Got my Lisence Today

[Macmaniac]

Well I passed my drivers test today! Finally freedom to drive anywhere!
Well I do need to get a car first, but if can learn stick my dad will give me his Volvo 240DL:)
Share your driving test experience.
Mine was pretty easy, but I was nervous as hell that I would hit the curb during parallel parking, but whew I made it!

[sonofslim]

there was a guy i went to highschool with whose friends decided to have a little fun, and found out when & where his driving test was. they tailgated him, cut him off, passed him on the right, etc.

the DMV guy let him get all the way through the test, and then said "doesn't matter how well you drove today. with morons like that for friends, i'm failing you on principle."

as for myself... passed on the first try, no problems.

[eyelikeart]

I got mine when I was 15, aced the test actually. I went to take it after Driver's Ed, and didn't have the proper material to take the test. I went back again, and was missing something else. It took 3 tries before I was told all that I needed.

The written was easy, so was the driving aprt. I got an A+ on both. ;)

[Paenis]

How old do you have to be in th US to learn? and to do the test? Do you have to complete a number of hours? In Aus its 16 learn 17 test but you have to clock up 50 hours driving before you can sit your test.

[Sun Baked]

Now for the real test...

Can you make it to 21 without getting a ticket?

Acting like a teenager (aka idiot) behind the wheel?

---

At least when I got my first ticket, I got to watch a police officer do something extremely stupid.

Like pull out of his speed trap without bothering to look, on a motorcycle.

Hyperventilating, red faced, sweaty officer that almost became a bug on a windshield makes for an instant ticket.

But now that I've watched way too many of those types of things from vantage points close enough to need to use the windshield wipers to clean coolant off the windshield several times.

I don't do anything resembling a CA stop, and look both ways after the light turns green.

[rainman::|:|]

is there no requirement for knowing how to spell it? ;)

congrats, man. can be nerve wracking.

pnw

[RandomDeadHead]

Please Don't hit me!

I have had 3 serious accidents in the past 15 years, one of witch had me in the hospital for 3 weeks.
All of them caused by idiot high school children.

Popular highschool football player + $30000.00 BMW + friends watching on the side of the road + several cans of beer = Me in the hospital for three weeks with two broken ribs and a broken collar bone, smashed up car for witch I had four more years of payments, and $25000.00 in medical bills.

Having a drivers license is a huge responsibility that you can not even begin to understand.
So PLEASE don't be a frekin' idoit!

[eyelikeart]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
is there no requirement for knowing how to spell it? ;)

scary isn't it? :eek:

[manitoubalck]

Haven't got my car licence yet but, to get your boat licence all you need to do is sit a test of 20 questions. No boating experience needed.

Best thing about the driving a boat NO SPEED LIMTS (if you have a boat that can push past 100Km/h (60mph) you've got too much money. So your limited to 100kmph but hey @ 16 who cares.

[Macmaniac]

I was 16 when I got my permit, and I had to drive with my parents until I turned 17. I turned 17 in October but my test was scheduled for Dec 1 so I had to wait and still drive with my parents. I learned a lot by driving for such a long time I got pretty good. So I passed my test today and I can drive by myself.
I want to be a responsible driver, I have a job so I want to have the privilege to drive to work by myself. I drive like a grandma sometimes, but hey I follow the speed limit, I'm not going to speed up if your doing 40 in a 25 zone.
Not all teenagers are bad drivers, many I admit are completely stupid and drink, but I don't intend to drink so don't worry about seeing a 240 DL hitting you.

[bousozoku]

Congratulations! The next time I'm planning to be in NJ, I'll PM first so I know where to avoid. ;)

I'd been learning to drive for a while, so when I took driver's education, I got a waiver for my skills test and only had to take the written test.

It's got to be tough learning to drive in NJ, simply because of all the cars with diplomat licence plates running free. :eek: Obviously, the snow and the occasional rain doesn't help either.

[wdlove]

Congratulations on the occasion of passing your Driver's Test Macmaniac. Just be a safe driver and follow the rules. No drinking and driving. Above all wear your seat belt.

[bbarnhart]

I remember on my 16th birthday I went to the driver's license bureau to take my test. The car that my parents had bought me was a Rabbit GTI. I thought that car was awesome (didn't hold up very well).

