Your Driver's Ed Stories!

[Twintix]

Today, I finally finished my driver's ed! I can finally drive legally! Woohoo!

[small]CAT PARTY![/small]

Anyway, this milestone in my life made me want to start this thread. Do you have any good stories about your driver's ed?

As for me, it's not really that good of a story, but rather explains why it took me until now to get it. It was the Spring of 2013, the last year of my secondary school. I was completely swamped with work; I had a project in school that needed to be completed, a ton of homework, tests to study for and work samples to make for my desired game designer course. The amount of work I had to do made it a bit hard to find time to book driving sessions, and when I finally managed to book one, the teacher noted that it'd been a while since I booked anything. I explained my situation.

His response? "That's no excuse."

Now, I might've misintepreted his words, admittedly. I don't remember exactly what he said afterwards, but I know that it felt like he was insinuating that my license was more important than graduating. This pissed me off, and I didn't attend another session for over a year.

Childish response? Yeah, definitely.

But a pissed off human WON'T LISTEN TO REASON!

So, what about you?

 

[Marter]

I did my driver's ed through school, so as such I had to wait for the person at the school. My instructor's name was "Smail" -- pronounced "smile." There was an instructor hanging around the school, so I went up to him and was like "hi, are you Smail."

"What?"

"Are you Smail."

"Uh, I smile a lot, if that's what you're asking."

Then I walked away, as he was clearly not Smail.

Not a great story, but my driver's ed was uneventful. Although here you don't just get a license for doing driver's ed. You have to go pass an additional test. I did my driver's ed at 16 but didn't get my license until I was 20. That's ... something. I never failed a test or anything; I just didn't try to get it.

 

[Nickolai77]

Driver's ed? I didn't realise it was called that in other countries, we just call it "learning to drive" in the UK.

I don't have any particularly positive memories of learning to drive- I think it took me 5 times to pass my test which often spoiled my holidays at home. I put this down to a combination of bad luck (kept on having to move test centres due to building works, including other things) and in hindsight not thinking for myself enough- I was too used to having an instructor telling me what to do.

On the time I did pass though I was back in the centre that I first took my test with and due to some bureaucratic error I had the same examiner I had on my first attempt. Wherever he recognised me I couldn't tell, but I passed in spite of me going the wrong way on the independent driving stage of the test!

I've been driving for almost exactly a year now without incident, and having had a black box in my car, I was very happy be told my car insurance would only be £260, which is astonishingly cheap for someone who's not over 25!

From my experiences I believe that driving tests are a pretty poor measure of how good someone actually is at driving, because the outcome of your test is influenced by so many other factors aside from your level of skill. To anyone who may fail a driving test, don't let it knock your confidence and have you think you're a crap driver, because chances are you're not.

 

[Tiger King]

I hated learning to drive.
A lot of what you learn is important but the guy teaching me really annoyed me. For example, it's good practice to always check your mirrors before pulling off right? But I doubt many people bother looking over their shoulder when you are parked in front of a brick wall and you know there is nothing there but a damn brick wall.
Yeah I know my tutor was in the right but it was so annoying to have to make these pointless checks.

Now I'm in America I have to get a California license which means I gotta go through all the bullshit again. Oh joy :/

 

[DanteRL]

I ran over a pigeon one day before my driver's test. I still believe that the little fucker cursed me into failing.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

My driver's ed was with some private teacher who was generally kind of an asshole. Always felt like I was walking on eggshells with him. And small mistakes would get blown up to hell. Not particularly interesting as a story, though.

What's great is that getting a license is so goddamn easy in my state that it didn't matter if I ever had driver's ed. I seriously think the best teaching experience I had driving was in my dad's old manual Camaro (dad being with me, of course) that I drove about 30 miles from our home with. That taught me more than that teacher ever did.

Needless to say, I hated doing driver's ed. But I'm completely fine with driving and haven't had an accident for the four-ish years I've spent doing so. Granted, I don't drive terribly often, so that's probably part of it.

 

[Longing]

Best thing about finally getting your driver's license is never having to go through another single driving class. Congrats.

I had two instructors, first one was a macho piece of shit who was very aggressive (I asked to switch, my eyes would not sustain rolling around so much for another 8 months) and then I got lucky and got the most chill driving instructor I imagine to ever exist. We'd just drive around talking tv and listening to music.

thank you mister chill instructor, you made this all very bearable.

 

[Blitsie]

Best thing about finally getting your driver's license is never having to go through another single driving class. Congrats.

Agreed! Good lord it feels like having a mountain lifted off your shoulders when you hear that you passed your drivers test, no more long lines, dead-eyed people and especially driving classes.

Welp, I don't have anything too exciting to tell, I fondly remember my first time driving though (which coincidentally was my first driving class), the guy took me on the road to get an overall feel of the car and halfway through my brain went full retard and decided that the handbrake is the gear stick so I pulled that right up instead of going into third. Least to say I was quite impressed with the braking capabilities of a Kia motor that day and I sure as hell bet my instructor was too because damn did the Kia behind us slam his brakes hard after the stunt I pulled.

