Frightening - taking the driver's test

[Swimtaxi234]

I am an older Mom. That might not be important to this discussion, but I wanted to include it because when I took my driving test 32 years ago, it was intense. Fast braking on the interstate, parallel parking 2-3 times, over an hour of driving. But that was then.

 

For our 15-year-old daughter, we paid a whopper of a fee for her to take 30 hours of class room driver's ed and private driving instructions. I wanted her to have good instructions to give her the confidence as a new driver and it was worth every penny.

 

Instead of the 50 hours of driving time required before she got her provisional license, we had her drive 80+ hours (with night time driving). Yesterday, my daughter practice parallel parking for 45 minutes, plus additional practice on tight K-turns and tight U-turns.

 

My daughter was so nervous before her driving test today ... but it was a JOKE! The entire driving test was 6.5 minutes long. She had to drive 4 right turns, 2 left turns, one full stop, and one parking into a slot without cars around.

 

MERCY! No wonder there are so many crazy drivers on the road today. There isn't a filter in this state, just a pay-your-fee process.

 

OK - my vent is over and I'll step down from my soap box. BUT ... this post would have been more fun to write if I could have gotten the smilies to work. LOL

[Guest inoubliable]

:ohmy: A neighbor told us that HER son's driving test was like that last year. He never had to attempt getting on/off the highway, or parallel park, or even wait at a traffic light. Is this how it is everywhere??

[ksr5377]

I didn't have to get on the highway for my driver's test 16 years ago, it was a couple of minutes of driving around 25 mph neighborhoods. I also didn't parallel park, instead having to drive through cones and then reverse through them.

[Hoot]

I actually just got my license 3 yrs. ago and, while I was TERRIFIED (I have a driving phobia), the test itself was pretty simple, though not quite as simple as the one you describe. I had to drive from the DMV through a course in the parking lot which included driving forward, backward, a 3 pt. turn and parallel parking between widely spaced cones. From there I drove through a neighborhood, on a mildly busy road for about 100 ft. and back around to the DMV to park in the parking lot. Had I not had a great teacher I probably would have failed the parallel parking part. Honestly, I'm grateful that I didn't have to do highway driving to pass the test or else I would have never attempted it. I did it once with my instructor from one exit to the next but that was it. I do not drive on the interstate for any reason whatsoever.

[AK_Mom4]

Must depend on your location. DS17 just took his test last month for his provisional license and it took over 45 minutes. Parallel parking, driving downtown (ok so we don't have THAT much of a downtown, but we do have a little bit), freeway on/off ramps (such as we have), school zones, all sorts of things.

[Guest inoubliable]

Must depend on your location. DS17 just took his test last month for his provisional license and it took over 45 minutes. Parallel parking, driving downtown (ok so we don't have THAT much of a downtown, but we do have a little bit), freeway on/off ramps (such as we have), school zones, all sorts of things.

 

 

That sounds more like my test 15 years ago. Had to go through the DMV parking lot, take the fairly busy "main drag" through town to a residential area, parallel park on a one-way street, then go through our downtown area (with LOTS of one-way street, pedestrian parking, four-way stops), loop around to get on the highway, drive a few miles down the highway and exit at the exit of the DMV. Took about an hour or so.

 

I failed the first time. :leaving:

[AK_Mom4]

I failed the first time. :leaving:

 

Don't feel bad. Everyone of my kids has failed the first time, as did DH and I.

 

DS17 got a scare this last time taking his test. An inebriated individual staggered off the sidewalk and fell into the street ahead of the car. DS17 figures he got bonus points on the test for not running over the pedestrian even though the streets were icy, but said the tester turned sort-of grey in the face.

[Night Elf]

When my oldest dd took her test a couple of years ago, it wasn't a long test either. She did some driving on their track and then they took her out on the road. She said it was easy because the highway in that area is not crowded at all so it was no big deal. Then she came back to their track where she had to parallel park only one time between cones. The written exam of 20 multiple questions was harder for her.

 

When I took my test 28 years ago, my entire test was on a track. I wasn't taken out on a road at all. And I failed the parallel parking test but he passed me anyway. He just suggested I never go anywhere that requires parallel parking. And I never have. :)

[Hunter's Moon]

I've failed twice because of the dang parallel parking. I've had to do parallel, 3-point turns, backing up, U-turn, side street driving, etc. I am unsure if I will take the test again before my permit expires in April. I can't afford insurance or a car, so I don't know.

[Laura Corin]

I was shocked when I took the California driving test in 1992. My memory of my driving test in England in 1980 was similar to the intensive one that you describe. The California (San Jose?) one involved driving around very empty suburban streets for maybe ten minutes. No manoeuvres at all.

 

Laura

[bettyandbob]

I got my license in VA 31 years ago after behind the wheel training at my high school. The total amount of hours of me driving in that class were maybe 8. At the time there was no requirement for a teen to log a specific number of hours of driving on a permit and certainly no thought to night time driving. My driver test was back out of space, turn right on local street, drive one block, turn right 4 more times and then back in lot and park in a standard space. It was a joke. I cannot believe my parents thought I was good to go after that.

