It Took Over 50 Years For Driver's Licenses To Become Mandatory In Every State

Depending on where you are in the world, getting a driver's license can be really easy or pretty damn tough, requiring everything from mental health clearances to scores of 90% or higher on multiple written tests before you're even allowed to take driving lessons. Compared to these struggles, driving tests in the U.S. are relatively easy, or at least that's the general consensus. And although driving laws vary between states, none of them allow you to drive across the country without a license. However, that was not the case back in 1930 when only 24 states required a driver's license, with just 15 requiring a driver's exam.

Massachusetts and Missouri were the first states to mandate a driver's license back in 1903. New York introduced similar legislation around the same time, requiring drivers to carry an operator's license on their person when behind the wheel. While New Jersey required written exams and road tests by 1913, Rhode Island was the first state in the country to mandate a driver's exam as part of obtaining a license in 1908.

That said, the idea of a driver's license took a while to catch on across all states. South Dakota was the last state to start issuing licenses in 1954, and also the last state to mandate a driver's exam — a requirement it finally added in 1959. And many states were not so keen on requiring a driver's test until the 1950s: it wasn't until 1951 that Arizona and Idaho jumped in, followed by Missouri in 1952, Illinois in 1953, and Wisconsin in 1956. 

It was in 1909 that Pennsylvania set the legal age for obtaining a license at 18. Connecticut, however, decided to allow 16-year-olds to operate a motor vehicle in 1921. Five years later, this became something the Uniform Vehicle Code recommended, albeit in the presence of a licensed adult. 

Fast forward a few decades to when South Dakota finally mandated a driving exam, and you could still get a license at just 14 years of age — a practice that's still allowed in the state in the form of a learner's permit. For context: in 2023, there were roughly 120,000 drivers under the age of 16, and over 5.5 million drivers between 16 and 18 years of age, per the Federal Highway Administration.

It's also worth pointing out that the rate of young driver-related fatalities has trended downward since the '80s, but the numbers have been creeping back up since 2020, according to the National Safety Council. And while we've all done our share of dumb things as teens and somehow survived, research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health suggests that vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S., with drivers aged 16 and younger having a higher crash risk due to their lack of cognitive maturity.