Each U.S. state has its own requirements. Most states require driver education courses for young drivers. But the quality of road and written tests varies widely. Road tests in suburban Virginia, for instance, may not involve highway driving or parallel parking. Local authorities very strictly police written and road tests, people who've driven in Japan say.
Most Japanese cities have excellent public transit systems for non-drivers.
But people in Iceland, a country without particularly good public transportation, still need to take 30 hours of courses before their road test, says Fridrik Jonsson, secretary at the Icelandic Embassy in Washington. There, driving slowly and safely isn't by choice. British roads are congested, with the average speed in London hovering around 11 mph, according to Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the nation's Automobile Association. Unlike in the United States, few British cities have freeways going through the center, meaning most driving is done on country roads or busy streets with lights. Our plummet in road deaths in recent years has been particularly in urban areas.