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In the USA most places have no viable transportation alternative to cars. As a result drivers licenses are a critical factor in functional independence and fundamental human needs. Even though there are permitting and test requirements to get a license, there is no effective limit on how many times the written, or driving skills tests can be taken. There is also no chain of accountability between those administering the tests and the drivers they approve for licensing. This means that anyone can take the written test a few dozen times until they have seen the finite number of questions several times over and eventually pass. Likewise, taking the driving test many times will inevitably result in the person encountering a "forgiving" skills test proctor.
The Department of Motor Vehicles or DMV, like every government institution in the USA has been subject to a continuous political assault by the Republican party of the oligarchs. The workers are understaffed, underpaid, and it is a notoriously miserable place to work. The results of such an inadequate and negligent political structure produces predictable results.
We also lack any effective mechanism to take the elderly off the road, and because losing a license ends their independence, we have a large number of elderly pushed to drive when they do not qualify.
For any non-Americans coming along, the DMV varies wildly by state, it's not a federal entity. Who one deals with for a driver's license where I've gotten one: DMV in Oklahoma, Secretary of State in Illinois and local tax office in Florida.
First 2 were a misery, bring a book and take a number, wait 2+ hours. Local office in Florida? I'm annoyed if I have to wait at all. Walk in, say what you want, get directed to a desk. Last time I renewed, 10-minuted from parking lot to driving away.
I can only say what it was like in Tennessee, Georgia, and California. All were wait in long lines at a DMV type, but all were near cities; Chattanooga/Atlanta/Los Angeles. I also did my Commercial Class-A license in California and that is a whole different experience too. Occasionally I've gotten lucky and gotten in and out within an hour, but there have been many times it was 2-3 hours. I've also had times when I had to jump through some hoop to bring some extra document, come back and get told there is some other holdup and it just keeps on looping. It can be such a mess with things like commercial licenses where there are more interstate and federal layers like hazardous materials certifications, medical certs, etc, but it has always been a dreaded activity for me.
Florida freaked me out. When I got here I assumed I couldn't afford tags. Finally got a ticket, went into the tax office, empty. 5 people, "Sir! I can't help you over here!" $35. Now $79 I think?
My wife's not even American. She waited 20-minutes, took another 10, rolled out with a new license with her new surname.
It's so mad efficient, I always vote for the incumbent tax person. LOL, only post I'll vote R!
during covid, the state here didn't even require a driving skills test to get your license.