Failing your driving test.

(also i failed my cycling proficiency but that was during a thunderstorm)

will (hopefully) be rectifying this this year

oh, and the reason i even got a license was because my then girlfiend kept bugging me to. as soon as i got my license we broke up. i drove for about a year and then i moved back to philadelphia and i haven't driven since.

I don't have a licence and have no intention of taking my test ever, so the above situation is something I dread. It certainly wasn't a problem with my last girlfriend. Neither of her parents had a licence and neither do either of mine - it makes a big difference I think.

My story as well.

And I smashed up my first car, but I blame that on God. (Skidded on wet pavement as I approached a red light; trying to brake but they wouldn't hold.)

I have never seen anyone reverse around a corner! If I did I'd probably think they were a spy or something.

What is this mentalist "reverse around a corner" thing that they make you do in the UK/Ireland? Are people expected to do this on a regular basis?

1. Hit car in high school parking lot while turning too sharp
2. Rear-ended truck while driving to school in heavy traffic
3. Smashed oncoming Chevy while turning left with view partially blocked
4. Hit 6" curb in middle of 3-way intersection while looking for street sign in DC
5. Nailed median on 695 north of Bmore after falling asleep at the wheel

My girlfriend in HS passed the test easily whilst stoned, so it can't be that hard.

I'm 32 and I still can't drive and have no intention of starting.

Kids, can you say "Lucky"?

However, I managed not to screw up too badly on the second one and the instructor was very nice. She told me her only criticsm was that I hadn't "scanned" a certain intersection for cars until just before I passed through it. I realized this meant she had spent the whole drive making note of the motion of my eyes. If I had known she was going to do that I'd still be riding my bike today.

(weird xpost)

i failed my first driving test as the examiner had to slam the brakes on. still swear i could have made it on to that roundabout before the oncoming car.

passed second time somehow

x-post

I just feel like a retard, having failed a third time.

Sounds easy? I fucked it up royally, it doesn't give an indication as to whether it's recognised your mouse clicks, so it's tempting to click more than once for the same perceived hazard (which I did). I got 100% for the practical test itself but failed miserably on this one.

Took the wind right out of my sails. I sold my wee motor and haven't quit my lessons, and this was despite having been driving for months previously, long distances, etc.

I may have to get a car in the next couple of months. I'm really depressed about this.

I still reverse-round-a-corner, though, to get my car on the drive when I get home.

-- chris (cbrassic...), August 5th, 2003 1:37 PM.

interesting.... he passed his theory test first time, but hasn't done a single thing about getting driving lessons, and apparently the waiting list for test dates is horrendous.

x-post I've heard nothing but bad things about the hazard perception test, everyone seems to have had huge problems with it

jesus the emotional mill of the driving test is so annoying, and having to go through it all again, the month of worrying about it etc, gah!

OTM. Just never take the test and there's no risk of failing it! Been driving for yonks.

Poor Ronan. I failed twice and cried on my instructor the second time. I'm bloody great at parallel parking though, as I had to do this every day for a couple of years to get into our parking space.

One of my best friends failed her first test because she braked for a squirrel.

That kitten excuse is great. I'm gonna remember that one in case I ever get pulled over.

Emergency stops are compulsary too - the examiners's script was something like "when I tap my hand on the dashboard, stop as if a small child has run into the road". I skidded on mine, but it clearly didn't matter.

(also, I stalled the car on a roundabout Give Way line; but, as I did a textbook recovery from it, I didn't get failed.)

Here is my experience - my old Wolseley 1100, a really nice example in good cond. etc, I was driving it to work one winter, and being an inexperienced driver, I hauled on the brakes b/c a squirrel ran out into the road. I hauled on the brakes on an icy patch, the car spun off the road, and totally fucking smashed to pieces on a gatepost. I could have been killed, but I was lucky to be barely injured, all for the sake of a fucking fluffy-tailed forest rat! One of the stupidest things I've ever done!

I failed the first one. I did so well on the 3 point turn and parallel parking but messed uo right hand turns! The second time my instructor had pointed out all the tricky parts on the route before hand, so I got those, but I did mess up pulling out from parallel parking, and I was convinced I had failed.

"Which button for the guns?"

I'm thinking I got to be at work/band practice/boozer and ain't got time for triflin' nonsense.

i remember going to driving lessons with my best friend and i was having no problem driving. when it was his turn i almost died. he was horrendous and still is to this day. all brakes....the instructor who was also our phys ed teacher had Tim make a right hand turn....of course Tim was going about 65 at this point and didn't hit the brake just turned right dukes of hazzard style. the instructor slapped him in the back of the head.

Failed the practical first time in July (on things like 'overcaution' and 'undue hesistation') but passed down in Tunbridge Wells (there were no free retest dates in Greater London for 4 months+) in September. And yes, we've had an unfortunate coming together with a bus since, but generally she's pretty confident despite the deluge of information (sometimes seemingly contradictory) you get thrown at you at UK intersections. I will probably never drive on London roads.

i think driving test in the UK might be more difficult than they are in the US?

I actually failed my first test, because I changed lanes without signaling (and I did that to avoid smashing into a stalled car).

My driving test wasn't exactly a cakewalk, but neither was it especially challenging. I think the worst parts about it involved turning left while stopped at a stop sign and parallel parking, and seeing as though I really worked hard on the whole turning left thing with my dad, only the parallel parking thing dared to trick me (I did somehow manage to do it, though). Everything else was, like, turn right, turn left at a street light, stop at a stop sign, change lanes, park into a diagonally-running space in a parking lot, park into a "regular" space in a parking lot, back up, and do a three-point turn (another thing I'd worked hard on with my dad). I think it took me maybe fifteen minutes to do everything and the only things I was chided on were (a.) missing an opportunity to turn when doing that whole "turning left while stopped at a stop sign" thing and (b.) driving a bit too slow while changing lanes. But they still passed me.

The written part of the test was DAMN easy, IIRC. Lots of common sense questions about the rules of the road, "what would you do?", etc. It was approx. 50 questions long and I think I was finished with that part of the test in three minutes, spending most of my time just going over each question. I *think* I aced that part.

(And I've had to drive either my mom and dad or just my mom for such a long time that my "give my parents no reason at all to gripe about the way I drive" method of driving has influenced the way I drive when Mom isn't there at all. So 90% of you guys, the Other Drivers On The Road, will probably view drivers such as myself as an aggravation. But hey, I've yet to get into any accidents *knock wood* or get any tickets, so....)

