
In New York State, to obtain any of these three documents – permit, driver's license, or non-driver identification – you also need to accumulate 6 points – what is called points. These points can be obtained by presenting other documents, and different documents give different numbers of points. For example, a US citizen's passport gives 6 points immediately. A foreign passport with a permanent residence visa or a white card, which is issued to people with refugee status, gives three points. Everyone who has the right to work in America has a so-called social security card. It has no photo, so it is not an identification document, but it has a number and gives 2 points. If you came on a work visa, you have a foreign passport and a social security card, that is 5 points, meaning you are one point short to get the needed identification.
There are also a huge number of other documents that give different numbers of points. For example, a driver's license from another state. Or a phone, gas, and electric bill addressed to your permanent address gives one point. In some organizations, employees are issued an ID, which can also give one or two points. Our driver's licenses give nothing in terms of points in New York State. However, a person who arrived with a Ukrainian license can drive a car for six months, but only if they have a non-permanent visa, such as a visitor, business, or work visa.
In New Jersey, the rules are different. First, you do not need to accumulate six points – it is enough to present a document proving legal residence in the USA. In addition, you can have your license translated into English at a specialized agency, go to the traffic police with the translation, and if the traffic police recognizes that translation bureau and if your license was issued at least a year before, it is enough to take the road rules test to get a state license. Moreover, the road rules must be taken even when exchanging a driver's license from one state for another – at least that is required in New York and New Jersey. Because the rules vary slightly from state to state. Of course, you could move to another state and not change your license, but you won't last long that way – with a license from another state, you will not be able to re-register your car or renew your insurance (which must be done once a year). And you cannot drive an uninsured car even a single meter – that is a serious violation. Moreover, you cannot even park it everywhere – only on your own property, but not on the street or public land. The idea: what if someone hits it?
Overall, in New York State, many laws are stricter than in other states. There are many immigrants and people on welfare. The majority of those living on benefits are not Jews from the former Soviet Union, as sometimes written, but Mexicans and African Americans, many of whom do not work and cause trouble for the police. Hence the strictness of the laws.
There are plenty of violators in America too. The "Driver's Manual" explicitly states that while driving, a driver should assume that everyone around them will be violating the rules at all times and be prepared for it. When someone is learning, they see such violators in every lesson. Often, when pulling out from a secondary road onto a main road, they are not given way. However, perhaps I was driving slower than they were used to. No one runs a red light, of course; that is a serious violation.
By the way, about social security. When a person gets a job, they are asked for this number; when they open a bank account, they are asked for this number; when they want to get a driver's license, they are asked for this number. There is a database where a record is created for each person with their name and their social security number, and everything that happens to that person in terms of their income is recorded there. Government agencies can use this number to find out a person's financial status. At any rate, ordinary citizens assume that information about their income obtained with the presentation of a social security number (official salaries and bank transactions) is known to government services. Or, for example, to the university administration – when you go to study, you must report how much money you have if you request a partial payment. The point is, if you ask society to help you, you must be open to society.
And here's a story about how an acquaintance of mine was almost arrested. It happened in the state of New Jersey. She was not a very experienced driver – she was driving in the dark in an extremely heavy rain on a one-lane road and did not immediately notice that a police car with siren and flashing lights had pulled up behind her, which she was supposed to yield to. Due to the heavy rain and general confusion, the driver forgot that according to the rules, you must yield to such a car in all cases, regardless of which side it approaches from. She somehow decided that you only need to yield if such a car is coming towards you. The cop apparently went berserk – how dare someone not yield to a police officer! Or he thought it was a mafia member showing off intimidating toughness. He called for backup, and at the nearest intersection, she was surrounded by four police cars. Then she got really scared and stopped. She says it was without direct violence, but they pulled her out from behind the wheel, yanked the keys from the ignition, and started to find out what was going on. Then they calmed down a bit, gave her a standard form indicating what violations she had committed, and an order to appear on a certain date in the local court, which would assign her punishment. For the two violations ("failure to yield to a police vehicle" and "careless driving") that they wrote down, the penalty was $154 fine and four demerit points. That's bad: if a driver has demerit points, the insurance company increases the insurance premium the following year because it considers a driver who gets demerit points to be a careless driver. Moreover, under New Jersey state law, a novice driver cannot have more than four demerit points – one more violation and they could lose their license.
Therefore, it is advisable to go to court with a lawyer, who will flap their wings there and defend the victim of the heavy rain. The police officer who issued the ticket will also appear in court. And they must prove to the judge that they issued the ticket correctly (that's the procedure – no fines on the road; separation of powers!). The lawyer contested the "careless driving" charge, but the "failure to yield" remained, so the court assessed two points. And the officer who issued the ticket turned out to be a woman.
In America, many types of violations carry demerit points. For example, in New Jersey, speeding 30 miles per hour over the limit or passing a school bus that has stopped for passengers earns five demerit points. Speeding up to 15 miles per hour over, careless driving, or improper turning – two points. If a person accumulates 15 or more points in two years, their license is suspended for a certain period; at 12 points, they get a warning. If a person has no violations for a year, three points are removed.
Roads in America, according to those who have been to Europe, are worse than, say, in Germany. Indeed, in some back alleys, industrial zones, there are completely broken roads. But there are also very good expressways (highway). They are usually toll roads. Travel over a large bridge is usually also paid. The place where you pay for traveling on such a road is called a toll. Payment methods vary on different roads. For example, on turnpikes, upon entering, the driver takes a ticket that shows where they entered, and upon exiting, they present this ticket and pay the corresponding amount. On other roads, you pay a fixed amount when passing through certain points. Payment methods also differ. You can pay cash to a person sitting in a special booth; on some roads, you can toss change into a basket. There is also a convenient thing called EZPass. It is a prepayment. A sensor is attached to the windshield of the car. When a person pays a certain amount to the relevant organization (you can pay by check, via the Internet, or the amount will be automatically deducted from your credit card as per your instruction), this device is "charged." When passing through a toll, special equipment recognizes the device and deducts the toll fee. EZPass is convenient for two reasons: first, sometimes this payment method gives a lower rate, and second, there is always a shorter line in these lanes – not everyone likes prepayment.
At first I drove around with a «beginner driver» sticker («начинающий водитель», although it would have been more correct to write «new driver») on the front and rear windows – that was my own initiative. After about two months, one cop told me that, actually, it was not good – it reduces visibility. So I took it off. And once at the beach, I was changing in my car in the back seat – there was no changing room on that beach – a police officer came up and asked if I was planning to drive while sitting in the back seat.