I have no experience of driving in the USA. The reason why diving licences are obtained so readily in that country is very interesting. One thing for sure, it has never been easy in the UK. It is more than 60 years since I passed my test (at the second attempt) and it was agony. Although people of my age had to learn to use hand signals which is no longer a requirement, I do think the driving test today is much more difficult than it was in my day. My driving experiences abroad have lead me to believe we in the UK are very disciplined compared with many other places. The worst was Egypt followed by Portugal. Egypt was easy to consider as it is totally out of control. (Cairo anyway), Portugal was different. Most people drive on the right and are reasonably disciplined. However, there is something terrifying about their desperate need to drift onto the left on every blind bend - and no, I don't think they were just Brits on holiday. I do love touring Portugal but always so relieved to eventually get to my destination.