It's £50/£100 here in camden, even if your are a minute over your meter time.

I'm doing my theoretical on friday. I have done the "mock exam" and I think the mock is actually not meant in the "this is not a real one" but more like "hahahaha YOU WANNA DRIVE A CAR?". *sigh* Some of these pictures are so fuzzy! How the fuck do you see it's a CROSSROAD? Or how the fuck do I know what sort of penalty a "kicked a policeman in the shins" is? Huh? Ridiculous. But yeah I gotta do it. I have my car already (freebie from PIL yipee) and my daughter is already running around telling everyone "mommy and ophelia will DRIVE!" LE FRIGGING SIGH.

Nick, how many times did she have to take her exam?

how the fuck do I know what sort of penalty a "kicked a policeman in the shins" is?

okay this is a much more interesting driving test than the one I took

Ok, that was uh sort of made up. but some of these things they ask! I mean, SERIOUSLY. I also have no concept WHATSOEVER of what "50 km/hour" is so how the fuck do I know if that's too fast for stopping at an orange light?

Apparently you have to STOP IMMEDIATELY if you see a horse in distress (this does not include Alanis Morissette though).

I think I'll ask Ophelia if I can use one of her nightie diapers when I take the exam cause I'll have the runners.

You can probably get some sort of driving instruction manual to study a bit, can't ya? It's what I did.

Still haven't taken my behind-the-wheel test. I'll drive. One day. :\

All the UK questions are taken from the Highway Code, do you have an equivalent "textbook" to study from in Belgium, or do they just make shit up? I passed first time after about 8 lessons, and have no idea whatsoever about actual highway code stopping distances any more. Like anyone's going to actually be able to judge if they are 50m away from a stop sign or another fast-moving car or whatever anyway.

Luckily I passed my test before the introduction of the written test, I just got asked three questions (describe some road sign or other, tell them the braking distance at whatever mph, and some shit about when you could and should sound your horn or somesuch), asked if I could read the registration plate of a car across the road to test my eyesight, and off I went for a wee drive. I had to do my three-point turn outside my aunt's house with all her neighbours watching me out their windows. I hit the kerb on my parallel parking, but apologised, pulled out, and did it again perfectly.

I reverse round corners all the time, mostly because I always end up parking down dead-end streets and having to reverse back out of them again because there isn't enough room to turn.

Luckily I passed my test before the introduction of the written test, I just got asked three questions (describe some road sign or other, tell them the braking distance at whatever mph, and some shit about when you could and should sound your horn or somesuch), asked if I could read the registration plate of a car across the road to test my eyesight, and off I went for a wee

I took the course. The others asked the DUMBEST questions EVAH: "So if I can't drive with a cellphone forwards, can I do it when I park backwards?" My reply would have been: No,because you don't have a BRANE, you MORAN. But then I don't have a license (to drive nor to teach). We'll see... Problem is that some of these PIXORS are so damn dubious and unclear (which probably says a bit about my eyes). *sigh*

I think part of my nerves is cause I now fully realize I'll need to actually put this in practice. There's not a big elephant in t he middle of the room but a car in the garage which is mine. :-/

I failed my driving test the first time but the guy had been a true bastard. Asked me bullshit questions like what the maximum weight I could pull with my car was. Then during the exam, asked me to parallel park. I'm OK at it, but the guy asked me to do that in a spot that was only a bit longer than the car and upslope. I did OK, I mean I managed to park the car but when I got out of the spot, the guy said I had almost hit the car in front. Didnt get it. Second time I went to take the test, theexaminer was on strike so I had to wait an extra four months before they could find me a new free date for the exam. And then I got it without too much trouble, even though I felt I hadnt driven as well as during the first exam.

I think the max weight is 750 kgs? Will probably be wrong though. :-(

Actually I think it's about the total weight or something. *sigh* *off to check books*

It probably depends on the car no? Anyways, I'm pretty sure that it's written on the car's papers so that I dont have to remember stupid stuff like that.

Even though yeah, that was probably part of the things I had to learn for the written exam. But seeing as there was almost a two year gap between the times I took the written exam and the driving exam...

you should get an american license

i dominated my test(s). first try.

I also have no concept WHATSOEVER of what "50 km/hour" is so how the fuck do I know if that's too fast for stopping at an orange light?

Holy mother of god, I hope you don't pass your test if you a) don't know this and b) don't think it's of crucial importance!

Mark, I'm not sure but you od realize you have to pass a rather strict exam and do hours of practice before you get a license. *rolls eyes*

i think everywhere driving while on a cellphone is legal should do the drivers test with the license applicant on their cellphone arguing with mother/boyfriend/girlfriend etc the whole time.

I passed my theoretical exam. Minimum requirement is 41 out of 50. I did the exam in less than ten minutes and my result was? 41 out of 50. Roffle. *waves at Mark C* So now comes the hard part: learning to ACTUALLY DRIVE. I know shit about cars. Didn't even realize there are three pedals (when you have a shift gear car). I'm enrolling in a 20 hr practice course. This means I will have a temp license for 18 months. I can do the exam in three months (or longer). If I do my 20 hrs and the teachers is okay with it, I can drive alone. Eep.

I wasn't worried about you killing anyone while doing the theory test!

I know, I was waving cause I will start driving soon. :-) And, you are right, I'm VERY nervous cause I know I have a lot to learn. I have no concept of anything: speed, lights,... Maybe this is why I have a gigantic migraine: I'm nervous of actually being on the road. But they don't really push you on the road until you are ready. :-)

Well good luck - I'm sure once it's happening, with a decent instructor, you'll be fine, and you'll gain a working concept of all the important things soon enough. So how does it work at first? Is there some kind of off-road driving centre you can practice in? Here, we are shoved on the road from the first minute!

WTF! No way. The first lesson they show you the basics and you have to drive in some "driver park" (or however you'd call it). Even if they would shove me on the road, I would steadfastly refuse. I want some knowledge of how a car drives first. I think I'll also drive with my dad and father in law in some secluded (?) area.

Failed the only two times I took it (at 17), and haven't tried again since. The second time, I panicked and went the wrong way ie straight on when the examiner told me to go left. He couldn't fail me for that, but obviously was far too harsh on all the other stuff I cocked up on. In my defence my parents wouldn't put me on their car insurance when they renewed it so I had like two weeks driving time then the rest was only in lessons.

