For a lot of us, our driver’s test may be but a vague memory. That right of passage, the first step on the road to adulthood, can be a freeing experience. It can also be an embarrassing nightmare.
Sometimes it’s a simple miscalculation of which shoulder to look over when changing lanes, and when they build up, you’re suddenly below the passing score and are forced to head home with your parent behind the wheel, and you staring despondently at your shoes.
Fortunately, unlike job interviews and pissing off Sean Penn, you get a second chance at the DMV test. In fact you can go back as many times as you’d like, until you finally pass, or are given a lifetime bus pass by the terrified behind-the-wheel staff.
So, any horror stories of driver’s license testing to share? Did you make it on the first pass, ending up with a self-satisfied smirk on your license picture? Or, did you flunk the written seven times? Don’t be shy, we’re all friends here.
Image sources: [Doctor Fun,whynotando.com]
Hooniverse Asks- Did You Pass Your Driver's Test the First Time?
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44 responses to “Hooniverse Asks- Did You Pass Your Driver's Test the First Time?”
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Oh man. Here we go…
Attempt #1: showed up on time, but didn't have my birth certificate with me. "Nope, gotta re-schedule".
Next available at my "home" office was like months away, so I rescheduled in a nearby town.
Attempt #2 starts well enough, as I've got all of my paperwork this time. This DMV office was set up like a bank drive-through lane, where you line up under a cover thing and then they come out to your car. There was one car ahead of me in line when the tester came out to my (mom's) car. Lights, horn, signals, etc all go well, so it's time to get in the car.
While I was doing my intro stuff, the car in front of me had pulled away. When we got in the car and go going, I proceeded to just drive out of the little lane thing we were in, through the parking lot. "Ooooh…I'm gonna have to ask you to just pull into that spot right there."
WTF?
Turns out there was a stop sign at the end of the little lane, up high on one of the pillars that held up the roof. As I was 1 car back from the line, I'd technically run a stop sign. I'd like to think this little detail would be common knowledge if you were local to that DMV office.
So yeah, I may well have the shortest driving test on record: ~15 feet.-
We had something similar to that "hidden stop sign" trick at our local DMV in PA…but as you said, it was already legend among the permit-holders.
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My local RTA (the aussie equivalent to your DMV) also had a hidden stop sign like that, behind a tree as you pulled out of the car park which caught many people out too.
I passed the first time, but didn't have to do a hill start (no hills near steep enough), or a proper reverse parallel park (street side parking was too empty to have anywhere to do one), so I just described to the instructor what I would do in those situations!
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I passed on my first try, even scoring 100% on the written. My mom had to renew her license and took the written at the same time as me. She only got a 90%. Let's just say I am well-practiced at being smug should I ever (perish the thought) be forced to drive a Prius.
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I can say I hope to never see you in a pious.
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When I took the driver's exam (could have been for the permit), it was pre-PC, so there was this console/terminal where you stood to take the test. If you got one wrong, something would clunk within the machine and a red "WRONG" sign would appear in a window. Don't ask me how I know that….
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Passed the first time, but I had really been driving for five years or so, so it really wasn't a big deal to me.
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Given the simplicity of the test that was given at my local DMV back in those days, anyone who didn't pass the first time should have been banned from retaking it for at least 1 year. I think we drove about 2 miles total, made nothing but right turns and did absolutely no parallel parking. While my 16 year old self was happy for its brevity and simplicity, I now realize that it allowed on the road a great number of my peers who were in over their heads sitting in the passenger's seat, let alone driving.
/harumph-
No shit! All I had to do was not crash, and drive about for a bit, and presto! You're passed. The MI (and US in general) driving tests have to be one of the easiest in the world. I have heard nothing but horror stories from some of my Brit friends.
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Yep, first time. But considering Georgia's testing standards at the time that isn't saying much. I never left the parking lot of the state patrol office. To this day I remember the one question I missed on the written portion: The speed limit in a residential area without a posted speed limit sign is 35mph, not 25mph.
