I fully agree with most of what you say, and I'd love to see more work put in to receive a license. I know in much of Europe, licenses are a major investment (to the tune of $1500 or so), so people take a lot more care in not losing them.

I sure would love to see more training starting earlier, but at the same time I still don't think raising limitations on getting a full license is the best way. By 16 (sophomore/junior year), students begin to get more serious part time jobs, often motorized transportation is a necessity/near necessity. Public transportation would be great if it was everywhere, but sadly it's not.

I know when I got my first part time job during junior year, I was very thankful I had a license and a motor vehicle, as I constantly transported computer equipment around a school district. Many students may be very restricted with time to get from school to their job, and a bicycle or walking, while much better/safer, may not be an option. Getting rides from friends may, and I know many who did that, but I honestly don't think it's reasonable to restrict it to that.

You brought up the idea about how good the judgement and reaction ability is for a 16 year old, and I think it's the same as it is for an 18 year old given the same amount of training and experience. As a personal example: I got my license at the earliest possible in MA, 16 and a half. I was involved in my first (and, knock on wood, only) "at fault" accident (my brakes failed so... blah) when I was 18. Had I not received my license until I was 18, would the situation have been the same? Probably, given the same circumstances.

In MA, people can get their license at 16 and a half, with the restriction that until they are 18, they cannot drive between 12:30 and, if I remember correctly, 6:00. Also, if they get a traffic violation, they do incur more serious penalties. I believe their license gets suspended. Thankfully I haven't gotten one, so I don't have first hand experience with that.

Again, I agree with a lot of what you say. I believe training should be more, the cost (and thus urge to not lose your license) should be more, and the penalties should be higher (... well, not parking). But, like I said, I still think the age is about right.