One of my daughters had problems with the driving test, too. You will soon learn that life has lots of sudden, unexpected obstacles. Anticipating them is half the battle.

Roads and railroads should be private, but once something becomes "public", no one owns it, and its quality degrades more quickly than if someone owned it.

Some time when you get the opportunity take up driving horse and carriage. It's really rather easy because of the ever-present but sometimes fickle autopilot.

Then try learning to drive a four-in-hand. One of the key points is to avoid cutting corners. The lead pair of horses will take the corner, and the next pair (the wheelers) will follow right behind them, pulling the carriage into a ditch or a wall. You have to turn the wheelers AWAY from the turn until the right moment.

And no driver's license is required for horse-drawn vehicles!

A more cohesive rail system (mostly "standard" gauge) was one of the advantages the North had over the South in the Civil War. The South had at least three different major gauges.

Russia built all its railroads to five-foot gauge to prevent invasion from the surrounding countries that were other gauges, mostly standard.

The Interstate Highway system is part of the US defense structure.

The Federal government got involved with transportation because it has a constitutional duty to defend the country. Late in the 19th century, the fastest way to move troops from one place to another was by rail, so the Feds took it upon themselves to make sure we had a top notch national rail network.

President Eisenhower, in his former role as a five star general commanding our forces in Europe in WW II, had observed Germany's superior national highway network, the Autobahn, and how it enabled rapid troop movement within the country. He decided that a huge country like the U.S. badly needed a high speed national road network to move troops in time of emergency, and set about to build the Interstate freeway system we're now familiar with. He also decided that it was the duty of the Federal government to insure all major bridges were well maintained, so the Feds stuck their nose into transportation infrastructure.

When at first you do not succeed, try, try again.
Dig originality from the old dino. Yeah! Yeah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=barWV...

Once you do succeed, here's some more originality from old dino~
Always look out for the other guy.
Pretty godd, huh? Yeah! Yeah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=barWV...

Me dino's work here is done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=barWV...

Hey, shut up wit' dat!

Neuroscience says the human brain is not fully developed until around age 25. It's also been said that most people stop questioning how the world works at about that time, and spend the rest of their lives looking for validation of their beliefs while rejecting beliefs to the contrary. So why even try?

Back in the ancient days of driving I drove my dad's 1964 Datsun (now Nissan) pickup when I took my first driving test (which would indicate that there was a second). I also failed. I don't remember what he failed me on, but upon commiserating with the other guys at my high school, I found that almost every other boy failed on the first try. The girls seemed to have no problem. This produced the hypothesis that the boys' failure was intended to humble us. (Yeah,...good luck on that!)

Learn from the experience. It sounds like mid day would be a better time to test if they are going to be directing you into the sun. Also, be sure your windshield is pristinely clean and you have some good polarized sunglasses, just in case he directs you into the sun again.

That all being said, on to transportation. I spent my career moving stuff about. Since infrastructure is a general benefit and duplication of infrastructure would be inefficient and wasteful, I can see that having the state, or a dedicated utility produce the infrastructure. As to funding, I would go along with the concept of tolls if it weren't for the fact that a tax has already been established. If the states were to switch funding methodology, they probably would not truly switch, but would just add tolls on top of the tax. Having lived in the PDRC (People's Democratic Republic of California) I have seen how this is done. The other issue to address is that not all vehicles cause the same wear and tear of the roads. I typical car has tire inflation pressure of 30 to 35 psi. A typical big rig has pressures of 90 to 130 psi. This is because there is much more weight on the big rig tires. I can work out the math for you if you like. Anyway, due to the harder tires and more weight the big rigs do SUBSTANTIALLY more damage to the roads. So they should pay substantially more in tolls/taxes. However, if that were to happen the additional cost, plus markup, would just be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher freight rates. So you pay for it one way or the other. This could be tempered a bit, however, due to the elasticity of demand for freight.

That probably does not answer your question, but I hope it give some food for thought.

Ideally the towns and cities would get together and decide where and how roads would be built...it's more direct. Even the state capital and representatives are too far away from those issues.
Actually, if everyone would of had the foresight, planning out roads before any properties were sold or granted would of been the ideal.

That which governs best, governs close.

In the beginning, cars drove on the horse and buggy paths which were created just by repetitive travel.

I've not shared this with many people because of lifelong embarrassment, but on my private pilot check-ride (at age 17), tasked to demonstrate recovery from a stall, I accidentally put the plane into a spin, then properly and quickly recovered from it. The examiner passed me (!!!) with an admonition to get more stall training.

An instructor later cured my fear of stalls by telling me to put the plane into an intentional spin. I was mortally afraid, but with the plane having flipped over and now pointing directly at the ground, he pointed straight ahead and yelled: "Now Smith, what the hell are you afraid of? There's nothing gonna kill you but the ground and it's WAY DOWN THERE." Ever since, I've thought stalls were fun.

Everything is created twice: first in your mind, then in your action. Imagine confidence; act confidently.

who do you think influenced (paid off) the politicians to build the roads for the cars...the car manufacturers...it is how the world of the best politicians that money can buy happens...