Anyhow, it was a manual (I still drive with a manual because I like it, however, my next truck will be automatic so my wife can drive it and I don't like the manual transmission so much in traffic and I'm getting old) and I wasn't very good with the manual yet.

So, I took my test drive in my older brothers silver Trans Am with the big eagle or bird on the hood. It had a red interior and was shinny new. They guy to was administering the test was livid that I would have a car like this at 16 (which, of course, it wasn't, but then again, my brother was only 17 (busy parents!)). He was just itching to find something wrong with my driving.

I drove flawlessly throughout the test and aced the parallel parking. He gave me the absolute minimum score to pass. But, it didn't matter, I passed and that's what counts!

[gwuMACaddict]

Originally posted by Macmaniac
but if can learn stick my dad will give me his Volvo 240DL:)


i wouldn't worry about speeding... if that car is anything like my 1987 740GLE, it only goes fast going down a very steep icey hill with the wind at its back and me slamming the pedal...

[scem0]

I don't think I have to take a test since I took the Drivers ED course.

Well, I've been doing a lot of driving lately, and I feel very confident in my abilities.

I drove on the freeway for the 1st time 3 or 4 days ago. It wouldn't have been scary but my Dad was lost and made me switch to the far left lane when I was in the far right lane and when we got there I had to go back, he had thought the exit was on the wrong side of the road.

I wasn't hoping to have to merge 5 times on my first freeway experience. Oh well, I got through it alive.

scem0

[shadowfax]

LEARN stick shift. they are so much fun to drive! mmmmmm.... volvo... what year?

i didn't have to take a driving test, myself. i went through the course with my parents, and the took me out practicing. i was given a license on that basis, without any standardized exam or publically administered test. it's taken me awhile to get into the groove, but after driving from Austin to Little Rock and back once, from austin to Norman, OK, from Norman to Little Rock and back 2x, and from Norman to Chicago and back, i consider myself a pretty experienced driver. jeez, i can't believe i've done that many trips *all alone* within a year of getting my license...

learning a stick shift was pretty easy too. i have a honda civic that's an automatic, but I learned to drive in my dad's Altima that is a standard... that thing is so much more fun to drive. hopefully he will trade with me next year and give my honda to my little sister (who foolishly refuses to learn standard) so he can get a new car.

[rainman::|:|]

i have one piece of advice for freeways: if you go into them looking for order and calm, you'll be freaked out. so, just calm down, go with the flow, and make sure you're not tailgating too close, if there's an accident you don't stand a chance of stopping before you hit them.

oh, and be polite. if you pull in front of me going slower than i am, i will gladly run you the **** off the road.

:)

pnw

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by scem0
I don't think I have to take a test since I took the Drivers ED course.

Well, I've been doing a lot of driving lately, and I feel very confident in my abilities.

I drove on the freeway for the 1st time 3 or 4 days ago. It wouldn't have been scary but my Dad was lost and made me switch to the far left lane when I was in the far right lane and when we got there I had to go back, he had thought the exit was on the wrong side of the road.

I wasn't hoping to have to merge 5 times on my first freeway experience. Oh well, I got through it alive.

scem0 hah! i remember my first highway experiences vaguely... they're very frightening at first. passing cars was a bitch for me at first. driving on the expressway for 6-12 hours straight a few times, though, only stopping for gas, gets that out of you FAST. i've come full circle now, and i love passing. i am usually polite about it, unless i am passing a guy who was a d*ck to me. then i cross two lanes of traffic to cut him off in my dingy little civic... hehe! on the way back from chicago on saturday, this redheaded man in a green 2002 civic passed me and flicked me off. we ended up racing down the highway at about 85 for a ways till i passed him on a 3 laner when he got screwed by 2 cars in the far left and center lane and i veered around them via the far right lane (a very bad thing to do, generally). shortly thereafter, i took my I294 exit and escaped further escalation. that was probably the most fun i had that 12-hour trip. man, that guy was a jerk. he was mad because he got holed behind me when i was holed behind someone else who decided that he was going to drive 66 in the passing lane of a 65 mph highway.

in light of that story, be careful who you mess with on the highway. if you're passing someone at night and they start to roll the window down, FALL BACK. you never know when the guy might be whipping out a MAC 10 on your ass. just kidding, don't be an alarmist. ;)

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
oh, and be polite. if you pull in front of me going slower than i am, i will gladly run you the **** off the road.

