What was your test to get a driver's license like?

Did you have a memorable experience when you took your test to get your driver's license? If so, what was it like?

I remember mine quite well - the two times I had to do it - but I'm eager to hear yours first.

Written test, followed by a short drive around the neighborhood around the testing center.......nothing on the highway. 

And of course the much loved parallel parking part of the exam. But it was cool, because they had gates bolted down, so if you could get your parents to take, you could practice it before the test. My parents let me miss school on my birthday, which was a Friday, to take the test first thing in the morning. 

Got my license, then spent Friday/Saturday/Sunday driving all over the place to friends that lived in different areas of the metro area. I think I went through 2 full tanks of gas in 3 days driving my little '89 Ford Ford Econobox GT.  

Being asked to do a 3 point turn on a street wide enough to pull a u-turn very easily.  

The test in Ottawa involves pulling out of the testing centre and doing a left turn that involves driving across two lanes to a low, wide median, then waiting on the median to join traffic. The speed limit on the road is 50 kmh, but traffic is always moving at 80 kmh or so. Of course, if you speed you fail so this merge is supremely dodgy. Then, now that you're a turtle in the left lane and all the traffic is blasting past you on the right, you need to move to the right lane to turn into a residential neighborhood. It's a specific move you learn to pass your test and then never use again.

The day I took mine, we ran in to construction once we got off that main road. A female flagger stopped us and we had to wait. All the way back to the testing centre, my tester was ranting about women taking jobs. Naturally, I mouthed all the appropriate words of agreement. Passed on the first try, of course.

I'd practiced the course a few times with my instructor (insurance discount) who was kind enough to have a white dot on the windshield wiper that you liked up with a phone pole in the parking lot to judge location for parallel parking. During the test, I had a retired game warden, so talked hunting with him the whole time which overlooked a couple of my turn signal difficulties.

Turn signal difficulties like "these 2 plazas have entrances right next to each other, don't turn your signal on until halfway past the first entrance so you can pull into the second". And the double stop on the side of the building. Stop at the sign, then pull up so you can actually see the cross lanes and come to a full stop again. 

 So the DMV was in the building that Seabase is in. Go down the left side, stop AT THE SIGN then pull up 3 feet to see past the giant building and full stop again. 

On the way back, right about where East Pittsburgh street is written you had to wait until that little divider piece to signal to pull back into the DMV lot. Apparently they failed a lot of first time test takers with that. 

I'll admit I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember that it felt pretty simple–like, I feel like they should have tested me for more stuff. The most difficult part for me was the three-point turn, but that was only because there weren't any curbs and I wasn't entirely sure if I was in the grass or not.

No highway driving, and no parallel parking.

I took mine in a tiny village, where I drove around the block, all right-hand turns. I did have to parallel park, but there were no cars parked on the street, so the instructor had me use a giant oak tree stump next to the sidewalk as a reference point.

The only things i specifically remember are that there was a stop sign attached to the wall of the DMV building where the DL test course dumped into the larger parking lot.  Miss that stop sign, automatic fail.  I did not miss it, because i had older siblings so I'd heard of it since i was 6 years old.  I also remember the DMV guy being pretty impressed that i could parallel park a full-size Chevy with a manual trans and manual steering.  E36 M3, i lived on a hill with on-street parking only.  I was the berkeleying guru of parallel parking.  It seemed almost too easy that the test was on flat ground.

My father-in-law turned 87 and takes a yearly driving test.  I refuse to ride with him due to his sketchy driving and I wonder how he gets passed every year.  

When the local news station mentions an accident with a senior citizen driving into a building I pucker up a little bit.  

Written test to get your permit and then a scheduled test to get your license.  My high school used to have a driver's ed class, but it was already defunct by the time I took my test in 1986.  However, the course painted out on one of the lots was still there to practice on and at the time was similar to the test course at the nearby state police barracks.  Somehow, 35+ years and at least one renovation later, some of the painted course is still visible today (the very faded boxes used for the 3-point turn test).  There was a slalom as well, but that has been removed:

On January 3rd 1992, I showed up at the license branch, gave them my money, took a written test. Got my picture taken and had a license in an hour. At that time, if you had taken and passed a Driver's Ed course you only had to take a written test at 16 and 1 month. If you did not take drivers ed, you had to wait until 16 and 6 months and take the written and driving test. 