Sarah,

Failure is feedback. Feedback is good.

When I decided to reup my Commercial Driver's License so I could go back to pulling tankers in the gas fields of Wyoming (and make a LOT of money), I had to take a driving test, too. I thought I did well until we got back and the DOT guy said, "You failed." In pulling out to drive the six mile test route, I had hit an orange cone within 50 feet of the start. I asked the guy, "Why'd we continue?" He said, "Because I liked our opening conversation and wanted to continue." The opening conversation? John Galt versus Obama.

You'll pass the test and remember the first rule of driving: Everyone else on the road is a threat.

I recently had two daughters take their driving tests. Parents aren't allowed on the actual test. My oldest made it by one mistake - ie one more and she would have failed. Take courage and do some more practice. You'll get it. Driving is much more strenuous when you've got someone critiquing your every move!

I can see the arguments for both public and private ownership of roads.

Public ownership Pros:
It is simple
Anyone can use them - from public citizens to law enforcement to emergency personnel

Public ownership cons:
Maintenance scheduling is never convenient
Maintenance costs are determined by federal law in many cases resulting in much higher costs due to rules/regs and laws like
gas taxes get left in the dust by hybrid/electric vehicles
no one wants a big brother system of road use taxes

Private ownership pros:
owners are incentived to maintain the roads on a regular schedule
maintenance costs are subject to contract laws, resulting in faster work for better prices

Private ownership cons:
permissions to use the roads are a hassle and can be expensive
what to do about emergency vehicles?

Personally, I like public roads, I just don't like the laws that make maintenance more expensive than it needs to be. The times I've been forced to use toll roads were as a tourist and the extra several dollars for a one-time visit just seemed too expensive.

In the military I learned the importance of "getting the 'gouge' before any test. "Gouge" means passdown information from others who have been there. Then you practice, practice, practice, then take your own practice test until you can't possibly fail on the real one. Have you taken a driver's training course? They're worthwhile with the right instructor.
After you've passed your driver test, you'll live longer if you assume everyone else on the road is texting while drunk or stoned. Never go through a green light (for example) without making sure someone isn't running the red.

Hi, Sarah. This is something you will laugh about in years to come, if you aren't already. Just practice a lot and get it next time!
As to transportation, I don't think the government should be involved at all. I see it like package delivery, which is handled much better by private companies!

I hear you, Ed. What contortions a person must go through to believe that crap and think they're an admirer of Rand. It made me gag!

It's true mama. There is one person in the gulch that has swallowed the hoax, hook, line and sinker. No matter how much evidence to the contrary that is presented, we've not gotten through. Many have tried.

As I went for my driving test some 46 years ago, uppermost in my mind was my driving instructors criticism that when I turned left, if there was no car in the street I was turning to, I cut across the right hand lane a bit.

So, when the examiner told me to turn left I very carefully made a broad turn and entered squarely into the proper lane. His response was the question "what color was the light?"

Yeah. Red light. He explained that I had failed automatically but told me to continue through the rest of the test for practice. The next time it was easy.

Oh, God in Heaven!! Sdesapio, what was your symbol for enough already?! We have a Gulcher who believes in global warming?!!!!

Hello SarahMontalbano,
Hang in there. practice a bit more, gain confidence, a bit more experience and you will achieve your goal.
Transportation should not be a federal issue.
Regards,
O.A.

Driving is something like soldering that you get from practice. At first you have to look like an ass, at least I did. I don't know what motivates people who want to teach it, but don't let them get you down. It comes with time.

I think they should work out a way to price roads by supply and demand rather than a flat toll. So there would never be traffic jams due to volume.

They'll be putting assist into cars to prevent violating traffic laws and eventually the cars will be fully automated. That has its ups and downs but I think it's coming.

I also think the whole notion of people carrying thousands of pounds of metal around with them is a bad idea. We end up making big parking lots and large areas of grass to separate buildings from noisy highways. Then it becomes difficult to walk or bike anywhere. When we drive two miles to the store rather than walk it has health consequences from not exercising but also from the stress of life-and-death decisions without corresponding physical exertion, something I think we're not adapted for. The decreased density means it's more difficult to get to nearby neighbors. You're less likely to see them walking down the street.

On top of all this, moving all that metal takes a huge amount of energy. Energy runs the economy. Energy from burning fossil fuels threatens to incur huge costs on future generations in the form of global warming. We aren't even sure of the magnitude of the problem. It could be smaller than we think but it could be near catastrophic. We're taking a huge risk by not taking it more seriously, by not factoring in the costs we're pushing off on other people.

That being said, I use my car all the time since I bought it five years ago. It was going to a supplement for when the bike and bus are inconvenient. I still use bike and bus, but they're the exception. 85% of my local travel is now by car.

I remember feeling so awkward learning to drive 25 years ago. I think it's good you take it seriously and are nervous about making a deadly mistake. That's better than many drivers who seem oblivious to the perils.