They were a complete waste of time for me. It was mostly this dude with a walrus mustache and Postal worker shorts telling us not to do dumb things like text while driving, and what the sign with the word "yield" written on it meant. There was this one guy who was kind of a douche who made a paper airplane, wrote "fag detector" on it, then threw it at people. That, and a friend showing up visibly drunk once were probably the only mildly interesting things to come from that class.
Your Driver's Ed Stories!
- Thread starter Twintix
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I only went to half of Driver's Ed.
The first day that we did freeway driving I just got on the freeway and started driving, matching speed and changing lanes no problem.
The guy was amazed at how fearless I was, since he knew I had no driving experience outside the little bit we'd done in his class.
He declared me a better driver than most people and said I was so fearless that he had nothing to teach me regarding freeway driving.
He signed my forms and told me I didn't need to come to the rest of the classes.
So, really, I kinda have more of a fearlessness license.
The rest of the people in the class, whether on streets or the freeway, were maddeningly timid and slow drivers. EXACTLY the type you hate when you see a "Student Driver" sticker on a car.
To be fair though, this IS Houston, and our part of I-10 is a 65mph 21-lane freeway...
Incidentally, I skipped parallel parking completely, which I guess is good, because I'm kinda not great at it.
The first day that we did freeway driving I just got on the freeway and started driving, matching speed and changing lanes no problem.
The guy was amazed at how fearless I was, since he knew I had no driving experience outside the little bit we'd done in his class.
He declared me a better driver than most people and said I was so fearless that he had nothing to teach me regarding freeway driving.
He signed my forms and told me I didn't need to come to the rest of the classes.
So, really, I kinda have more of a fearlessness license.
The rest of the people in the class, whether on streets or the freeway, were maddeningly timid and slow drivers. EXACTLY the type you hate when you see a "Student Driver" sticker on a car.
To be fair though, this IS Houston, and our part of I-10 is a 65mph 21-lane freeway...
Incidentally, I skipped parallel parking completely, which I guess is good, because I'm kinda not great at it.
Multiple stories in fact
My first teacher was professor in badass, and had a collection of phd's in pipesmoking, not giving a single fuck and probably driving. He'd often lit his pipe in the school car, and discuss philosophy with me, all while flawlessly pointing me to signs and cyclist that littered the road throughout our sessions. One time he made me stop at a seemingly random location and told me to wait outside. He went into a house for 20 minutes, got back inside the car and was lost in pipe smoke and contemplation for another good 20 minutes. He then casually mentioned he just bought that house, because it seemed a good deal. Turns out he's somewhat of a real estate mogul owning 50+ properties. Teaching people to drive was his form of zen. At some point he was unavailable for lessons, probably because he was saving the world from an evil mad scientist or banging models in Hawaii, both of those options seemed equally viable.
My second teacher was so anal about rules, i felt in danger of strangling him with a seatbelt. He'd not only point me at every single thing i'd not do fast enough, he'd often deviously lure you into doing something wrong. Like one time he was so anal about immediatly buckling my seat belt when i got in the car, before adjusting the seat and mirrors. While the next week he almost scolded me for not knowing i can delay buckling my seat belt untill i have finished manouvering.
My first exam instructor was bland, and not special for once, but i made a cardinal error in a right of way situation.
Second exam instructor was the Devil incarnate. It was snowing heavily on that day, and while waiting in the car centre thing, i heard a lot of examinators telling their students to reschedule due to the heavy snow. MY examinator however, and i quote, "You may be pussies, but i'm not and i have a quota to fill". Rounding the corner was a lady i can only describe as 'HUGE' with the face of a bull dog, careening my way. Somehow i had offended her by not being there twenty minutes too soon, our appointment was for 4, but her half 4 had cancelled and now i was going to pay for that. My dad squeezed my shoulder and his eyes seemed to say "i'm sorry you have to go through this, son". As i'd mentioned it was snowing heavily that day and for that reason i was driving carefully, like you should. She barked if i knew the correct speed limit for this zone, and despite not being able to read the snow-encrusted sign, i knew it was 50 and thus i said so. She asked why i was driving 40 and i said because of the snow. She deemed this answer to be correct but delivered too late or too fast or something like that, so she just angrily mumbled something and scribbled her notepad. I came to a light that was red so i stopped. It turned green but a pedestrian who had fallen in the road was a bit late getting up and clearing the road so i waited for him. This was a Cardinal Sin and the windshield almost popped straight out when she shouted for me to get a move on. Angry scribbling and some mumbles. I could feel my dad on the backseat also contemplating unbuckling her seat belt and violently crashing the car. I had to parallel park in a street on the middle of a snowbank. After doing so flawlessly and demonstrating the correct way to exit and enter a vehicle, she got out herself (something i later learned they're not allowed to do) and started digging in the snow, until she could see the curb, a line which the tire crossed by a full centimetre. She told me to drive straight back to the exam centre, refusing to give me directions when asked. She wriggled her way out of the tiny car, something my dad had to help her with, after which she stormed into the building. Receiving my grade from the girl at the desk (who looked the same way my dad did when they saw who my instructor was) i noticed a large indentation where she had forcibly written, in red ink, NO on the question 'has the student performed well?' All the rest of the form was filled in with black ink, but she felt she needed something angrier when giving the final grade.