My friend failed the written test due to a wrong answer, which he had learnt from the Highway Code study guide thing, thought it looked odd (can't remember what it was) but remembered it anyway, got tested on it, then it turned out it was a 'misprint' in the book and RONG.

Still terrified of driving. 37 now, and I cant see it ever happening. I cant explain it, but the vry idea of driving a car scares the shit out of me.

Ah Trayce, don't say this. I'm having mild panic attacks just thinking about though my husband is coaching me very well. As he has a visual handicap he's not allowed to drive (inc bikes) so he sees this as an opportunity for me. I am trying my best to see it that way as well. :-)

so I had like two weeks driving time then the rest was only in lessons.

This is what made it difficult for me. I had everything sorted out: money for lessons, studied the Highway Code and the driving school's book (no written test back then), bought a cheap cheap old car to practice in, then... no bugger would sit with me so that I could practice. So the only time I could practice driving was during actual lessons, so the whole thing got very expensive very quickly. Three failed tests later and I'd run out of money, so I said fuck it and haven't tried driving a car for nearly fifteen years.

i failed three times before i passed. still can't parallel park.

But they don't really push you on the road until you are ready. :-)

hahaha Oh how RONG I was. First lesson? I had to sit behind the wheel of a car which was parked in a street. I immediately realized that I was going to drive ON THE ROAD. W. T. F. But it was okay. I drove around a bit. I also did a little bit of shifting gears. Second lesson (hours 3 till 5) was HORROR. I realized I would be driving and shifting gears. hahah Oh man, I failed to feel that in first you have to slowly lift your feet of the pedal UNTIL THE VERY END which I didn't feel at all. So I fucked up and all the other people on the road drove past me probably thinking I was a complete idiot. Which I am of course. But by the end of the lesson I was able to do it. Next lesson will consist of driving, shifting gears AND paying attention to the cyclists and pedestrians. The lesson I had now had the teacher pay attention to those things (and me too but I forgot half the time as I was too busy shifting gears and shit). I feel more confident about it than when I was 18 when I didn't see myself driving AT ALL. Now I think I might have a chance.

Oh yeah, if you can't parallel park, you fail the exam. Is it different in other countries?

Canada must be more lenient because they don't fail you for messing up one thing unless you commit a 'dangerous action'. Though that might be provincial.

I got 2-3 points too many taken off to pass on my first try but the guy passed me anyway because he liked how I handled an intersection near the beginning. It was bittersweet

Haha, my first driving lesson at age 15, they'd have three students in a car, plus the instructor, and the students would all take turns practicing. I went first and looked in the rearview and exclaimed "You can see BEHIND you with this thing!" I mean, I knew you could, but I'd never experienced it firsthand. So she had me drive around the parking lot and everyone else got to go on the road.

I'll get my driver's license one day.

I will, I tell you!

Parallel parking is an absolute necessity! I can (and have) parallel park in SF with 2 inches of clearance. It's a totally vital skill.

Failed my first official driving test in Australia for screwing up the parallel parking...wheels up on the curb, automatic fail. Man did I CRY. But I got back on the horse, nailed the test and got my license. and THEN had to go through the whole merrygoround again last year when I went for my US driver's license. Got it on my first shot! Didn't have to parallel park though. Probably because I took the test in Sacramento and they don't make a point of that like they would in SF. Dunno. FWIW, I can and do parallel park if required. Not great, but passable.

I know a lot of people who couldn't parallel park but got their license anyway.
I'm planning on getting mine before I move to New Zealand, but I wonder if I'll have to do it all over again once I'm there or if I can get some sort of temporary intl license or something...I'll get it all figured out eventually here...

In SF, you either have a garage or a scuffed bumper.

Ah fuck man, it must be the bumfuckpits to drive in SF: YOU HAVE TO STOP'N'START ON THOSE HILLS. Fuck me. I had to stop on a hill but the instructor took over shifting gears cause I was a novice and of course hadn't learned how to do that shit.

I do hope I get my license. Not sure if I'll pass the first exam but I realize now that I am not the worst driver. How do I know? Cause the teacher said he had a student who couldn't even turn a corner. hahahaha Imagine that. His oldest student was 65 yrs old. WTF. Anyhow yeah we shift gears here. In the US this seems to be an exception as you guys seem to drive automatic most of the time, no?

Also, what I still find VERY odd: you can learn to drive on the road before you passed your theoretical exam. Huh? LIke how does that make ANY sense. I mean the teacher will of course correct you or whatever, but still seems... strange.

During the exam we will also be tested on the motor (like you have to be able to change oil and shit).

I still don't know what I need to "load up on" for my car which is patiently waiting in the garage until I get my license. I think it's called Euro 95 or some shit.

The instructor said driving was like cycling. I think he's on drugs. Also, do all instructors make the lamest jokes in existence? I think it must be included in the instructor course they take. Godalmighty.

My US driving instructor delivered my 'pass' grade with thinly veiled disgust, because I was slightly over the speed limit in almost every part of the test...BUT I did everything they asked, so he couldn't fail me.
But he one of the most humorless individuals I've come across. Not even polite, or businesslike. Bored, kind of annoyed, and disdainfully SILENT.
wee!

95 is just your standard unleaded petrol. I can't remember if we had to learn to put oil in your engine/water in your radiator and stuff, but that's pretty important if you're going to run a car so it makes sense to know it. I don't think I did, I think my dad told me all that stuff.I remember being a bit clueless as to how to put petrol in my car the first time I did it - there's a lot more to having a car than just driving it, which you don't appreciate until you're doing it yourself without someone telling you it all.

Oh yeah, I can totally understand how that's necessary. It's a car, it has an engine, you need to know a bit of the basics. I will need to learn a lot. FIrst lesson the instructor went on and ON about the lights 'n' buttons for about half an hour! I wanted to beg him to stop cause it was overload. I understand I will need to know this but all at once? fuck.

I suppose if you're willing to pay for a ton of lessons you could ask him to slow down a bit? Judging by the way all my acquaintances learned, people just want to learn ASAP and as cheaply as possibly* and I'm guessing instructors are tuned in to that, hence throwing it all at you at once.

