[jnovek]

I’m an American and my vision, fully corrected, is right at the legal borderline to get a license without restrictions. I’ve never “failed” a vision exam at the DMV; one time the clerk even said, “good enough”. (Don’t worry, I never drive, I only keep my license up to date for serious emergencies).

[AustinDev]

A serious emergency isn't going to be helped by someone with very little driving experience. I don't follow your reasoning. If it was a serious emergency who would care if you had a license?

[margalabargala]

People think about things differently. It may be that for OP, "but I don't have a license" would cause a second thought and waste time in an emergency. They may be self aware enough to head that off.

[zdragnar]

A police officer would. The penalty for an accident might be negligent driving.

The penalty for an accident without a license is, at minimum, driving without a license. You're also not likely to be covered by insurance without one either, even if you're not at fault.

[xboxnolifes]

Sure, if you assume the one time they end up driving leads to an accident, which is a crazy assumption.

There are bad drivers out there right now, driving every day that rarely or never get into an accident.

[zdragnar]

Take a person who has marginally acceptable eyesight, who never drives, put them in an emergency situation where they need to drive and you've got a recipe for much higher odds of having an accident.

Given that getting a license is an option, and it conveniently doubles as a photo ID, and there's really not a reason to not get one.

[orochimaaru]

You also need a drivers license that doubles up as a real id if you want to travel by air. So the issuance of a DL isn't just for driving.

I'm not sure if they give regular state id's as real id.

[mikkupikku]

This is one of the strangest internet myths. Every single state in America will issue a photo ID which is fully equivalent to a drivers license for every purpose other than permitting you to drive.

Also, you don't need "Real ID" to fly no matter what they say. You don't even need a photo ID at all (although they'll force you to waste time if you don't have one. I found this out when I lost mine but still had to travel.)

[lostlogin]

Here in New Zealand you don’t need any ID to fly (nationally), so even the claim that ID is required is shaky.

[j-wags]

At least in CA, the DMV does issue Real ID state IDs. I have one.

[bookofjoe]

Not true.

>No Real ID? The TSA Will Now Charge You $45 to Fly

https://money.com/no-real-id-tsa-fee/

[labcomputer]

You can also get a passport card. It's meant as a substitute for a passport for re-entry to the US by land or sea, but it counts as a Real ID (tm).

[rootusrootus]

At least in Oregon they definitely do offer non-driver real ID cards. I’d guess that’s likely true everywhere.