I have absolutely no clue what they do now.

On my 15th b-day, my parents bought me a drivers ed course from the west side of indy that met on saturdays. We had 2 hours of class instruction and 1 hour driving solo with instructor. If we'd waited until I could take it from my high school, I wouldn't have gotten my learners permit until August of 91, giving me 4 months of practice driving. Instead I had mine in Feb, the day I got that permit they picked me up at 11am with a suitcase and cooler, told me to drive south until I can't drive anymore. I made it from West side of Indy to just south of Nashville, Tennessee. We made it to Pensacola that night, hit the naval air museum the next day and came home. I was back in school monday. Best. Parents. Ever.

Drive around town with parallel parking. I figured that I had flunked from the beginning when I pulled up too close to the curb so that the 6'+ highway patrol officer couldn't stand on the street to climb into my folk's 68 Firebird and crushed his hat while climbing in from the sidewalk. He sure was writing a bunch of stuff down during the test and I was sure I flunked, but I passed. At the age of 14 (I think).

After all of these years of practicing defensive driving, I have come to the conclusion that everybody should have to retake both the written and driving part of the driver's license test EVERY 5 YEARS.

I remember I failed my driver's ed class test because I was bad at parking, which led to several parking lessons from Margie in her very large BMW sedan. The prospect of crashing my boyfriend's mom's nice car apparently scared me straight, and I passed the next test I took after that.

My driving test was the biggest load of BS ever. No wonder there are so many horrible and dangerous drivers in my area.

Showed up in our 1987 gold (mainly) Honda Accord 5 speed manual. It was adorned with a silver hood with 1 matching silver flip up headlight cover sourced from the junkyard. 

As soon as the tester sat down and saw it was a manual transmission she said, "Just as long as this is a smooth ride, we'll be fine." It was easily less than 2 minutes of driving. Back out of parking spot, stop at a couple stop signs, pull out and turn right out of parking lot onto 35 mph road, travel maybe 1000 ft, turn right into same parking lot, park, answer which was to turn the wheels when parallel parking on a hill, and passed.

My M class test was way more fun and actually thorough since I took the MSF course.

I've never been tested by a DMV or similar.  I took driver's ed in high school almost 30 years ago, got a sign-off as passing, and just had the written test to take at the local DMV office.  Same with my motorcycle endorsement; took the MSF class and got a piece of paper saying I passed, added that to my existing driver's license.  Haven't been tested since, just updated, even as I've moved to different states.  Honestly I don't know why it works this way, I think anyone with a license should be tested fairly often, like every few years.

The most memorable thing about my driving test was which car I used for the test. The plan was to use dad's gremlin, but the turn signals didn't work. So, I had to take it in my mom's 70s gran torino station wagon. It is a little more difficult to parallel park and do three point turn around in the station than the gremlin, but I did most of driving practice in the station wagon. The test itself was not difficult.

Mine was smooth and they foolishly gave me a license.

Our son however .....  Trained on our 1994 4-Runner with a stick, occasionally driving my old Dodge pickup with a slant six & stick.

Time for the road test.  Mom & son head out, I head to the Saratoga race track where they mix horse manure with seaweed from the lake and sell it as compost; $15 to fill my 8ft box.

At DMV, the inspector checked the car and paperwork, "Registration expired yesterday, no test today".  Kid says "let's get Dad's truck!"

They roll in as I do with the rear axle on the snubbers, "Aaaahhhhhh!!!"

"Can we take the 914?"

He was never allowed.  OK.  Went back, did the thing, parked OK, turned left looking at a steep hill with a red light on top..  He went REAL slow hoping to hit the light green.  Nope.

Did the E Brake clutch shuffle thing, didn't roll back but 3".

He was nervous but passed.  Inspector told Mom he was nervous, the car is so small.

Oh, I've got an epic tale! 

When I went to take my test, I had been doing all my permit driving in three vehicles: my mom's 1986 Olds 98, my dad's 1992 Ford F150 Flareside Nite, and my 1964 Buick Skylark. All three of those have one thing in common, and that's the column shifter. I had not driven anything with a floor shifter, ever. MA required test vehicles to have a floor shifter and hand brake in case the State Trooper administering the test had to take control or stop the vehicle. So, we borrowed my uncle's 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee for the test. 