* this might be because we all learned at 17 and didn't have the money to pay for any more lessons than was strictly necessary. I passed in about 10 lessons, but I wouldn't say I actually learned to "drive" (as opposed to "work a car") for a wee while after that.

Oh no, I am exaggerating with the "overload". Apart from all the lights'n' buttons bit, they are pretty relaxed. I guess understandable cause I went for the 20 hr course which is expensive, but then my parents are paying for it. Lucky me, I know. :-)But then I don't have the option of learning with my parents (nor PIL) as they are in another country. :-((((( Here we have three options: short course, long course and learning with a friend/family member. I took the long course. I'll probably get a temp license, once you are approved after the 20 lessons you can get one. We'll see...

Why should you have to know how to parallel park!?

Who parallel parks in reality!?

Haha, what the fuck kind of question is that??? I parallel park all the time, every time I take my car out of the garage. You want to park in the street? Parallel park it is for you. Best is parallel parking on hills. Now that's fun! And in France, you may be asked to parallel park on the day of your exam and if you can't, you fail.

Also, I kinda agree about driving instructors having the worst jokes. I had two different ones. One was nice and had not very funy jokes, but she was fun to drive with. The other was somewhat racist and xenophobic so clearly not good times with that guy.

Jibe, here it's part of the exam. You *have* to know it otherwise you'll fail your exam.

More like "if you can't manoeuvre a vehicle in reverse, get the fuck off the road", really though. Even if you never use it in terms of parking, it's still kind of important to be able to demonstrate an ability to make your car do what you need it to and enough spatial awareness not to crash into things.

In the UK test it used to be that you would be asked to do two of the three manoeuvres that showed you could control a vehicle going backwards - parallel parking, three-point turn in the road, or reversing round a corner. They all operate on the same principle, i.e. ability to control your vehicle going backwards without hitting things, so doing any of them is a fairly good indicator of whether you're a liability behind the wheel or in control of your car.

Yeah, we have to turn in a narrow street as well.

Also, if you don't stop for a pedestrian who's waiting at a zebra crossing you fail your exam as well. hahahaha I mean, shit, I understand you have to be courteous (???) driver but if they'd test drivers who have their license I think 99 procent would fail in this.

I now actually enjoy watching Top Gear. haha

Sorry, I meant you used to have to do two of the three because since I did it I think you have to do all three now.

Remind me never to cross the road in Belgium.

Yeah, same here for the pedestrian bit. Some questions on my written part were on that subject, only really tricky. There was a zebra crossing, a truck parked next to said crossing and the question asked was "do i stop, go faster, go slower, stay atsame speed". Most people answered same speed ... but you could see the front wheel of a baby carriage peeking out in front of the truck so the answer was to stop and let baby + mom cross. That written exam was so tough, out of the 30 people in the room, only 6 of us passed it!

wtf, why wouldn't you stop at a pedestrian crossing?

Oddest question I can remember from my theory exam was some rubbish about cows sleeping in tunnel-entrances. Welcome to Norway!

You guys have to stay out of Bruges. Very few cars will stop at a zebra crossing if a pedestrian is waiting. This doesn't happen in other cities? Wow. Here you usually have to wait a loooooooooooooooooong time.

(I find this hard to believe. I mean, shit, isn't there a lot of roadrage in the US and other countries? Can't be that different from Belgium. I'm feeling a bit like Tuomas here. hah)

Sure, lots of drivers ignore them here too, but it's still bad form and good reason for a driving instructor to tut. Not sure what exactly the laws say though (aside from "if you hit a pedestrian, you WILL be set to sea on a burning raft")

(There's a Norwegian pun in there ;_; )

The first time I took my test the examiner said 'I am Mr Smith, and this is Mr Jones, who will be examining me this afternoon...'

Mr Jones sat in the back. I'd never driven with anyone behind me. Failed on hesitation, which is kind of what I always fail on whenever I fail at anything in life.

But then I don't have the option of learning with my parents (nor PIL) as they are in another country. :-(((((

Public Image Ltd? Surely not – what is PIL in this scenario?

-in law, I bet.

I failed my first driving test (I can't remember what for now). Being a swotty academic git, it's just about the only thing I've ever failed, and I was very upset and demoralised at the time. I now take perverse joy and pride in my failure. With epic amounts of practice (thanks mum!) I nailed it second time around, a couple of months later.

wtf, why wouldn't you stop at a pedestrian crossing?

Well i wouldnt stop at a pedestrian crossing if there was nobody there, crossing or waiting to do so.

I imagine that's what the people who are always nearly hitting me are thinking.

Oh, not attacking you here or anything, you've never almost hit me...so y'know...no misunderstanding or anything...

Very few cars will stop at a zebra crossing if a pedestrian is waiting.

The other day it was pouring, I was standing with the buggy at the zebra crossing... all cars were driving by without stopping. There you go.

I now drive alone. I'm not that scared. Just nervous. In a couple of months I'll do my exam. Not sure how it works in other countries, but here you're allowed to drive on your own if you have had 20 hrs of lessons and the teacher approves. Anyway, yeah, it's ace. I really do hope I get my license the first time around. I still need to practice starting uphill and also parallel parking. Here it's essential you can parallel park.

I passed on Monday! (First time... apologies to all first-time failers, I'm sure you will end up much better drivers than me.) But I still haven't been out on my own yet.

If you could drive on your own in the UK before passing your test I'd start (re-)learning straight away. As it is I've got no-one who could take me out to practice. I failed twice when I was 17 mainly because my parents wouldn't put me on their car insurance for longer than a couple of months before renewing it, so I was relying on one or two hours a week. I was OK but just needed to build up some practice time.
I can't stand being examined on anything practical and my nerves help me screw everything up.

I've nearly been hit several times as a pedestrian by drivers just not indicating when they pull out. I see people do this on my way to and from work pretty much at least once or twice a day. It bugs me that people too lazy to move their hand a couple of inches to avoid potentially hitting people are allowed to drive but I can't :(((

I got hit by another car during my test! I was mid-three-point-turn and this bloke reversed off his driveway without looking and straight into my (stationary) car. Luckily as it wasn't my fault I didn't get penalised for it.

http://financemedia.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/money1.jpg

By which I mean I passed.

Hopefully while wearing those glasses.

If you never take it, you can't fail!

:/

While steering with my wallet.

