Driver's license testing
I'm getting my driver's exam this afternoon. Maybe late, seeing I'm 24, but better late than never, I suppose. I'm not really nervous about it. I feel I've mastered it enough to pass the test, but you never really know, do you. It's not that I really want to be driving cars all day, it's just one of those things the world expects you to have, so I caved in. I've been driving my motorcycle (yes, here I go again), for two full years, so I do have some traffic experience, and I do have some wheels to move my lazy bum with.
Anyway, the test consists of four special moves (driving backwards in a narrow "alley", turning in a narrow "street" using a narrow opening, backwards parking and entering a parking space going forward, leaving it in reverse), and a ride in the city (if you pass the first part). Four moves only, which is better, and easier, than the six I had to perform for motorcycling. I didn't fail that exam either. So...
What about you? Anyone have horror stories to share? Got into an accident where you didn't give right of way during your exam? Ran into a streetcar? A bicyclist maybe? Or are you just not planning on getting that license ever, as your way to voice rebellion against cars and the like?
Anyway, the test consists of four special moves (driving backwards in a narrow "alley", turning in a narrow "street" using a narrow opening, backwards parking and entering a parking space going forward, leaving it in reverse), and a ride in the city (if you pass the first part). Four moves only, which is better, and easier, than the six I had to perform for motorcycling. I didn't fail that exam either. So...
What about you? Anyone have horror stories to share? Got into an accident where you didn't give right of way during your exam? Ran into a streetcar? A bicyclist maybe? Or are you just not planning on getting that license ever, as your way to voice rebellion against cars and the like?
Comments
Personally, I think they give driver's licenses away like candy in this country. Drivers are also not properly educated about behaving in traffic. I don't believe that most sixteen year olds are ready to be driving a multi-ton, fast moving, wheeled vehicle at high speeds. It has been my experience that few do it responsibly. I really think a driver's license should require driver's education courses, as well as increasing the age limit. Something is kind of strange when you have to be 18 to be considered an adult, but you can drive a car/truck at 16.
There was actually a politician down in Georgia that wanted to start a program to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses so that they could be held more responsible in accidents. Come on folks, that's just dumb. If you're here illegally, you're probably not going to have the inclination to register with the government.
Anyhow, I've never had any problems, I took driver's ed, and I passed the test with ease. I'm sure you'll do just fine, and since you've had prior experience on motorcycles and bicycles, I'm sure you will be much more sensitive to those people when they are on the road.
(Look twice, save a life, motorcycles [and bicycles] are everywhere)
Originally posted by LoCash
Personally, I think they give driver's licenses away like candy in this country.
Not true! In Michigan, in addition to being 16 years old. you also have to at least breath with your mouth to get a license.
(Look twice, save a life, motorcycles [and bicycles] are everywhere) [/B]
Amen!
Of course, in the first week I had my license, I ran someone over. Well, just his leg and arm.
Originally posted by LoCash
Personally, I think they give driver's licenses away like candy in this country. Drivers are also not properly educated about behaving in traffic.
having just returned from a harrowing interstate trip through southern louisiana, where some jackass cut me off at 75 mph with a foot of clearance between myself and a truck changing lanes and then slamming on the brakes in front of me, well, i am inclined to agree.
also, a few nights ago, my wife and i were driving behind someone on a two-lane highway who was OBVIOUSLY drunk. 25 mph in a 45 mph, and weaving back and forth, even into oncoming traffic. it was bad enough that we tried to report it, but the highway patrol speed dial didn't work. he later got out from in front of us, and i shook my fist at him as we drove off, thankful he didn't kill anyone. f'n ludicrous.
I DO have some problems thinking of 16 year olds driving a car. If you see what age group represents most (deadly) accidents here (18-25), I would hardly recommend expanding that group to 16. Of course, 16 year olds aren't allowed to drink in the US, so that DOES alleviate the issue somewhat, because many of the so-called "weekend-deaths" are young drunk drivers. There'll always be pros and cons, I think.
Is it an age problem or an experience problem? If it were age, then raising the age would be fine. If it's experience, then it wouldn't matter. Don't let people drive until 30 and we'll all be here talking about how bad 30yr. old drivers are.
Originally posted by Longhorn
Is it an age problem or an experience problem? If it were age, then raising the age would be fine. If it's experience, then it wouldn't matter. Don't let people drive until 30 and we'll all be here talking about how bad 30yr. old drivers are.
well, anything i say here will be pure theory and conjecture on my part, but i learned to drive at the ripe old age of 22. everyone always acts so shocked when i say that, but living on campus, and carpooling to school and getting driven by parents meant i never had to learn. so when the time actually came, i felt that i took it 1700% more seriously than any of the other teens just looking to get a license so they can get laid on prom night.
i also felt i learned better when i went back to college from '96-'98, because, again, i took it more seriously. it wasn't my parents' money anymore, it was mine.
so, if my experience counts for anything, i would have to say that older learners take the learning process more seriously than their younger equivalents, but again, that's just a supposition on my part. plus, america is built on almost requiring driving ability at a very early age, and i was very much and exception to that rule.
Originally posted by rok
i would have to say that older learners take the learning process more seriously than their younger equivalents,
I hear you.
Maturity, mentally that is, does count for something, in my opinion. When do most accidents happen? Like I said, on friday & saturday nights. Young rascals trying to prove something. Would I? In some way I'm past it. Maybe I'd have the inclination, but then realise that it ain't worth 100 or 200 euros, or more, worth of speeding ticket, or a lifetime of being paralysed. However, that's not to say that I don't speed, so, again, it's really hard to make any claims. Just facts, I guess.
Funny thing is, though, the age difference when driving is concerned between the US and, say, my country. I know plenty of people about my age (myself being 24, as I said before) who don't have a license. Seems we have a very good public transportation system, and distances are small enough to be bridged by bicycle. Anyway, I must seem pathological in the eyes of some Americans.
Originally posted by rok
plus, america is built on almost requiring driving ability at a very early age, and i was very much and exception to that rule.
But we shouldn't forget, as so many Americans seem to, that driving in this country is a privilege, not a right. I think Rok hit the nail on the head. It is a maturity issue. Most people, as they grow older, learn to take on additional responsibilities. A lot of this starts at college, when guys seem to have to learn how to do laundry, among other things.
Seriously though, as you get older, you mature in a number of ways, and you start to take things more seriously. On the whole that is. There are still plenty of twenty-somethings that are a total disgrace behind the wheel. But on the whole, increasing the driving age wouldn't hurt. It should at least be eighteen.
I remember back in high school, over hearing some girls talking. This one, who had begun driving to school, was informing her friends that she was absolutely terrified of driving on the highway to school. I was thinking, "This is great, we have a driver on the highway that is terrified of being there and lacks the confidence necessary to drive safely."
*sigh*
way to go though, der kopf.
I was very nervous on the test. It consisted of parking in different situations, driving through the city (including starting in a steep, narrow road (with manual gear) in front of a stop sign where you nearly saw nothing from the traffic on the crossing road unless you were halfway through the crossing). After I got my license, I didn't have an accident for several years, because I drove rather cautious and defensive. I had one accident in the last 18 years of driving. I came from a small road into a main road with rather heavy traffic. I had to wait a long time for an open space. I wanted to turn left, so when some one some left room for me and gave me a sign, I turned left. But I did wait a little bit too long, and in the meantime more cars came from the left... Luckily, only bent metal, no personal injuries.
Sometimes I think, people are shutting their brain off when entering a car here. I just heard in the news they got the driver who killed a young mother and her child by pushing her at about 130 mph.