I dunno if there was ever anything in my life that scared me as much as taking my driver’s license road test. Well, ok, there were scarier things that just happened, but nothing that I deliberately signed up for, where I marched up to the counter and said, “Please inflict this horror upon me” and paid money for it.
I didn’t get my license when I was 16 and young and stupid and not afraid of anything, I left it a bit late. That was dumb. Now, years later, I never see a student-driver car without being limp with relief at never ever ever having to take That Awful Test again. Well, ok, when I’m, like, 90, but that’s still a little distance off.
One thing that really ticked me off was when we moved from Canada to California and they made us take a freaking road test. Excuse me, many years driving around on glare ice in 2 feet of snow, and you want… well, they did, and we did.
So, y’all please share your experiences of going in for your test, what happened, how many times did they make you go back.
And maybe also we can share some tips for those of us who don’t yet have their license. New Yorkers, I’m looking at you.
- If possible, sign up to take the road test somewhere out in the boonies. Fewer scary intersections and freeways and whatnot. Get a kind friend to take you there, and take you home, since you’ll be a nervous wreck.
- Appear confident and in-control, no matter what. Guy I knew took his test in a friend’s old crate and during it his seat-anchor gave way. His seat slid ‘way back, but he never lost control, and passed the test just fine.
Another friend took hers when that morning she’d landed her dream job. “Man, I felt so good I could have passed the space-shuttle driving test no problem.” Another took and passed hers when she was approximately eleven months pregnant, I think the examiner was scared to fail her in case she went into labour right there and then.
Photo: Jim Pickerell, via Wiki Commons