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Hooray for low standards!
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I would have replied to your post first but another fellow GA driver posted above. My experience was identical to yours. My CDL test was a bit different, which I will post separately.
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I think knowing my state's default residential limit (25) got me out of a ticket. The main drag through my hometown was under construction so there was a side street detour, and a city cop in a Lumina was clocking traffic there. The town's side streets are actually 20 MPH, but unless you get on certain streets at their very end you'll never know that. I argued that my 28 MPH was actually 28 in a 25 since there were no signs on any of the streets used for the detour.
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1) Learners permit overseas in the form of scratch off lottery ticket thing = pass, same with oral part (learned to drive and shift on the wrong side)
2) ON G1 = multichoice pass (98%)
3) ON G2 (technically G1 exit test) = 1 stall in reverse while parallel parking, drove with aplomb in 5" of snow, dude didn't like my rev matching, pass
4) ON G (tech. G2 exit test) = gentleman didn't like my shifting (I was avoiding downshifting and rev matching this time) = fail = lay rubber outside drive test, fuckers.
5) NS G scam = walk into service Nova Scotia with an expiring ON G2, pay money, walk out with FULL Nova Scotia license, no drive test
6) In ON a couple years later, driving ON plated car on 401, plates had previously been associated with old ON license. OPP following me, mirroring my lane changes for 5 min, light me up. It would seem they were running plates and mine came back "expired license". Get a reminder to go get an ON license.
7) Go to get ON license – "You haven't held the Nova Scotia full license for the requisite period in order to exchange it for a full Ontario license"
8) Nice lady says "if it ain't broke don't fix it…" ignoring the 60 day if you move get a new license rule
9) Months later on NS license get pulled over again in a speed trap (45km over in a 50 zone) – nice Toronto cop doesn't say anything
10) Eventually get an ON license after trying 3 separate times over 3 days ("Our computers are down" "Our computers are down" "let's see if they work today")
Bah.-
Wow! I don't even understand most of that stuff.
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Ontario has a graduated licensing system that was, at the time:
G1 – do a written test: get a learner's permit (drive with fully licensed driver who has been driving for more than x years, or something, BAC, time, 400 series highway restrctions)
G2 – do a road test: can drive by yourself with restrictions re BAC, and other stuff)
G – do a longer road test with highway stuff, get a full license
(a G or General class of license)
There are/were certain prescribed waiting times between phases of licensing which could be shortened with driver's ed and restrictions on how long you can hold one with out trying to upgrade.
There is also a 60 day rule if you move to a new prov on getting an license in that province.
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Written 'exam' (multiple choice, with obvious questions and pictures of signs; I skimmed the handbook beforehand to make sure): 100%
Practical test: Three points off for 'uneven throttle' (because I hadn't turned up the idle at that point and had to give it a bit of extra gas before it warmed up so it wouldn't stall; I compensated by riding the brake slightly); three off for not signalling when pulling into the space in the nearly-empty parking lot at the end 'cos I was nervous as hell. 94%.
First try. I was pleased, but not terribly surprised. I was eighteen and three months ferChrissake; I'd been driving for a couple years… -
Like many of us, I had been anticipating my 16th birthday for years, just waiting to get my license and that sweet taste of freedom (even if it's with an experienced driver – re. parent – in the passenger seat). And then a week before my birthday, the union handling licensing goes on strike. For almost two months. After that's done, it took them a week or two to get the computers back on line. Finally I get to go, semi-unprepared. Still, I just passed the written test (I think if I had gotten one more wrong, I would have failed). My two road tests went much smoother, although within a half hour of getting my G (my full license), I had put my car in the ditch, while doing a three-point turn.
It took me a couple tries to get my motorcycle license though. Both times, I had no problem with the written test. But the first road test is included in motorcycle training, if you choose to take it. Of course, this meant that the first time I took the test, was a day after I had ridden one for the first time. I couldn't control the clutch smoothly enough to do the slow speed stuff, and failed for putting my foot down, or going over a line, or something. I redid it all last spring and passed (barely), which has me set for up to 4 years (I still need to get my full M license).-
Was this the most recent drivetest strike?