That's the examiner, just after receiving the backhander from our man rabies...

I thought it'd get odd looks for taking my test for the first time at age 27, but it occurred to me that I wasn't coming in with 8 DWIs or anything like that, and obviously they were professionals and such, and were really very polite and friendly etc. Pleasant experience minus the coffee jitters and empty stomach.

thought I'd, etc

I'm not that scared. Just nervous. In a couple of months I'll do my exam

hahahaha It's actually a year later. Tomorrow is my exam. I'm pretty sure I'll fail miserably. :-(
Thing is, I know what I do wrong: I do my manoeuvres too fast. I have slowed it down but still could do it slower. :-(

v v best of luck Nath - am sure you'll ace it.

Oh no. Trust me. I won't.

I was just able to crash my TomTom, how's that for proof?

Okay, I was wrong, I fucking passed. Had just "sufficient" and he added "there's room for growth. " I know. :-(

HURRAY! I'm in Brussels atm, will have a beer to celibrate on the post meeting drink :-)

Congratumalations Nath! Woot!

Congratulations!

yay nath! doesn't matter what you passed with, you got it and that's all that matters! awesome!

thanks guys!

Well done Nath. I have to go and do the Pennsylvania written one on Friday, followed by a practical one in the not too distant, I will fail because of the 4 way stop. America, get some mini roundabouts already.

Grats, Nath!

Ed, 4-way stops are like the easiest part of the test! Stop behind the sign/white line, let everyone who's already there go, yield to the person on your right if you arrived at the same time.

DONE

Thanks! I now am in your "minimum requirement" club. My teacher didn't say she expected me to fail (after having taken the test) but it was very clear she felt that way. Me too honestly. One GLARING ERROR: he said to turn left and I kept driving straight (I was in a panick). He kept saying:"Why didn't you turn? WAS IT THE FIVE TON SIGN? I AM SURE WE ARENT ABOVE THAT FIVE TON!" I replied:"Yes, expecially not my brain." He laughed.

Well, not an error per se: I just ignored his direction. hahahahah I made several more (not driving fast enough on the highway, which I normally always do, got confused on yellow lines on the ground which he explained to me (!!!), followed the cars instead of doing the right thing and stop at the obstacle to let the other cars past). But I PASSED. My parallel parking was PERFECT.

I have been practicing 4-way stops on my bicycle but this just confuses drivers who don't expect cyclists to stops it seems. When I'm in the car I'm getting better at them but they are still a fairly alien concept with the priority on the other side from where I expect it to be. (opposite to say a roundabout in france, its on the same side as an english roundabout which is just wrong and perhaps I am just over thinking this).

America, get some mini roundabouts already.

Look at what happens when you give North Americans roundabouts:

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/driving/images/GroatRd118Avcopy.jpg

Maybe they could handle mini ones, though.

woot woot - well done!

thanks!!! :-) success rate is about 40 procent (on first try) so I FEEL AMAZING. heehee

COngrats SO MUCH Nath, I am glad that worry's finally off your shoulders! I know it's been bugging you a long time.

Ed in my experience, people in America have no freaking idea how to treat a bicyclist on the road. Around here you are treated as though you are riding an ostrich about, some kind of crazy locomotive curiosity. Also, if you put an American in a roundabout they will just drive in circles for hours and cry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

Roundabouts are fucking GREAT. They put one near the hospital (where my gran now resides). Fucking ACE. I was happy.

A, thanks. Yeah, I was postponing that shit for MONTHS. Insecure, me? hah.

Looked up some four way stops (?) on youtube. It even differs from state to state? WTF.

Also, some old woman was in our shop and said she let her fall off her bike in front of a car. "I was in the right." I wanted to lecture her about cycling paths in and out of the roundabouts but I tought fuck it. Why do cyclists always assume they can do everything? Assholes.

That roundabout! It ruins everything useful about roundabouts.

Now this is a roundabout:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/images/2007/10/22/msn_magic_roundabout_470x350.jpg

seems about the size of my town lol

It even differs from state to state?

uh no?
roundabouts look like a waste of space. we need more room for more McMansions and Starbucks thankingyouverymuch.

this is the most popular driving-test-related thread, which does exactly not bode well for me, but:

has anyone here had experience with online drivers' ed courses like drivers ed direct? are they worth it? (i'm not immediately pursuing this but i will probably want to at some point)

also are driving instructors really actually 'suspicious' of older people who try to get their licenses? i'm in my mid-twenties and have only gotten as far as the permit stage.

Ime, they're pretty suspicious of everyone, donna. I wouldn't sweat it.

Man, I had the craziest driver's test recently. I went into a driver's school and asked if they could give me a test so I could get my license. (I'd taken driver's ed when I was 15 but a combination of moving to a different state & losing my old DL meant I didn't have a license.) The guy had me get in one of the school's cars, and we drove around the block. There was one stoplight, all other intersections were four way stops. He had me make only right turns. It lasted about five minutes, and for conversation we had a political fight (very weird for me because I seldom talk about politics, esp. with strangers). Then I parked and we went back into the driver's school, where he gave me perfect marks on a very large list of things I didn't do. I took it to the DMV and they gave me a license. I was glad I was already able to drive because...wtf.

my instructor for the permit in HS, the moment i did something the slightest bit wrong, would say "you do that on the test, you FAIL." he would also smoke cigars in the car. sometimes he would eat a clementine and then throw the peels out of the window; i practiced my backing up skills while driving over several discarded clementine peels. he once had me drive to his apartment once so he could get some 'paperwork' for my permit. this took him about 25 minutes while i waited in his car at his apartment complex.

I failed my driver's test 3 times last year, due almost entirely to my nerves. I practiced for a few more months and took the test again in August of this year and passed. I have no crazy instructor stories.

More driving talk over on CAN YOU DRIVE?, including from me who finally passed my test! First time! And my instructor was impressed with my score sheet. I'm still slightly scared about changing lanes, but I drove on vacation and despite loads of other things conspiring against me (GPS dying; freaking out because there was no handbrake, because it was a foot parking brake pedal thing) it was actually pleasant and not too stressful.

My instructor was a total pro, I get the impression he teaches a lot of 'older' ppl (ie not 16).

i failed 5 times before passing in June this year. I think the funniest major fault was where the driving examiner decided to brake on the dual control, because I was sending up a wave of spray along the side of the road, and probably would've soaked an oncoming pedestrian. My first driving instructor nearly put me off driving forever, he was an ex-army general or something, and seemed to take it personally whenever I made a mistake.

