1. A system for analyzing and evaluating the performance and behavior of the driver of a vehicle, the system comprising: (a) a vehicle sensor operative to monitor the state of the vehicle and to output a raw data stream corresponding thereto; (b) a driving event handler operative to detect driving events based on said raw data stream and to output a driving event string corresponding thereto, said driving event string containing at least one driving event symbol corresponding to a driving event; and (c) a maneuver detector operative to recognize patterns of driving maneuvers and to construct and output a driving maneuver sequence corresponding thereto, said driving maneuver sequence containing at least one driving maneuver.