I get to the RMV, nervous as anything, and this absolute mountain of a man in a suit jacket IDs himself as the tester. I felt a little relieved since he wasn't in uniform, but he was intimidating! He squeezes up front with me, and my dad was in the back seat. He asks me to back out of the space. I go to shift the floor shifter, and it won't move. All the nervousness came rushing back tenfold!Why wouldn't the shifter move?

So I said, "did I fail before even leaving the lot?" and he said, "What do you do when you stop?"

Puzzled, I said, "You apply the brakes." He nodded his head. 

But I wasn't getting it. Again, shifter not moving. 

He asked again, "What do you do when you stop? Think about it."

Again... "You apply the brakes." OH... HE WANTS ME TO HIT THE BRAKE PEDAL!!! 



I had never driven anything with a shift brake interlock. You have to press the brake pedal to shift. Remember, my daily driver was something from 1964 with a column shift, optional seat belts, and didn't even have reverse lights! The rest of the test included leaving the RMV parking lot, going up the road to a side street, doing a three point turn (and hitting a tree branch in the process), and going back to the RMV. Somehow, I passed. The trooper must have taken pity on me after I explained that my car was from the 1960's and has a column shifter. 

All that said, it's what happened AFTER the test that was a real life lesson. 

On the way home, I was riding high, and all the nervousness was gone. My dad decided to drive, since I wasn't used to the highway yet. We stopped at an auto parts place to grab some air fresheners and a window cup holder for my Buick, and got back on the highway. Then all hell broke loose. 

Right after we merged onto the highway, a guy in a Chevy Silverado 2500 tried passing a bunch of people in the breakdown lane and cut of the person behind me to cut over to the fast lane. Unfortunately, our Jeep was where he wanted to be, so he smacked us on the driver's side rear corner. He was going so fast that he cut right through the back corner of the thing, and we went up on two wheels! My dad got control, and the truck went all the way to the median, cut in front of us perpendicularly, and flew in the air off the highway into a big tree. We pulled over, and an entire line of vehicles pulled over behind us, including a lady in a dump truck, who used her CB to call it in. State troopers scrambled and showed up almost immediately. We were OK, and somehow the Jeep was still driveable. As they went down the line interviewing people, we found out that the guy in the truck had over a dozen freshly empty beer cans in the bed and cab. His license had been revoked for multiple DUIs, but he still was driving and hurting people. He was so drunk, he didn't know where he was or how he got there. 



As we were getting interviewed by a trooper on the side of the road, they blocked off a lane to clean up the mess. A full 14-passenger van in the open lane had slowed to a complete stop so the driver could rubberneck. A conversion van with a family inside behind them couldn't stop in time and clobbered the van! We had to duck out of the way of the flying glass and metal! The trooper basically said "do you mind if we take care of the new problem?" and left us to attend to the new group of injuries. We were able to get out of there and home in the injured Jeep. 

And once I got home, I was shaken to the core. I had been in a serious accident, and just witnessed a potentially worse one so close I had to duck out of the way. My mom gave me a hug and then dropped the keys to my Buick in my hand, saying, "Go drive, right now. You are scared, and you need to get over it. You have to get out there and just do it! You'll feel better when you get home. Go hang out with your friends, you earned it!" So I did, and she was right; although I went through quite the unbelievable odyssey to get that coveted driver's license, I felt GREAT. 

What did I learn that day?
-Do research, and know what you're doing before doing something important. You might not get the benefit of the doubt all the time.
-People who look like they can break you in half can actually be really nice. 
-NEVER, EVER drink and drive. 
-Pay attention when passing an accident scene and don't rubberneck!
-Face your fears, and you'll be able to overcome them.
-Modern cars with automatics and floor shifters have shift/brake interlock systems. 

I got my motorcycle license in Maine, and I thought that the test was rediculously dangerous. 
 

With your helmet on, you got on your bike and rode out onto the road. An inspector followed in a car and blew the horn.

One honk -> turn right.

Two honks -> turn left.

Three honks -> stop. 
 

So basically, you take a new motorcyclist out into traffic and tell them to focus on what's happening behind them.

It seemed like an incredibly irresponsible way to go about it. 

Same in NY, gonna put the Inspector in the bitch seat?

