when did the government require cars to have licenese plates and people to have drivers liceneses? i emailed a letter to the arizona department of transportation asking them when arizona started requiring cars to have licenses and when arizona required people who drove to have drivers licenses and told them it was a request per the arizona public records law A.R.S 39-121. they never bothered to answer my question. they didnt even answer my email. but today i was reading a book and it said that by 1921 all the states had laws licensing cars. it didnt give a good date on when all the states required people to get drivers licenses but it did say that by the 1930's drivers examines had become common in most states. the book was pretty good from a libertarian stand point of less government regulation because it showed how little the federal government regulated people lives int he 1920 and 1930. the book was: "daily life in the united states, 1920 - 1940" by david e kyvig