Some cars go way beyond that. It comes down to what kind of a
driver you are. The ways to burn out brakes include:
-Braking at the last second at intersections. All that kinetic energy
has to be dissipated using the brakes instead of letting rolling
friction eat up much of it. More surprises on ice or gravel, too,
using heavy braking.
-Braking all the way down long hills. The numbers in the PRND321 means
something, as do the lower numbers on the gearshift knob on a manual.
-Riding the brake pedal with the left foot. God gave us left feet for
clutch pedals. And dimmer switches, if you're old enough to remember.
    I have replaced the front pads *once* on my 2001 Cavalier, at
around 130,000 km (85,000 miles?). The rear shoes are still the
originals, at 167,000 km now. Over 100,000 miles.

        Dan

Well, that's only because the car is designed to rust out before the first
set of pads wears down.
--scott

I change pads at about 25K and usually have at least half the original
thickness left. I consider myself fairly hard on brakes. I've gotten to
where I'd rather change the rotors than cut them, especially since I
usually only have the car I'm working on when I'm working on it and it's
hard to drive to the parts store without rotors, but actually because I
like having fresh thick metal there. If I settled for Chinese rotors,
at some places buying new rotors is cheaper than having old ones turned.