Doesn’t everyone have a driver’s license story to tell? I’d really like to know why so many people don’t pass the first time.
I didn’t get my license until I was 21 years old. I remember I was pregnant with Toby and Paul just got sick of hauling me around and told me that’s it, your getting your license. I was happy to get it but it wasn’t that huge of a deal to me. I studied and I’d been driving for years. I learned how to drive when I was 13 on grandma and grandpa’s farm. Everyone up there thought I had my license because I drove all the time. Back then, there weren’t many police out and if I would have gotten “caught,” I could have said I was a farmer and had been helping out and I wouldn’t have gotten a ticket. I never drove at home though. Not in Minneapolis but I did “know” how.
I studied very hard. I got the handbook and really studied. I had Paul quiz me and I was sure to pass. I passed the permit test easily. So, I get in the car and off we took. Mind you, I didn’t buckle up but nobody did back then. The instructor told me to pull up to the light and take a left. So that’s what I did. He told me to pull over and I failed 5 seconds into the test. I took a left on a one way, the wrong way. So, don’t you think that’s tricking me?? I felt that was so unfair. Yes, I should have been paying more attention but I was nervous in the service and he could have waited until I was a little further into the test to trick me. I went back the next day and passed but I really felt they were taking advantage of me. I felt they wanted me to fail the first time. Like a badge I had to earn or something.
How many of you passed the first time? If you didn’t, what made you fail it the first time?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I also went when I was a little older than most. I had experience driving all of the farm equipment!!! I passed the first time!!!
I was 16 and in high school. I went to the dmv w/ my bff. I passed the test but failed the eye exam. The woman gave my my license anyway but I had to get glasses that same week. Yes, I think you were tricked- didn’t they think you’d be nervous… what an asshole you had giving you your test. That’s ridiculous!
Like you, I had been driving since I was 13. I learned on the back roads of Maine, where the only thing I could have hit was a tree or a moose. My dad figured that would be ok, just so long as I didn’t hit another person.
I did pass my official test the first time, but the driving instructor was a total douche. For the “city” portion of the exam, she took me to a completely unfamiliar part of town with one-way streets and a layout that was definitely not a logical grid. When she told me to turn around and head back, I asked her for directions. Her response was, “You should know how to get back!” I thought asking for help was the more responsible thing to do…
I started driving on some of the backroads in rural Illinois when I was 13. Nothing to really hit but a corn field or an occasional tractor. By the time I took my drivers test, I was driving pretty well and got my license the first time.
That was a pretty crappy thing for your instructor to do to you. I’ll bet he failed a lot of people with that one.
I passed my test the first time. I drove a little bit when I had my permit but I was worried about parallel parking. When I took my drivers licsense test “they pulled the turn left on a oneway street but I knew it was coming” my drivers ed teacher told me they would probably do that. As far as the parallel parking I was 11″ away from the curb, over 12″ you fail “wheeeeew” I passed the 1st time!
*ahem* I failed because I knocked over the traffic officer testing me in the yard… well look she was in the way and the car did have a mind of its own under my shaky over nervous hands… I failed instantly… surprisingly I also learnt a few new words hmm
I drove with a permit alone for years. Same thing here..back then there wasn’t as much traffic and the cops had bigger crimes to bust. (read sarcasm into that) 😉
We had the ugliest, most horrible bad day having douchebags working at the DMV. So I wouldn’t have driven with them if my life depended on it. I think I was like 23 before I got an actual drivers license. I got a really nice guy to drive with. I think they learned that people were driving around town on permits because they weren’t driving with the bitches at the DMV and got rid of them. Passed on my first try and that’s all she wrote.
my daughter is 21 and has had a license for a few years now..but my 17 year old son doesn’t even have a permit yet and he grew up driving a rider lawn mower (minus the mowing deck) up and down our road. He would probably be a better driver than any of us. He wants no part of driving right now. Go figure!
I can honestly say the driver’s test was the only one I ever failed; and I failed it twice!!
First time, it was late Friday and the tester said at the outset that he was in a bad mood. Needless to say, that made me more nervous. I had been driving on a permit for months, but I’d been told “they always fail girls the first time.” So anyhoo, we drive out and the guy tells me to make a right. I am a little dyslexic and I never did learn to tell my right from my left without a crutch. I would think back to where I sat at the dinner table and which hand hung down at my side (versus on the bench next to my sister). Well, I was nervous and feeling rushed so I was afraid to pause and do my usual “which way is right” analysis, so I gave it a guess and guessed wrong. The tester thought I was being a smartass and gave me hell, and it was downhill from there. He even said I ran a stop sign, which wasn’t really true, but I guess I didn’t stop long enough for his liking. Anyhoo, I got a horrible score and my brother wouldn’t even let me drive home afterwards (because he could see I was so upset) and I wanted to kill him just to make it a perfect day.