So i had to go back to mr. anal and pay him 500 euro to give me the mandatory 5 hours of schooling after failing the test twice. Mr. anal laughed at me for driving so good and failing the test, twice as he pointed out continuously.
Third exams was flawless and done by mr bland again. He cracked a small apologetic smile when he saw on my forms who my previous instructor was.
Several years later i go for my trucking licence and am immediatly confronted with professor badass' son, or so it seemed. I could easily picture Pr. Badass in the sixties, knocking up swooning ladies left and right simply by looking at them while he lit his pipe . As i got into the truck for the first time he told me to relax and feel the truck move by it's own. Never ever think about the fact that your 38 tons of steel and diesel could easily reduce a family van to a tin of spam, including contents. Shockingly, i did become calm and started to feel the truck moving by it's self. He regaled me with stories of his army days (leaving unsaid his army of children across the region of his old army base in germany)
When i went for my upgraded license (big rigs) he told me the same story again. Never in any of these lessons did he feel the need to say anything and because of him i passed those two exams with flying banners and clean exam papers.
TL;DR : nonono, go back and read it. I've had lessons and exams by the most 'colourful' and weird collection of human beings you've ever seen. This is the sort of story you'd only hear from standup comedians when they're overexaggerating a small minute detail. But i swear on anything and everything, this all really happened and, by god, i did not over exaggerate a single thing.
My first teacher was professor in badass, and had a collection of phd's in pipesmoking, not giving a single fuck and probably driving. He'd often lit his pipe in the school car, and discuss philosophy with me, all while flawlessly pointing me to signs and cyclist that littered the road throughout our sessions. One time he made me stop at a seemingly random location and told me to wait outside. He went into a house for 20 minutes, got back inside the car and was lost in pipe smoke and contemplation for another good 20 minutes. He then casually mentioned he just bought that house, because it seemed a good deal. Turns out he's somewhat of a real estate mogul owning 50+ properties. Teaching people to drive was his form of zen. At some point he was unavailable for lessons, probably because he was saving the world from an evil mad scientist or banging models in Hawaii, both of those options seemed equally viable.
My second teacher was so anal about rules, i felt in danger of strangling him with a seatbelt. He'd not only point me at every single thing i'd not do fast enough, he'd often deviously lure you into doing something wrong. Like one time he was so anal about immediatly buckling my seat belt when i got in the car, before adjusting the seat and mirrors. While the next week he almost scolded me for not knowing i can delay buckling my seat belt untill i have finished manouvering.
My first exam instructor was bland, and not special for once, but i made a cardinal error in a right of way situation.