It was so long ago I don't really remember anything except being especially careful to come to a complete stop at the stop signs (he looked out the side window at the ground to see if I was still moving) and not to exceed the 25mph speed limit in the neighborhood by even 1 mph! I passed easily.....but failed the eye test. I went to the eye doc who said they shouldn't have failed me and gave me a note.

When I took my motorcycle endorsement test, they had us ride around a series of cones that were really close together. I was on a Honda 550 4cyl with a big Vetter fairing on front, at low speeds it was a pig, always trying to roll over and play dead! I managed - just - to pass it first time around. If I ever do it again I'll borrow something light and maneuverable like a little offroad bike.

I'm 74 years old now and I haven't had to take a driving test since high school! I think this is very wrong, I think we should have to take them periodically, like every 5 years or so at least. If nothing else just to hammer home the rules and catch people out who've been rolling thru stop signs and right turning on red without even slowing down or looking.

I foist had to in 92. It was 106 out and Wisconsin. My grandmother comes to pick me up from school with my mothers 86 Olds Gutless. I broke the bench seat latch when I first get in the car. Then get off the highway and the car overheats...sigh. Got into town and dump 43 quarts of oil into the car. I was late by this point so I went to the DMV and was going to get a new time before heading home. 

I walk in and then walk right back out the door with the tester. We get into the car with lots of idiots lights on the dash and not running right. We get one mile down the road into town at the stop sign... the car dies. We push the car to the side of the road and have to start walking back to the DMV. Someone who knows the tester stops and gives us a ride back.

End up catching my dad that stopped at my grandmother's after work on the phone. we stops to pick up someone else and come over an hour to get us from where he was. Got the car running and home. He had to replace the motor and trans after that and I have no idea what the hell happened to the car. MY dad used that as an excuse to put a V8 into the car instead of a V6.

bobzilla said:

On January 3rd 1992, I showed up at the license branch, gave them my money, took a written test. Got my picture taken and had a license in an hour. At that time, if you had taken and passed a Driver's Ed course you only had to take a written test at 16 and 1 month. If you did not take drivers ed, you had to wait until 16 and 6 months and take the written and driving test. 

I have absolutely no clue what they do now.

This is how mine went.  The summer before you turned 16 you got your permit and went to the high school for drivers ed.  They had lines painted in the parking lot and cones everywhere.  Those cars were beater trade-ins from the local dealers, many of which were RWD V8s.  We all learned to do burn outs, 'accidently' of course.  The later part of the school was on the road with instructors and demo cars from the dealers.  Once the course was completed it was a countdown to your 16th B-day.  

Done it twice.

5 kids that needed chauffeuring in the family. Mom was desperate to delegate the driving chore. At 16, it was 30 days from birthday party to learner  permit to full license. Mom and I accumulated as much as Intel as possible about the testers and the testing route and drove around the area. Passed first time even though I parallel parked in front of a hydrant.

Second time was in SD and I imagine that "no actual dead body on the hood" would have been a pass. Had to ask the tester to put on his seat belt and it was no more than a drive around the block.

Had a driver's license when I lived in Nigeria. That was a $20 bill to the company secretary and delivered to my office a week later. Never did drive there.

Because our family car (1976 IH Traveler diesel/ 727 auto) was so road unworthy at the time, my visiting brother let me borrow his car. Something like this, as I remember:

It was an automatic, but I could have driven a stick because at the time I was driving a Ford 5000 tractor for hours a day.

I think the written part involved a Scantron, but I'm sure I got 100% on that.

I failed the parallel parking, which is odd, because the car is so small, but I had never needed to parallel park before, so...

And I got dinged because I "rode the brake" the whole time.  In an automatic I have always put my foot against the brake pedal when driving. Everyone says, "you're riding the brakes!"

If you can't tell the difference between your foot touching the brake pedal and actually pushing the pedal enough to engage the brake switch, well..., I don't know what to say about that.

Coda: A few weeks later, my brother and I went to Disney World. I was driving his car, and once on the on-ramp to the interstate I slowly pushed down the accelerator and eventually, while slowly (alarmingly slowly) increasing speed, the car suddenly went: uuhhhhhhhhhWHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

I let off in surprise and my brother looked over at me and said "yeah, don't do that." I think we merged at 43 mph or something. Ugh.