No, 2,000 to 3,000 euros is not insane. 25 bucks is insane.

It`s not " privilege " that makes us different drivers ...It`s awareness and responsibility .

You do not learn to drive in the US. You learn how to make an automatic car go backwards and forwards.

Being allowed to drive and being able to drive are two different things

"A tram, need to find out what that is."killed me.

The driver's licence itself does not cost thousands of Euros. The mandatory theoretical courses, exams and practical driving hours cost that much.

You can drink a coffe or eat sandwich/burger or something but you have to be focused on road all the time. On Europe fine/ticket are very expensive and you can loose your driving licence when you are bad driver and have to many tickets

It is so expensive because we are legally required to take a minimum number of classes with an instructor from a certified driving school before taking the practical test and they charge a fortune per hour.

For example, here in Luxembourg, you must complete at least 12 hours of theory, pass the theory test and then you can start the driving lessons. You need a minimum of 16 hours of driving lessons before taking the road test and if you fail, you have to go back to the driving school and take at least half of the hours again (an 8 hour minimum) before trying again.

Another reason why we are so careful is because in most European countries, we use a penalty points system. If you commit traffic violations, besides getting a heavy fine, you lose points and if you lose all your points, your license is revoked and you have to go through this entire expensive process all over again!

Fortunately, 31 European countries have agreed that if you obtain a driver's license in one of them, it is valid across all 31; the traffic sign system is virtually identical as well.
If I, as a Dutch person, want to drive in America, I need an International Driving Permit—but that simply involves entering details, paying a fee, and receiving a form.
You can think of a tram as a short, slower train that makes frequent stops—the offspring of a train and a city bus that had a fun night out together.

Mandatory courses I had to take when getting my license (Norway):
* Theory classes - signs, rules, laws.
* Practical city driving - including different types of parking, hill start, etc.
* First aid and HLR. Also what to do if you are in an accident or first to arrive at an accident.
* Car technical - how to check your car that it is safe to drive. Also practical maintenance, oil, wiper fluid, etc.
* Practical high-way driving. Overtaking, high speed safety, fatigue dangers, etc.
* Practical night time driving - proper use of lights, demonstration on difficulty to spot pedestrians in the dark etc.
* Practical winter driving. On an actual slick track. How to handle the car when you lose grip. Testing braking distances under different slick conditions.
* Theory test at the "DMV".
* 1 hour practical test with the "DMV" - driving through the city during rush hour, then highway driving.

All this was done with a stick-shift car.
Took me about 3 months - passed on first try, luckily.

Total cost was about $3000 (perhaps a little more).

Tram = streetcar like in San Francisco the cable car. Just not with cables but with electrified overhead lines. Sometimes it's also called light rail.
They either have separate tracks, or they share the street with cars, with tracks integrated into the street. That was a very common form of public transportation in the USA until the late 1940's. If you've ever watched the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" you pretty much get a summary what happened in real life.
Big car and oil companies bought up the local streetcar companies and ripped them out. For more roads and cars.
It sounds like a bad conspiracy theory but it really is what happened.

Being a driving instructor is a profession, not a hobby... If the people who taught you were just "teachers" rather than actual instructors—meaning they weren't professionals—then you didn't really learn how to drive, and it shows in the way you handle the road.

Of course it’s serious not to learn how to drive properly; you’re holding a weapon in your hands—you could kill a family coming the other way. Is that the level of recklessness we're talking about here?

You know, you’re 200% more likely to die on the road in the US than in Europe, and people like you—who say, "I don't drive very well, I learned from people who didn't know what they were doing, but I'm used to it, so it's no big deal"—are potential killers.

I can’t imagine any place in the USA where an average US-American could become an excellent pianist by watching his parents play the piano every day from early childhood and then receiving a few brief lessons or practice sessions at age 16 for a total of 25 dollars. The same applies to driving. Although poor piano playing doesn’t endanger anyone, whereas poor driving certainly does. It can be fatal for the driver, passengers, and other road users.  –  In Europe, both piano lessons and driving lessons are taught regularly and seriously, so that even average citizens can eventually master playing the piano or driving and follow traffic rules. Both come at a cost and aren't available for just 25 dollars each.

For your information: I did not pass my first practical driving test, because I made more than six manoeuvres (that is, turnings of the steering wheel) while parking backwards...
And, if that Dutch road has amazed you, check out the rural British and Irish roads, or even many mountain routes across Europe, like those of the Picos de Europa here in northern Spain...
As for the periodic inspection, here in Spain it depends on the type of vehicle and the years that have passed since its first registration; so, for passenger cars:
 Up to 4 years: Exempt.
 4 to 10 years: Every 2 years.
 More than 10 years: Every year.

The price of Gas in the US is currently about $4.50 for a gallon. In the Netherlands you pay about $11.00 for a gallon.

When he's talking about the cost, he doesn't mean you have to pay that much to the government for the license, he means the total cost of all the formal lessons you need to have.   Also, knowing the rules of the road in Europe is much more of a formal thing. In the UK the rules are written down in a book called The Highway Code, and you have to know every single part of the book for your driving tests.

Overall, European driver training is much more formal and in depth. The result is we have an accident and death rate on our roads of about a half of that in the US. It makes a huge difference.

Pick ups are not common, vans SUVs and HGVs (lorries or trucks as you call them) are common

My first car was a £180 13 year old Renault 12, I was deeply fond of that car and it was perfect for a first time car, slow and tough lol.

12:48. In the Netherlands you really have to watch out with driving OVER the speed limit, particularly on highways. Because there are several so called 'trajectcontrolles' which means they use camera's to track vehicles over several kilometers and measure the average speed. When you drive 10 km/h too fast as the guy suggested (real measured speed) you can expect to get a speedticket in the mail!

The reason why we can have that one way lanes is because people follow the rules, and you know you are safe sharing the road with them.