It is so fucking random. I passed the first time. I still think the guy was crazy to let me pass. Even my teacher (who was present) said I did half of it perfect and the other half not great AT ALL. So there you go. I think you only really start to learn once you have your license. Thank god I take siraplexa (anti anxiety) because before the pills I would FREAK the hell out (usually when I was ta home in my bed thinking about driving). My car is full of bumps cause I often hit a wall when driving outside my garage. lololololol

Just noticed it's almost one year I have my license! So I have been driving for about two years! WTF!

I can start from second and even third gear. That's how well I know my car. hah.

I had been chaufferring my dad (who had had a corneal tear) around for about a week and the day of my test we showed up early to the DMV where the test would start and drove around and around for about an hour. I almost failed the written part of the test but I aced the driven.

I passed the first time, then again, my tester never asked for me to do any parallel parking. Also, he had a hardon.

mine lasted all of 5 minutes, we pulled out of the registry and went around the block. done. then the tester promptly farted and gave me my paperwork to get the license.

I'm reading all that as a euphemism.

he also had the worst dandruff i've ever seen.

I took the (written) motorcycle test today. The lady at the DMV said, "You're such a brave girl to take this test.... Aren't you scared?" IDG if this is bcz the test was hard, or if she thought women should be scared to be around 2-wheel vehicles? Or...other?

What kind of a thing is that to say to someone before they take a test???

The test was mostly not hard, btw, and I passed.

joined the world of ppl w/ driving licenses today. only took 3 tries!

Awesome!

wahoo, wtg Mordy!

took me 2 tries, I sympathize

break a leg!

I passed the first time I took mine BUT the instructor confiscated my license and I had to go to the DMV a week later to find out if I'd passed or if they were charging with me with some kind of crime. I thought my doctored learner's permit just looked old but I guess it was pretty clear that I'd altered it to get into bars. Oops. Using that instead of saying I'd lost it and jsut getting a new one was not one of my smartest ideas ever. When I showed up at the DMV a week later I was pretty much pissing myself with fear but the guy had drawn a huge happy face and written passed across the paper.

first time i failed the parallel parking section. i was really peeved, but it wasn't the test giver's fault, it was mine. that was thursday morning. so thursday afternoon i practiced parallel parking all evening.

somehow got to reschedule for next morning. got to the test, and the instructor claimed that the VIN number on my insurance card (that i took the test on thursday with) had a typo and she wouldn't administer the test. so i called insurance company, had them write up a new card, email it to me, i printed it out, and got back in the queue to take the test. did it parallel parking perfectly, did perfectly on road test... and then the instructor claimed that my bumper was an inch over the white stopline! nb, even if that wasn't the most inconsequential bullshit ever, it definitely wasn't! i stopped well clear of each stopsign + line but i think bc of volvo deep passenger seat and long bumper that she didn't have an adequate read on how far away it was. i protested vigorously and we compromised by having a third test scheduled for this morning.

this time everything went perfect for realz, but even at the end the jackass administering the test refused to tell me i passed. he was making marks on my permit and there was silence and finally he's like, "ok, follow me inside to take your photo." like god forbid you just tell me i passed. would that bring too much joy??

the worst part is that i've driven to the mountains, at night, through snowbanks, done hundreds of hours of highway driving, incredibly safe driver, etc, but bc of stuff like parallel parking, or not stopping early enough in 15mph mall parking lot, i had to take it 3 times. whatever, it's all over now, thankfully. but it's ridiculous how, at least in PA, the material you're tested on (and that they're so strict about) have nothing to do with actual RL driving. like, you could pass this test and never have merged on a highway or driven over 15mph. it's insane.

arguing with test administrator generally not a good idea, but the wait time for tests is 6 weeks and i wanted to get it done this week. seems like a month between first time i took it and this afternoon (i was stressing hugely about the whole thing), but really only 6 days passed.

i failed the first time. after doing awesome on the parallel parking, i was headed back to the building on a two-lane one-way road (like a highway) there was a sign that said 'stay left' and i was like that doesn't make sense, there's two lanes here and nothing else going on -- why would you go in the passing lane for no reason? and thus i failed, for thinking too much. passed two days later.

for some reason the driving test in pennsylvania was not entirely standardized at that time -- i knew ppl who went great distances to sites that did not require parallel parking.

I don't know if I did then but I love parallel parking now.

i became a great parallel parker overnight. just took a few concentrated hours of practice. last night we went to south street and i found a tight spot and just swooped in. my wife (who got her license in a chicago suburb that didn't have PP on the test) was really impressed; after a decade of driving she still can't parallel park.

Driving in Boston you absolutely have to know how to do it. I guess that's why I'm really good at it (and therefore like it) just years of practice. I definitely didn't always like it though as I just remembered literally getting out and making other people do it for me when I first started driving.

it's kinda the most difficult thing you do with a car! most of the time you don't need such precise movement, but getting into a spot only slightly bigger than your car requires such careful maneuvering. even knowing the basic technique (the first cut in, then turning the wheels all the other way) doesn't help with all the nuance, like knowing exactly how far back to go before beginning the turn, how close to the curb you are, how close to the car behind you you can get, and then self-correcting if you go a little too far or not far enough... and language is really insufficient for fully explaining it. i just found that i understood more and more about parking it implicitly but not in any way i could explain. and i can tell other nuances that i'm not great at yet but that i want to get better at. (tl;dr)

For my first Australian Driver's license when I was 18 or so, my instructor and I practiced parallel parking to the point where I could do it in my sleep, I was like A #1 parallell parking guru. Day of the test everything is going smoothly, we get to the parallel parking portion of the test and I overcorrected and mounted the goddamn curb on the first try. Automatic fail.

I was heartbroken. And my instructor was all, "duuuuude what happened? you had those cold yesterday!" But I put on my big girl pants and got back on the horse, retook the test I think a week later BOOM in your face parallel parking!

For my American DL test I passed the first time around, but the instructor pointed out that I had been 5 miles over the speed limit for almost the whole test -- I was SO spazzed out about all the road rules and whatnot I didn't check my speedometer once! He was a humorless dick, literally sighed audibly when he gave me my passing grade like it physically PAINED him to do so.

