Question of the Day - Monday, June 14, 2021

susanm9006

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Yes I did. When I was 19 I took driving lessons through Safeway. I hated driving and cried after every lesson but they do a great job of making sure you don’t take the test until you are ready.

I did teach my son to drive, first on country back roads and parking lots and then on long road trips. He has always been a very safe conservative driver.
 
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Lari

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Not sure how it works for you guys but we have a 3 tier system.
The written test gives you your G1 - which allows you to drive if you are with a licensed driver only. After one year or sooner if you take the driving course then you go for your G2.
For the G2 - You can drive by yourself, but there are restrictions on times, number of people in the car, types of road ways etc...and after one year of that you can then get your G.
The G is your full license.
Back when I did it, you took the written test to get your learner's permit, which you could do at 15 and sounds like your G1. The driving test was 16+, after having taken a driver's ed class, and logging a certain number of hours behind the wheel, to be able to drive alone. At least that is what it was over 20 years ago in my state. I think there are restrictions for 16 and 17 year olds now, but not a third test.
 

misty8723

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Yes, although it was on a closed course and not on the highway, so I got lucky. I did apparently forget to signal when I made a turn, but he passed me anyway. I did not take the course at school and didn't learn until my boyfriend (now husband) decided he would teach me. I was in my mid-late 20s.
 
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MoochNNoodles

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I didn't pass the first time since I messed up the 3-point turn. :rolleyes: But I passed the second time with no problem. My husband taught our oldest to drive and I taught our youngest. I remember wishing I had a brake on the passenger side of the car like the driving instructors. :biggrin:
Our school’s cars had those. Sometimes when DH drives through the mountain roads near his hometown I tell him I wish our car had one. Or that I’m using the imaginary one. :lol2: Hes an excellent driver; its the roads not him! They need more guard rails around there! And shoulders. My inlaws had someone go off their road, down their hill and into the fenced backyard. FIL planted a small bank of bradford pear trees after that. Its on a curve and only the second house; so people shouldn’t be going fast but it makes the turn more visible!

I appreciated not having to test at the dmv. The book portion of our class was fun. That teacher was the only one who stopped by our 10 year high school reunion.

I drove with a football coach. He was ok. My first time out (about 5 minutes in) we had a police car responding behind us on a country road so he just used his break and helped me pull to the shoulder so I wouldn’t freak out. But mostly he had us go fun places. Like driving to the bay. Sometimes we’d stop at his rental properties that were being renovated. We stayed in the car obviously but it did give us practice in practical situations. And it seemed more fun and relaxed. He never made me parallel park!
 

NY cat man

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I passed the written first time but the driving test (to get my G2) I failed. Apparently at one point I was "speeding"...which I'm not sure was really possible due to the circumstances surrounding where he said it happen, and I kept checking my speed. There were a few other discretions he said happen, which didn't make any sense...But this guy had a stick up his butt and was very rude and was purposefully intimidating. The next time I went for my G2 I got it, then when I went for my G, I passed the first time as well.
Not sure how it works for you guys but we have a 3 tier system.
The written test gives you your G1 - which allows you to drive if you are with a licensed driver only. After one year or sooner if you take the driving course then you go for your G2.
For the G2 - You can drive by yourself, but there are restrictions on times, number of people in the car, types of road ways etc...and after one year of that you can then get your G.
The G is your full license.
Your examiner sounds like the one I had the first time around. Everything that he nailed me on had the word 'adequately' in it, and who gets to define what that means? I had had drill instructors with a better attitude than that guy had.
 

DownTheLane

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Nope 😅 it took me all of 6 attempts, which I'll always be embarrassed about. I have a horrible fear of failure and that really screwed me over during my tests. I was just too nervous. I even had a specialised state exam and I even failed that one once. I really do think the way I had driving lessons and the bad experiences on my exams made me not like driving.
 

BellaGooch

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I still haven’t gotten my license yet!
(I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.) I’m nervous that I’m going to fail since I tend to freeze up when I get nervous!
 
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MoochNNoodles

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Wow! 20 times!! I give her credit for keeping trying!

My grandma never got her license. I think it was more of an anxiety thing for her. She was content at home waiting on my Grandpa to take her places. She always rode behind him in the back seat too. We thouht that was great when we were kids because it meant WE got to sit up front! They also had a very narrow garage so sitting behind Grandpa meant they could both get in and out of the car while it was in the garage. Grandpa always had some kind of Oldsmobile (I used to think if you were OLD that's the kind of car you had to get. :flail: ) but I don't think you'd get a typical SUV in that garage.
 

Bubblesmom2014

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Wow! 20 times!! I give her credit for keeping trying!

My grandma never got her license. I think it was more of an anxiety thing for her. She was content at home waiting on my Grandpa to take her places. She always rode behind him in the back seat too. We thouht that was great when we were kids because it meant WE got to sit up front! They also had a very narrow garage so sitting behind Grandpa meant they could both get in and out of the car while it was in the garage. Grandpa always had some kind of Oldsmobile (I used to think if you were OLD that's the kind of car you had to get. :flail: ) but I don't think you'd get a typical SUV in that garage.
Neither one of my grandmothers had their license. The one would walk where she needed to go and the other would just get one of her kids take her where she needed. I got my license when I was 25 and have been driving ever since.
 

sivyaleah

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3rd time was the charm for me.

1st one, I was totally not prepared - failed parallel parking and can't remember the other one.

2nd time, I actually was sick but wanted to go anyway. I failed on parallel parking (which I failed the 1st time, and still can't do well) and...attention! That was because I was all stopped up from the bad cold I had. I kept asking the test person to repeat themselves because I couldn't hear well! I really should have stayed home.

Third time, I was asked to park on a hill instead of the parallel parking. Nailed it LOL
 
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