[LaxMom]

My driving test 25 years ago was on the closed course at the MVA. A couple right turns, a left, 3-point turn and parallel park. 6.5 minutes sounds about what it took me. (Ditto the Class A test to drive emergency equipment though it's obviously more involved than passenger vehicles) Back then, you didn't even have to take driver's ed, but you paid more insurance if you didn't.

 

My eldest daughter's was the same 7 years ago, though she had to log driving hours.

 

I've had no moving violations (though did have a ticket for expired tags once), and one, single vehicle accident (road debris) in 25 years. I can still parallel park on either side of the street, on a hill, in traffic, in under 20 seconds.

 

There are all kinds of head cases behind the wheel out there. I think it has more to do with the attitude of drivers than how their test was formatted.

[ereks mom]

When my oldest dd took her test a couple of years ago, it wasn't a long test either. She did some driving on their track and then they took her out on the road. She said it was easy because the highway in that area is not crowded at all so it was no big deal. Then she came back to their track where she had to parallel park only one time between cones.

 

 

This is what it's like at our Department of Driver Services (DDS--used to be DMV) too.

[mumto2]

After driving for 30 years in the US I took my UK exam last year. It was really hard. I will admit to not enjoying driving here but I did not want to end up 70 and house bound. Plus the kids needed the mom taxi to start functioning. Anyway it was dreadful.

 

You can either get a manual license or automatic drive license. Naturally having grown up a farm girl I chose the manual (I now can drive either automatic or manual). Anyway lots of new techniques like putting your parking brake on at red lights -- which is actually great because very hilly where we live. If done properly no backward movement at all when you start! I drove all over a super congested town to pass. A really nerve racking half hour. Positive note was the evaluators told me that I was the first American she had ever had do the manual test. Of course not many Americans around here.

[Rebel Yell]

In my state, or at least in my part of it, there are special places for driver's tests- it;s a closed course.

 

They do have to have 65 hours od trainign with an over-21 driver, and I had to sign an affidavit that Diamond had completed the hours- including bad weather, limited-access roads, etc. They did NOT take her on the turnpike- that would be crazy, IMO! I prefer the closed-course. Driving with an examiner can be nerve-wracking, which can be very dangerous, even if the driver is otherwise cautious and safe.

[happyhomemaker]

My test was a 15 min deal. I did have to parallel park and do a 3 point turn. My driver's ed teacher took us to practice on the same route the DMV used so I had already done the course numerous times before taking the test. It felt like cheating, but he was the driving instructor so...

 

I was worried when I had to retake the written test when I moved to NC. It was so weird to me that many of the questions were about what to do after you had been pulled over for a DUI. Um, I can look that up if I really need to (never have). What about questions I might actually need to know while, you know, driving??

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest didn't even have to take a driving test. We went up there for her to take the test and they just gave her the permit.

 

My middle was horrified that her driving test was just driving around in the neighborhood for about 5 minutes. She never got over 25mph (because that was the speed limit) and never went through a traffic light.

 

 

My youngest has 5 more months to wait before she can get her permit.

[Jeannie in NJ]

my dd was actually mad at how easy the driving test was, she said it was a joke. Dd had spent a year driving pretty much every day with dh or I in the passenger seat. Also there is a place in our town where there are cones set up to practice parallel parking. Dd spent a lot of time there practicing, also doing 3 point turns and reversing. The actual test was about 2 or 3 minutes long. The woman testing her asked dd it she wanted her (the tester) to talk her thru parallel parking and the rest. Dd told her no, that she knew how to do it.. she felt insulted that it was assumed that she did not know how to do anything.

[Belacqua]

The only difficult part about mine was the parallel park. I'd practiced it to death, and my teacher had taught me to line up the steering wheels (of my car and the one I was parking behind) at the start. Great. Then the tester asked me to parallel park behind a moving van. The steering wheel crutch wasn't going to be of much help.

 

My husband had to take his road test with his mom in the back seat (it wasn't the usual procedure, but apparently it was a very blustery day and the DMV guy was disinclined to leave a student driver's mom standing out in the rain).

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

 

I failed the first time. :leaving:

 

I failed less than 100 ft from the still-in-sight DMV building. I didn't pull over for a fire engine comeing the other way because it was only flashing lights, no siren, so I thought that meant I didn't have to pull over. Oops.

[Joker]

I didn't even have to take a test!! I took driver's ed and they just gave me my permit and then my license at the DMV. I did have to take a written to get my permit, but that was it. I'm a good driver, but that's because of all the time I spent driving with my parents.

[LaxMom]

I didn't even have to take a test!! I took driver's ed and they just gave me my permit and then my license at the DMV. I did have to take a written to get my permit, but that was it. I'm a good driver, but that's because of all the time I spent driving with my parents.

<faints>

[Tree Frog]

:ohmy: A neighbor told us that HER son's driving test was like that last year. He never had to attempt getting on/off the highway, or parallel park, or even wait at a traffic light. Is this how it is everywhere??

 

 

My daughter had to drive around the building. She had to make a right hand and left hand turn and back up. She didn't even have to drive on the road. When we moved to TX, we thought she might have to retake the driving test again. It provided us with the impetus to teach her how to parallel park, something she wasn't taught in driver's ed (and we didn't teach her then, but something she needs to know!)