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Well, back in '02 – it was OPSEU that went on strike (I think it was before Ontario switched over to using DriveTest for licensing).
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In the middle of my three point turn, the (automatic equipped) car stalled… I calmly put it in neutral started it back up and finished… the cop praised me for doing it so quickly.
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Dunno about other states, but the CA driving test was kind of a joke when it came to actual driving skill.
No freeway, no parallel parking. The two trickiest things were doing a 3-point turn and backing along a curve for an unreasonably long distance.
What people (myself included) usually got hung-up on was making it painfully obvious to the tester that you were looking wherever they wanted you to be looking. Like, if they thought you weren't checking your mirrors enough, or they didn't notice you looking up the road when you did the 30-point turn.
Another favorite insta-fail was the fact that legally, you're not supposed to enter an intersection and wait prior to making a left-hand turn. Apparently, it's an insta-fail.
The thing that sucks about all of this is that it lets some ridiculously bad/helpless drivers through, and penalizes you for silly things that have nothing to do with safety. -
Dude, I got my Super License after a dozen trys on the Numbergring. I would overshoot my braking zone after the long straight, and would slam into the wall. I actually ended up getting Silver on it on try 12.
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I passed my G1 no problem, and when I finally got an appointment for my G2 it was on a sunny Friday in summer at 3pm. My tester got in, put her sun visor down, started doing her makeup in the mirror and told me I was her last test of the day. I think I could have rolled the car and still passed. Once I had my G2 I forgot to book my G test. After a couple of years I got a letter stating that if I didn`t get my G in the next 3 months I would have to start all over again. By this time I was working for a racing school as a trackside manager /driving instructor. The thought of having to start over again scared the hell out of me. I booked the test, but the only car I had at the time was a stick. Sure that my usual heel and towing was not the approved method, I would coast up to the stoplights /stop signs in neutral. After the test the tester (a Scotsman in his 50s) told me I shouldn`t be in neutral so much, "Don`t you watch racing, they`re always in gear, ready to go." All I could do was bit my lip and say, "Oh, yeah… racing. I`ve seen it a couple of times."
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Same thing happened to me on the G2 exit test – didn't want to h/t, rev match and seem like I was racing. Failed me for the neutralness. Jerks.
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I got lucky, the guy passed me.
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Written was 95% 1st time through.
Driving, however… 1st try was a fail because I tried to be courteous to a car behind me and used about 50 feet of a parallel parking lane as a right turn lane, in a zone where I'd never seen a car parked my whole life. 2nd try was a fail from stopping with my bumper a few feet past the stop sign like I'd seen everyone do for years. 3rd try was a pass. I was only 14 and a half though. -
The parallel parking was on a steep-ish hill. No problem, except I didn't fully engage first gear, and drifted back enough to tap the pole before I caught the car with the brakes.
Another F hanging on the fridge. -
Yup, passed written and in car with flying colors. On the driving test I only got dinged one point for not checking mirrors enough.
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I most certainly did. If memory serves, the only issues I had on the behind the wheel test were not checking my mirrors enough (according to the examiner). Still driving the same car I used then (though my parents owned it at the time, and would until I moved out five years later).
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Wonderful to read!
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Excellent job.
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Great post!
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Driving information is very good
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I just took my test.So basically my test went perfectly until he asked me to drive vertically across some broken horizontal white lines in a parking lot. He kept telling me to just ignore the lines and pretend they werent there so something just didnt seem right and i told him i couldnt do it cause i learned to never cross a white line and it didnt make sense to just pretend they werent there, they had to be there for a reason. All he kept saying was to just ignore them, he never said no its okay to cross them or its okay to pretend they werent there. So i refused to cross them. So badically i failed cause i refused to pretend there werent lines on the ground. Great instructor right? Btw i tested in waterbury ct
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