:)

pnw just to reiterate: if you are on a 2 lane expressway in the right lane and want to pass someone via the left lane, and someone is behind you who is also passing, but is going faster than you, PRESS YOUR G***AMN GAS. it is VERY annoying for people to get holed behind 2 cars going slower than they are in a 2 laner, and it's extremely rude. when you pass, pass with gusto. if the speed limit is 65 and you are going 66 and passing the peopel going 65, and there are people trying to go 70 behind you, DON'T BE A D*CK! speed up to 70 till you get past, and then get the hell back to your right lane and go back to 66. you can accelerate without losing your cruise control. when you force people to decelerate, though, they have to turn their cruise off. when you do this to people who have been on the road for several hours (which is very common on the interstate), you can really piss them off.

i can't stress this enough. i would never be outright cruel to you like i was to that redheaded guy in the above post, but i would definitely whip around you and hit my brakes in front of you and make you kill your cruise control before going back to my native highway speed of 70.

[bousozoku]

It's a good idea not to pass a car with someone else in front of you passing the same car, esp. in NJ. You can never depend on the car in front of you.

I always loved how the cars with the diplomat plates would be going 35 mph on the NJ turnpike and pull out in front of my car doing 70 mph. The turnpike is always interesting. :rolleyes:

[Nermal]

What I hate is when people slow down to about 70 km/h around corners then speed up to like 110 once the road straightens out. I've been stuck behind several of them, usually for 15-20 mins at a time :mad:

When I was doing my test, I accidentally went 45 through a 30 area :eek:

But I've got my full licence now so I'm happy :)

[kaosfere]

Congrats on getting your license! I remember the first time I got behind the wheel and was completely unprepared for the responsiveness of the steering -- just about put the car into a ditch the first time I tried to turn. I quickly got the hang of it, though, and I've come a long way since.

Here's a "Sunscreen" style list of advice for young drivers.

* Wear your seatbelt. Always. The only thing that kept me from flying through my windshield and head-first into a tree at 75mph, when I was 17, was my seatbelt. I'm religious about it now. My car does not go into gear unless every passenger is securely buckled.
* Use your turn signals. Not only is it polite to other drivers, it also increases your margin of safety by letting everyone else know what you're about to do.
* Learn to drive a stick. It makes you so much more involved with your driving. It's very rewarding. Learn to do a proper heel/toe downshift, too.
* Once you're comfortable on the freeway, take a long road trip. Go cross-country if you can, but at least go 500 miles each way. Drive through the night. Stop only for gas and to pea, and live off of Mountain Dew and Combos until you get to your destination. It's a uniquely exhilirating experience.
* Check your mirrors.
* Don't drink and drive. Losing a loved one to a drunk is not fun.
* Take your guy/girl out to a dead-end road and christen your back seat. If the car's a rockin'...
* Wear your seatbelt.
* Take a high performance driving course. It will almost certainly save your ass at some point, and you may learn that you like driving fast in controlled conditions alot more than doing it on the open road -- I know I do.
* Drive a beat up old pickup truck down a dirt road. Do burnouts and fishtails. Don't get caught.
* You're drunker than you think you are. Every time. Don't drink and drive.
* Do not let your driving experience be limited to front wheel drive economy cars. Even if it's just once, get yourslef into a RWD car with a fully independent suspension. See what good handling really feels like.
* Wear your seatbelt.
* Buy at least one new car in your life. The pride you feel the first time you pull it into your driveway and get out to admire it is incomparable. But wait until you can afford to lose thousands of dollars in a day -- a new car is just about the worst invesetment you can make.
* Drive a Miata at least once.
* Buy a radar detector. You will speed. Everyone does. Everyone gets caught. The laws are completely unfair and completely stacked against you. You need and deserve every edge you can get.
* Don't speed in residential neighborhoods, construction zones, or rush hour traffic. That's just stupid.
* Change your oil every 3000 miles. Check your tire pressures once a week.
* Wear your seatbelt.
* Make sure that you have full pressure in your spare. Being stranded with a flat spare tire is no fun.
* Keep a jacket in your trunk. You never know when you'll need it.
* Make a spare door key and keep it in your wallet or purse. You will always lock yourself out at the most inopportune times. (My personal best was at night, in the middle of no where, with a flat tire and the engine running)
* Don't drink and drive, you idiot.
* Have fun, and be safe!