Mordy otm about not actually testing driving of any real tangible level. It's all just toodling around surface streets and stopping at stop signs. Even the driving test in Australia seemed at least a little more rigorous.

seriously. they should've gone out with me when i drive down the highway at night in the rain w/ a baby in the backseat and then tell me i don't pass :P

Oddly I lost all my parallel parking mojo when I changed what side of the road I drive on. Seriously, all my muscle memory is for the opposite side of the car, opposite shoulder, everything...even in an automatic I suck ASS at it now. Plus I have a much harder time in our new car gauging where the back of the car is, or the front for that matter. They drop away so dramatically that I always end up erring on being too far away from a car than edging much closer.

lolol, rereading this thread i noticed this:

If you never take it, you can't fail!

:/

― Mordy, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 1:09 PM (3 years ago)

didn't even remember writing it but otm

i took the test in a honda two-seater, so there was no problem fitting in the parking space -- just had to be the appropriate distance from the curb

yeah that was what was so RAGH about failing my test, the car was one of thos silly little Hyundai bubble cars, like the EASIEST car in the world to parallel park! how do you even screw that up!

Seventeen years since my last attempt, and with first child due in 10 days (hence resuming lessons to be able to give my wife a break from doing all the driving), I passed the UK driving test this morning. Feels pretty surreal tbh, had almost resigned myself to the life of a passenger or pedestrian...

Good luck! Happy (but vigilant) motoring!

Thanks - am going to do a supplementary 6hr course with my (brilliant) instructor. My determined aim in going back to lessons was not just to pass the test but to learn to be a safe and considerate driver - imminent precious cargo and all that :)

Having my second attempt in one week. Didn't do too badly last time but I failed with one major fault which ruined it all for me. I was fairly relaxed back then, just treated it the same as a lesson.
But now I'm a bundle of nerves - my new job, starting in September, requires me to be able to drive and the wait time between tests seems unreasonably long. Think my last test was in April? Paying for top-up lessons is expensive and even worse is I don't want the embarrassment of telling my new employer I can't drive.

palms sweating just thinking about it.

How've you managed to get a job that requires you to drive when you haven't passed your test yet?

And good luck, btw.

haha, i don't know! when i applied, back before my OG test, I wrote on the app that I was due to take it. once they offered me the job they wrote again asking 'are you still going to pass your test? we're conscious that there is travel involved around the country'

PS, if i'm ever round your way (which could be likely) i may give you a heads-up.

PPS thanks!

I'm doing the same thing atm. I've kept my license current but, before this past weekend, I hadn't driven in 20 years. I think there are probably a lot of people who can't or don't drive as adults, particularly in the city. But, yeah, I feel you. Motorists and bicyclists and pedestrians are demonstrably worse at doing what they do than they were in the '90s, and having to monitor every dumb and distracted thing they do while also trying to relearn how to manage a left hand turn onto a busy road was nerve wracking. Think I'll have a few stiff drinks before my next lesson.

what gets me is how long it's taken me to learn. i had a bunch of lessons back around 2007, even drove to Cambridge and back during one lesson but ended up being made redundant and running out of money. Must have taken lessons up again last October, so it's been almost a year of having a lesson almost every week and I'm still not confident.

driving should be illegal i think

You'll want a trendy bike in that Bristol.

yeah i do. i really do.

I passed! third go around. yip!!

yeah i passed it a couple of months ago on my 3rd attempt too

I confess: I am basically middle-aged and I still can't drive

have had lots of lessons (like, lots) and never really felt ready enough to go for the test - the instructor suggested it repeatedly but I still felt like stuff was going from "this is fine" to "this is not fine and I hadn't noticed the crucial not-fine thing in time" too quickly and too often

I had a bad lesson 3 weeks ago and since then the instructor has a) not turned up to our regular slot b) not texted or given any warning or explanation of not turning up c) not answered his phone

feel kind of like I've been stood up on a date. a not very good date where I pay £35 and either it's boring or I have one of those not-fine moments and feel like shit at the end but still have to do it again next week. well, now I don't, I guess, except certain people in my life are very keen on the "why can't you drive yet" and get all their friends to ask how it's going every time I meet them, and it is of course a useful life skill and some jobs demand it, so I suppose I'll have to. have to find someone else and go through the whole first-date connection-or-shame process again. ???

I don't know what this rant was about either. I'm going to have a drink (couldn't do that before driving) and maybe go back to bed, idunno.

I also can't cycle. Had a bike as a kid where I could put my feet on the ground while sitting on it (apparently this is not how adult bikes work?) and also probably had stabilisers until about a week before I fell off and decided never to get on it ever again.

This combination is Fucking Weird in an adult, I realise. I think I might be dyspraxic. Or I might be making stuff up and dyspraxia might not even exist but if it does I definitely wouldn't have it (<- what the people in my life who nag me about driving tell me, but probably also what the NHS would tell me if I turned up as a fully-grown female adult and asked for a diagnosis).

I'd say "roll on self-driving cars" but I know even if they do ever become a thing you'll need a driving licence to use one.

I'm 43, haven't driven a car since I was 19. Upthread I mentioned that I failed three driving tests and gave up because for a 19 year old at university it was becoming stupidly expensive. The mounting costs were my go-to official excuse for not having a driving license, but as a financially stable middle aged adult that really doesn't hold water any more.

I hadn't noticed the crucial not-fine thing in time

^^^ This is basically my experience. I can operate a car, in the sense that I can work the controls and get it to go in the direction I want. But when other people are added in, it seems that I don't have sufficient awareness of my surroundings or the ability to concentrate enough to be able to drive a car safely. I was thinking about this last week and considering the possibility that maybe I have changed in the close to a quarter century since, as I'm able to hold down a job now, which I wasn't able to do back then because lol airhead. But I still have doubts. I guess I don't want to be responsible for someone else getting hurt or injured - something that I've heard a couple of other non-driving adults of my acquaintance mention.

