I've failed my driving test!

[elfundeb2]

What fun!  Driving test nostalgia!

bboy_mn
> 
> Unlike Britain, and other Euro countries I assume, in the USA the 
year
> before you are old enough to get a license, you are allowed to get 
a
> Learner's Permit, that allows you to take Driver's Training and 
drive
> when accompanied by a licensed adult.


It wasn't always this way.  I'm from New Jersey and got my license 
in the '70s.  We all took a required driver's ed course at school 
when we were 16 (it was the junior year health curriculum, and it 
included various bloody car crash movies, including a rather amusing 
one in which two overly chatty old ladies caused a fatal accident 
through their inattention and then showed up at the estate sale and 
purchased the victim's furniture at a discount from his grieving 
widow) and took the written test as part of the course).  

However, we could not obtain a learner's permit until we had reached 
the state's driving age, which at 17, was (and still is, I believe) 
the highest of any state in the US.  As a result everyone took a 
morning off from school on their 17th birthday to obtain the coveted 
permit.  

> Technically you could take your test the day you turned 17 now 
though (since
> you don;t need a license to drive on private land you could learn 
before
> then without a license).
> 

Yes, this is basically the same rule we had, except that in urban 
areas like ours, there was no private land suitable for driving.  
But that didn't stop us from making our appointments for the driving 
test while we were at the DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles) getting 
our permits.  We always chose the first available appointment which 
in my case was about 5 weeks later.  We didn't need licensed 
instructors to teach us, and I had trouble getting any driving time, 
but I went ahead and took the test on schedule and, amazingly, 
passed on the first attempt.

This wasn't a good thing, though.  I was an awful driver, with no 
sense of timing.  So were most of my friends.  In fact, for the 
first few months I was a menace behind the wheel.

Our school did have free behind-the-wheel training as well.  This 
had nothing to do with learning to drive, though.  Because of 
scheduling problems (I got my permit and license during summer 
vacation), most people didn't get this training until after they had 
their licenses.  The reason we all got the behind-the-wheel training 
anyway was that the insurance companies offered a discount for young 
drivers who had been trained by official instructors.  Besides, we 
could schedule the training during our most boring classes. ;-)


K
> 
> One thing we don't learn here is motorway driving (although if 
you're on the
> M25 all you need to know is where the handbrake is, you don't even 
need to
> get out of first gear ;) It's illegal to drive on a motorway 
before you have
> a license - so obviously you can't learn till after you've passed 
your test
> and then it's optional.

Hmm.  I think I drove to my driving test on the highway -- one of 
the first divided highways ever built, with narrow lanes, Jersey 
barriers with no shoulders, and extremely short merges -- in other 
words, far less safe than today's US interstates or UK motorways.  


However anyone who learns from their parents is
> obviously part of a family of saints because it's the quickest way 
to get
> into a fight. I went out once with my father - *never* again!

Everyone here learned from their parents.  Who else would get you 
out on the road enough in that 5-week window we gave ourselves?

Debbie
who drove the family car into the side of the garage, damaging both, 
within a month of receiving the coveted license