[rt_brained]

I have a license.

To kill.

[Macmaniac]

Originally posted by shadowfax
LEARN stick shift. they are so much fun to drive! mmmmmm.... volvo... what year?


Its a 1988 Volvo 240 DL, with 290000 miles on it.
Its still going strong the heat and AC still work and my dad put in a nice new audio system.
He's maintained it to a T, so I will being getting the oil changed on time!
I always use my turn signals and yes in NJ you can never trust the guy in front of you, I was merging onto 95 and an old couple was stopped dead on the entrance ramp, luckily I was going slowly when I reached em. If your not alert in NJ your as good as on the side of the road in a ditch, as long as I keep attentive I hopefully won't have to deal with it.

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by bousozoku
The turnpike is always interesting. :rolleyes:

mmm. did someone mention the turnpike? was on that **** again today

good ole dirty jerz

[Durandal7]

Originally posted by Paenis
How old do you have to be in th US to learn? and to do the test? Do you have to complete a number of hours? In Aus its 16 learn 17 test but you have to clock up 50 hours driving before you can sit your test.

It all depends on the state. In my state the age for a learner's permit is 15.5, it is 16 to get a license and they require 40 hours of daylight driving and 10 hours of night driving.

[Nermal]

Here in NZ it's 15 to get a learner licence (must have a full licence holder with you, can't drive after 10pm). After 6 months you can upgrade to restricted, which allows you to drive by yourself, if you want to carry passengers then one of them needs to have a full. Still has the 10pm limit.

Once you've had restricted for 18 months you can get your full.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by Sun Baked
Now for the real test...

Can you make it to 21 without getting a ticket?

Acting like a teenager (aka idiot) behind the wheel?

---

At least when I got my first ticket, I got to watch a police officer do something extremely stupid.

Like pull out of his speed trap without bothering to look, on a motorcycle.

Hyperventilating, red faced, sweaty officer that almost became a bug on a windshield makes for an instant ticket.

But now that I've watched way too many of those types of things from vantage points close enough to need to use the windshield wipers to clean coolant off the windshield several times.

I don't do anything resembling a CA stop, and look both ways after the light turns green.

i made it to 31 or later without a ticket, then i got two in my 30s, an illegal u-turn and going 37 in a 25 zone but both tickets were spaced far enough apart so i don't get penalized on points

but one thing is for sure, i know where all the 25 mph zones are and which streets i can do a u-turn on:p

[Stelliform]

I think I was 17 for my first ticket (Speeding 45 in a 30), 19 for my second (Speeding 67 in a 45), 21 for my third (speeding 40 in a 30) 23 for my fourth (rear ending a little car.), 25 for my fifth (65 in a 45 Construction zone)! :eek:

After the last one I bought a radar detector! I think it is infinitely cheeper than the tickets... Although if you notice the spacing, I never had more than one ticket at a time on my record. (2 years to get off.) And two of those I was able to attend traffic school and have it purged from my record. (The city police allow you to do that.)

I am glad that I do not live in a state that has points. ;)

[jefhatfield]

hey stelliform,

that 40 in a 30 ticket must have pissed you off

in my book that's a desperate cop:p

our driver's ed teacher used to tell us stories of people going 67 in a 65 zone and getting ticketed for speeding...he had to scare us that way...at the same time, the teacher, who was a major drunk, showed us how to drive with one hand and keep the beer hidden with the other hand always keeping the alcohol below the cop's eye level

that could have explained why the class had this teacher for the in class exercises and another sober teacher for the actual driving exercises

[Stelliform]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
hey stelliform,

that 40 in a 30 ticket must have pissed you off

....Snip...

who was a major drunk, showed us how to drive with one hand and keep the beer hidden with the other hand always keeping the alcohol below the cop's eye level

that could have explained why the class had this teacher for the in class exercises and another sober teacher for the actual driving exercises

Actually the 67 in a 45 pissed me off more. The cop said,"Good to see you wearing your seatbelt driving crazy like that!"

It was 3 am Thursday morning on a 5 lane road in town, and I only saw two cars on the road that night. (And one was the cop car! :D) I wanted to say, "I could be driving backwards at 67 and not hit anybody" But another cop car tore into the parking lot with full lights blazing. I think that they thought I had to be drunk. They were wrong, I just like to speed. :D