I agree that driver's ed in the US is a joke, especially for someone learning to drive as a middle-aged adult. For teenagers there is classroom instruction involved, but for us older people, it's "OK, you're in the driver's seat--now pull out into that traffic there, and let's go." You're pretty much expected to already know how to control the car before you even have your first lesson. The only safeguard is that in a driver's ed car, there is an extra brake installed on the passenger side for the instructor to use in case of emergency. I've seen comic strips where there is also an extra steering wheel on the passenger side. At first, the student is only going through the motions while the instructor is doing the real driving, and gradually the student does more and more controlling the car. But those are only in the comic strips. In my experience, it was like teaching a kid to swim by picking him up and tossing him into the water.