Second exam instructor was the Devil incarnate. It was snowing heavily on that day, and while waiting in the car centre thing, i heard a lot of examinators telling their students to reschedule due to the heavy snow. MY examinator however, and i quote, "You may be pussies, but i'm not and i have a quota to fill". Rounding the corner was a lady i can only describe as 'HUGE' with the face of a bull dog, careening my way. Somehow i had offended her by not being there twenty minutes too soon, our appointment was for 4, but her half 4 had cancelled and now i was going to pay for that. My dad squeezed my shoulder and his eyes seemed to say "i'm sorry you have to go through this, son". As i'd mentioned it was snowing heavily that day and for that reason i was driving carefully, like you should. She barked if i knew the correct speed limit for this zone, and despite not being able to read the snow-encrusted sign, i knew it was 50 and thus i said so. She asked why i was driving 40 and i said because of the snow. She deemed this answer to be correct but delivered too late or too fast or something like that, so she just angrily mumbled something and scribbled her notepad. I came to a light that was red so i stopped. It turned green but a pedestrian who had fallen in the road was a bit late getting up and clearing the road so i waited for him. This was a Cardinal Sin and the windshield almost popped straight out when she shouted for me to get a move on. Angry scribbling and some mumbles. I could feel my dad on the backseat also contemplating unbuckling her seat belt and violently crashing the car. I had to parallel park in a street on the middle of a snowbank. After doing so flawlessly and demonstrating the correct way to exit and enter a vehicle, she got out herself (something i later learned they're not allowed to do) and started digging in the snow, until she could see the curb, a line which the tire crossed by a full centimetre. She told me to drive straight back to the exam centre, refusing to give me directions when asked. She wriggled her way out of the tiny car, something my dad had to help her with, after which she stormed into the building. Receiving my grade from the girl at the desk (who looked the same way my dad did when they saw who my instructor was) i noticed a large indentation where she had forcibly written, in red ink, NO on the question 'has the student performed well?' All the rest of the form was filled in with black ink, but she felt she needed something angrier when giving the final grade.
So i had to go back to mr. anal and pay him 500 euro to give me the mandatory 5 hours of schooling after failing the test twice. Mr. anal laughed at me for driving so good and failing the test, twice as he pointed out continuously.
Third exams was flawless and done by mr bland again. He cracked a small apologetic smile when he saw on my forms who my previous instructor was.
Several years later i go for my trucking licence and am immediatly confronted with professor badass' son, or so it seemed. I could easily picture Pr. Badass in the sixties, knocking up swooning ladies left and right simply by looking at them while he lit his pipe . As i got into the truck for the first time he told me to relax and feel the truck move by it's own. Never ever think about the fact that your 38 tons of steel and diesel could easily reduce a family van to a tin of spam, including contents. Shockingly, i did become calm and started to feel the truck moving by it's self. He regaled me with stories of his army days (leaving unsaid his army of children across the region of his old army base in germany)
When i went for my upgraded license (big rigs) he told me the same story again. Never in any of these lessons did he feel the need to say anything and because of him i passed those two exams with flying banners and clean exam papers.
TL;DR : nonono, go back and read it. I've had lessons and exams by the most 'colourful' and weird collection of human beings you've ever seen. This is the sort of story you'd only hear from standup comedians when they're overexaggerating a small minute detail. But i swear on anything and everything, this all really happened and, by god, i did not over exaggerate a single thing.
My dad taught me to drive manual before I took Driver's Ed in high school. When I did finally take it, the teacher happened to be the football coach whom I'd garnered some animosity from (why I've no clue) and despite his attitude, I aced the class. I never had problems driving and remained accident free until I was 26 when I was rear-ended and then plowed into (two separate accidents) a few months later by a person who ran off and reported the car stolen 1 hour after the accident and had no valid insurance.
No accident to date has ever been my fault, and I've only ever had minor tickets for forgetting to re-register my car. Also funny story, an ex-girlfriend tried to foist an accident off on me where she'd got very drunk and plowed through two mailboxes in a hit-and-run and then later told the cops who came knocking on her door that I'd been driving (we were broken up at this point and I no longer lived in the same state). Apparently she had a spare Drivers license of mine and gave it to the cops who later sent a local highway patrol to my house and I explained, along with my parents, that at the time of the accident I was there at my parents house, 5 states away from where the accident occurred. As far as I'm aware she went to jail for a bit for that... Hilarious.
No accident to date has ever been my fault, and I've only ever had minor tickets for forgetting to re-register my car. Also funny story, an ex-girlfriend tried to foist an accident off on me where she'd got very drunk and plowed through two mailboxes in a hit-and-run and then later told the cops who came knocking on her door that I'd been driving (we were broken up at this point and I no longer lived in the same state). Apparently she had a spare Drivers license of mine and gave it to the cops who later sent a local highway patrol to my house and I explained, along with my parents, that at the time of the accident I was there at my parents house, 5 states away from where the accident occurred. As far as I'm aware she went to jail for a bit for that... Hilarious.
The one I remember best from Driver's Ed was my second on-road lesson with my instructor Paul. We were driving along some narrow road that bordered a lake and Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold came on the radio. We heckled it for a while and we started talking about metal music and other music we liked until the lesson was over.
There was also the first time I was behind the wheel of my mom's SUV and I managed to vastly underestimate a turn and get stuck on a hill on a narrow road around a curve. We were very fortunate to not get hit for the few minutes it took to get the vehicle back on the road properly.