 

[Tiger King]

Best thing about finally getting your driver's license is never having to go through another single driving class. Congrats.

Unless you get done for speeding, then you have the option of taking traffic school to avoid getting points on your license.

 

[Rosiv]

I took only 16 lessons, for 1 hour each for my driving lessons. They were private, and at the end of it i didn't feel comfortable driving. During those 16 hours i actually drove on the wrong side of the road, and if my instructor wasn't watching me i wouldn't want to know what would have happened. Those 16 hours were the only driving experience i had before i had my exam.

During my exam i almost passed. I did a successful 3 point turn, although a bit slow. And a parallel park, but not in-between cars, just in general. I was at the end, and there was a lady with a baby carriage at the intersection. The light was green, so i assumed i had the right of way and proceeded to park at the curb to finish my exam. The instructor sighed at me, and told me i had to give the lady right of way, regardless of the light, and i failed my exam. That was 2 years ago, i still dont have my license, and my driving permit is expired. To be honest, i wish there was a perfect driving simulator with a wheel and break/gas pedal that people could buy/use, that seems to fit my lifestyle better.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

My older sister broke one of the driver's ed car's axles by driving through a puddle too fast, not realizing that the puddle was actually a gigantic pothole. I had to live that down the whole time, since I had the same instructor.

Also, the instructor constantly told me that I needed to watch my speed and brake earlier for stops. She told me that if I didn't she could guarantee that I'd rear-end someone at a stop sign/light within six months of getting my license. It's been ten years now, and I've yet to get into any trouble at all driving. So bite me, Mrs. R.

 

[Rewdalf]

I went through driver's ed at 17.
Having already driven with both parents and uncle, everything was fine.
Driving was easy for me, and to top it all off the people who usually drove before me were really nervous girls who didn't even have any interest in passing.
So the instructor, who was super cool by the way, was always at ease when I was behind the wheel.
Did four in-car sessions before he signed my papers and I got my full license.

The real stories are when I was learning how to drive stick.
First lesson with my father: Reverse uphill.
Boy oh boy.
But it was worth it.
After a careless woman ran a stop sign and totaled my first car, I got an even better one with the payout money, and made sure it was a standard trans.
Have had a clean driving record for four years.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

My driver's ed teacher was one of those typical driver's ed teachers: some old person who was retired (or old enough to retire) who took the job out of boredom, passion for safe driving , or for a little extra income. In this case it was the second, her daughter died in the car accident, which really made me respect more than I normally would've.

My in-car teacher was in it for the first or third reason. He was a baby-boomer and we talked about politics the entire segmented eight hours I was with him. Really liked that guy, was pretty sad when I finished my final in-car with him. Though it's been a while since I finished my in-cars, I still wonder whatever happened to him and if he remembers me.

Nothing interesting happened though, just liked the two teachers I got, even though the school I signed up for was really out of my way.

 

[EHKOS]

I got mine at twenty one (about nine months ago). So basically I just had to take the test. I failed it once because my brain shorted out and while making sure it was clear to go, forgot about the damn light above me. Since I'm tall and they had short cars, the roof blocked it out like there wasn't even one there.
Next time I just scrunched down to see better, and passed it by brute force. I studied for one night and never took a class, although I watched my mom all the time since I was very young. And I played a lot of the good NFS games, which in a snowy state has helped me break out of fishtails a lot. But yeah, I was late in getting it so I just brute forced it. 2nd time was the charm. The guy seemed like he hated his job, and snatched the money out of my hand quick as a whip. He also gave me shit about my braking, but I explained I practiced with a twenty year old truck in comparison to their new Chevy Impala. Despite the weight and technology difference he still gave me shit about it, but then I was able to get out of the car, and walk away with my license.

 

[dragoon3zero]

my mom refused to pay the cost of driver's ed. i didn't even know you had to pay for that sort of thing (or that a thing called "driver's ed" existed). it took me several tries to get my driver's license.

 

[Gillian Who]

ok i have to post on this.

I learnt to drive a couple of years ago with a guy who was having a nervous breakdown, apperently his brother died recently and he was having trouble coping leading to really erratic behaviour and outbursts. On one drive he tells me about how he was going to kill himself the other month and then he turned to me and said 'I never told anyone that before'

yeeeaaahhh i dont know why i stayed with him

 

[AH_EHUD]

My younger sister just had her first behind the wheel lesson a few days ago. Before this she drove with my parents(not well from what they tell me) for about an hour or two in a parking lot to learn the basics. Her first lesson with the instructor had her go through roundabouts, drive on the interstate, and over a bridge. According to her, she looked so terrified while driving that the instructor took out his phone and took a picture of her reaction while she was driving because he thought it was funny. Strangely enough she hasn't been that eager to drive again.