No-one's pushing me to pass my driving test. My boss mentioned a couple of times three years ago - back when a colleague passed his test - that it would be useful if I could drive. But there are plenty of other people in the office who can drive and plenty of tedious customer facing jobs in the office that I can be assigned, so it's not like I'm going to lose my job. However it makes getting a job elsewhere a bit difficult, and I want to switch careers as well.

not answered his phone

Driving instructors aren't all tossers, but in my experience something like 75%+ are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD5M7ZczriI
Also it turns out that nothing makes me angry faster than being told to do something one eighth of a second before I was going to do it. I was like that at 19 and other non-driving related experiences tell me that I still am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcrKcfDaUlY

I have never even taken a driving lesson in my life, aps. Even once a boss offered to pay for my first ten lessons and also a significant payrise, if I would just show a willing to learn to drive. I turned him down and I admitted I had absolutely zero intention of ever learning to drive. if you can get by with taxis, trains and the ol' peasant wagons, I say fuck driving. And fuck idiots that clog up the roads, polluting the whole place and think the Thatcher buswanker quote is big + clever.

I drove from 16 to 33 or 34 - I remember the last time I got behind the wheel was a big white truck from a car sharing service (I guess you call them car clubs?) and I drove like a cautious old man to and from a meeting in McLean, Virginia, before they had built out the Silver Line. I remember surprising myself with how risk-averse my driving was but frankly I had always been a shit driver and it was the first time I'd driven in a long while. Shortly thereafter my license expired and I kept forgetting to go back to the DMV and get it renewed, and then eventually I checked on the date and it turned out if I ever wanted to renew it I would have to take both the written knowledge test and the road skills test all over again (>545 days).

Anyway, I'm with calzino now. I occasionally (i.e. ~3 times a year) feel guilty that my wife does all the driving that our family requires, but that is a pretty vanishingly small amount and frankly she prefers to drive than having anybody else do it for her. I've seen the way she talks to my father-in-law as he attempts to navigate when they come to visit, I'm not the man for that job. Also, fuck driving, especially parking.

As for bicycling, there's a video on youtube of 53 crashes at one railway grade crossing in Knoxville that I can't watch all the way through because I keep thinking it's going to turn into a snuff film at any moment, so fuck bicycling too imo.

We're getting rid of the car next month.

Driving was a must for the past decade odd but there's no justification for it now tbh. Costs and environment and hassles of ownership.

Honestly think that if I had been driving all these years, years would definitely have been knocked off my life by now.

From stress? Yeah seriously it's a wonder I haven't gone grey yet

Don't drive if you can help it, it's a helluva drug

I also can't cycle. Had a bike as a kid where I could put my feet on the ground while sitting on it (apparently this is not how adult bikes work?) and also probably had stabilisers until about a week before I fell off and decided never to get on it ever again.

― a passing spacecadet

i never learned to ride a bike either. i don't know what "dyspraxic" is but my coordination is shit. i did get my driver's licence, because in many parts of america you can't do anything without one, but not until i was 24. if it's any consolation, at least in america you don't need to be a good driver to get a driver's licence. i passed mine first try and except for one of my brothers i'm the worst driver i know. i don't have the skills to properly focus on the road. my mind wanders. i don't notice things i ought to. i drift out of lanes, go too fast or too slow, and terrify any passengers i happen to have, which doesn't happen because if i'm in the car with anybody else they're the ones driving. back in indiana we chose where we lived exclusively based on its proximity to my workplace, on the grounds that the less time i spent driving to work the more likely my continued survival was. ultimately though we just wound up moving to a city where driving isn't as much of a life necessity.

You are all my people. Thank you!

Now why must everyone else be all Jeremy Clarkson about everything?

nothing makes me angry faster than being told to do something one eighth of a second before I was going to do it -- frustrated lol of recognition at this, wrt driving and also e.g. taking the bins out or emailing Accounts or ringing my dad on his birthday or anything, really

I'd say "roll on self-driving cars" but I know even if they do ever become a thing you'll need a driving licence to use one

well, as another non-driver, I'd say, yes, *this* and the fact that I am not convinced that simply automating the vast numbers of often single occupancy vehicles is the answer to anything. George Monbiot said as much in a recent article. Far better to have lots of self driving minibuses and taxis which always carry multiple people....then you could reduce traffic congestion as well and we *wouldn't* to get driving licenses to travel in self driving vehicles.

five tests, five fails. fuck it, i live in a v flat city with good buses

anyways you can read + listen to music on buses, driving isn't freedom, its absolute tyranny really.

I had a bad lesson 3 weeks ago and since then the instructor has a) not turned up to our regular slot b) not texted or given any warning or explanation of not turning up c) not answered his phone

This sucks, a good instructor should have experienced hundreds of "bad lessons" and be grown up enough to deal with it and move on.

Spacecadet - On the off chance you live in North-Northwest London, I have a fantastic instructor I can recommend. I am a super clumsy, spatially unaware nervous person and managed to pass on my 2nd test.

Christ though, London drivers are fucking dicks. I've only been driving a few weeks and I get consistently honked by people behind me for not committing suicide in front of them. It's like - you know what - I'm gonna wait till the traffic turns green. And maybe I won't turn left while there's a massive truck speeding towards me from the right.

I think there must be another thread about driving tests because I'm sure I've posted about this before, but I failed 6 times when I was 21/22 and gave up. The cost of owning a car seems prohibitive to me but people earning a lot loss money than me seem to be able to afford it somehow. It'd be nice if I was able to hire a car every now and then though. Not sure I will ever be able to pass the test since it's supposed to be harder than it was in the 90s.

For those who tried in their youth, failed, and now face trying again as mature adults with trepidation: I failed my (UK) driving test three times in my teens and early 20s. Gave up as have always lived in major cities with decent public transport, and never really needed a car. Was inspired to get back on the horse when my wife was pregnant with our first child, primarily to rectify the unfairness of her having to do any/all driving for us and in case she had a c-section and was prevented from driving. I got a good instructor via a recommendation, applied myself to 2-hour lessons at least once a week and on an icy morning in January 2013 I passed my test on the first re-attempt since 1995. Three weeks later my oldest son was born by c-section and I was able to drive them both home from the hospital, if nervously. If I can do it, you all can do it.

I'm attempting to learn to drive again after a break of approx 20 years. Fucking hate it so far! My favourite part is when the instructor tells me I need to stop panicking, because I hadn't thought of that before.

Wow are you me from the future?

(I'm in a similar situation: haven't tried driving a car for actually 25 years now, from what I now know about panic attacks I'm pretty sure that I used to have one each time I got behind the wheel)

I mean I know that a person's shirt shouldn't be soaked through with sweat while driving a car but 19 year old snoball didn't have a clue.