There was also the first time I was behind the wheel of my mom's SUV and I managed to vastly underestimate a turn and get stuck on a hill on a narrow road around a curve. We were very fortunate to not get hit for the few minutes it took to get the vehicle back on the road properly.
I once almost ran over an old man. And on my second practice exam attempt I almost crashed into a freight truck while driving on the highway at 100 km/h. When the examinator needs to pull the wheel you know you fucked up. From beginning to end it took me about 18 months to get my driverslicense. I consider myself fortunate enough that my grandparents payed for my parents lessons so that in turn they felt obligated to pay for mine.
My lead-up to getting a driver's license involved three driver training lessons, with a large gap between the second and third (intended to give a learner about six months to practice). On my third lesson, which took place much longer than six months afterward, it was a practice test...which the instructor told me I failed. Then she admitted that they were supposed to deliberately fail learners (even if they'd otherwise done fine) so they would be shocked into paying more careful attention on their actual driver test.
No one was more shocked than me, because I'd actually taken and passed my driver test the previous day. My parents and I just figured "hey, we paid for three lessons, may as well use them all." The teacher was caught just as off-guard as I was.
No one was more shocked than me, because I'd actually taken and passed my driver test the previous day. My parents and I just figured "hey, we paid for three lessons, may as well use them all." The teacher was caught just as off-guard as I was.
I went out with my teacher for an hour before my test and I was fine. I was not nervous, I was carm and confident. I met the guy who was going to test me and I was still carm and confident. Then I started the ignition and everything went to hell.
I was beyond nervous. I was sweating through my shirt and then it got even worse. In the UK test you are asked to do two maneuvers and I was asked to do the one I was worst at, that my teacher had promised me I would probebly not have to do as only 1 in 8 are asked to do it. I had to parallel park.
I managed to do it but there was less then a hairs gap between a parked cars mirror and the training cars door at one point. I was sure I had failed. When I got back to the center I was told that I had 14 faults and I have never been more happy in my entire life. To put that into context for non UK drivers, in your test you can have upto 14 minor faults and still pass.
My instructor said that it was close but he was letting me pass because the place he asked me to do the parallel park was abit small and the pavement was covered in leaves so it was hard to see where the road eneded and the pavement started. He also said he was giving my the benifit of the doubt a little as I was obviously very nervous. The other reason, which he did not say but I am sure had a hand in it, was that he was a friend of my teacher and he knew that my teacher would never have told me to take the test if I was not ready.
Still went better than my sister tho. She has... issues with anger when driving. The first time she took her test (first of 5) her response to a driver pulling in front of her on a dual carriageway without indicating was to slam her hand on the horn, wind down the window and give him the finger.
She is currently staying with me and I don't let her drive. For the good of all England.
I was beyond nervous. I was sweating through my shirt and then it got even worse. In the UK test you are asked to do two maneuvers and I was asked to do the one I was worst at, that my teacher had promised me I would probebly not have to do as only 1 in 8 are asked to do it. I had to parallel park.
I managed to do it but there was less then a hairs gap between a parked cars mirror and the training cars door at one point. I was sure I had failed. When I got back to the center I was told that I had 14 faults and I have never been more happy in my entire life. To put that into context for non UK drivers, in your test you can have upto 14 minor faults and still pass.
My instructor said that it was close but he was letting me pass because the place he asked me to do the parallel park was abit small and the pavement was covered in leaves so it was hard to see where the road eneded and the pavement started. He also said he was giving my the benifit of the doubt a little as I was obviously very nervous. The other reason, which he did not say but I am sure had a hand in it, was that he was a friend of my teacher and he knew that my teacher would never have told me to take the test if I was not ready.
Still went better than my sister tho. She has... issues with anger when driving. The first time she took her test (first of 5) her response to a driver pulling in front of her on a dual carriageway without indicating was to slam her hand on the horn, wind down the window and give him the finger.
She is currently staying with me and I don't let her drive. For the good of all England.
I waited until I was 18 to get my license so I wouldn't have to bother with driver's ed. I read the brochure, got maybe like an hour of practice just to get used to how much pressure I needed to put on the accelerator to maintain the speed limit, and managed to pass the test on my first try. The only mark I got off was because I rolled my bumper past a stop sign a bit before coming to a complete stop. Of course I fucking had to, there was a bush blocking my view of oncoming traffic to the left and I couldn't see way back where the sign was.