The second time, it was winter. We live in the snow belt and there were huge hills of snow on both sides of the road. The guy kept complaining that I was too close to the middle, but I was trying not to hit the snow piles. I really think he was just being a jerk, and I failed by one error (5 points).
I did pass the written test and the maneuverability test on my first try, woo hoo!
After further thought, in my second test, there were 2 lanes and I wanted to stay in the left lane because the snow piles were taking up too much of the right lane. The tester docked me for that.
Isn’t it sad that our tax dollars are paying for all these arbritrarily failed tests?
Yes it is very sad. I also feel that he told me to pull up to the light and take a left! It was also right out of the gate so I did what he told me to do. I was prepared for a trick but not that soon and I was so nervous. I knew how to drive and had been driving for 8 years but he was a moron and now I knew I’d have the Erickson’s making fun of me.
I passed the first time even after I hit the orange cone that was suppose to be a car when I was parrallel parking. I thought it was suppose to be an instant fail, but I wasn’t saying anything!
That was not very nice of the drivers test person. I agree he should have waited later to trick or not trick you at all. I don’t remember being tricked on my test. I passed. I was fresh out of driving school. I did not know how to drive a stick shift and bought a cute little 56 bug and drove it took work and taught myself how to drive a stick that was awful the hill was the worst but I did survive.
I drove around without a license until I was 18 because I didn’t have the money for the required driver’s ed classes. On my 18th birthday I went and took the written test and aced it. They scheduled the driving test the next day and I think I only lost 1 point but I don’t remember for what.
My mom taught me how to drive when I was 9 “just in case she ever had a stroke or a heart attack in the car.” That way I could drive her to the ER.
OMG!! That is exactly how I failed my first time!!! I went down a one way the wrong way!! Even on a set up course!!! I don’t feel so bad now!!! That is so funny! It was embarrassing huh?? I never failed my written and I finally passed my drivers test when I was 25 in YOUR truck right?? I know I was with you and Jason came to pick Bailey up at the DMV. I was so nervous but I got such a cool guy. I may be getting this mixed up. Did I pass with you Joy?? I know I took the drivers test twice. I had been driving around Buffalo for a while though and never got caught. 2005 is when I started doing daycare and Bailey started Kindergarten so I needed to get my license! It’s a good thing you did this post, I had to look at my card to see when it was issued, 2005, and I have to renew it this year!! Thank goodness I saw that because I do not want to take that test again!
Gosh… driver’s license story… hmmmm. That must have been (OMG) in 1969. I can’t remember a thing about that.
However, I do remember that I had to drive my mom’s Chevy (Impala) cool dark green STATION WAGON!!!
Driving in front of the high school (“burning rubber around a corner) one afternoon the right front axle snapped and the tire went down the road much farther than the rest of the car did.
My parents were so glad that it did not happen while me or my mom were on the highway with the other (5) siblings in the car. Of course I can’t ever remember mom burning rubber like I did. 😉
I was very, very nervous. I knew the ropes and how to pass, but the nerves got to me. I didn’t pass until my 3rd try! Hit cones over on 2 tests and not sure on the other. All in Minneapolis when I was 16 years old!
I did pass on the first try. But, I don’t think I would today because they require you to parallel park now. Heck, I don’t even think I can spell parallel…(?) But, my husband can do it like crazy. He could park a 15 foot truck in a 10 foot space if he had to. It’s one of those little endearing things….
I took drivers ed from a place in town. The permit test was easy enough. Very straight forward from the book and I aced it and got my permit. once we had our permit we were able to drive with the guy who taught the class.. We drove a few days off and on with 2 other kids in the car. I was a nervous wreck the first couple of times. I think the funniest part of that whole experience was having to put gas in the car. The instructor thought it was funny that I’d never put gas in a vehicle before. (but no one else had either but I was the one that got picked on that day)Anyhow I managed to like an idiot spill gas on my shoe! THE instructor had set my glasses on the seat when he got out of the car to show me how to put gas in the car and when he got back in he had forgotten where he had set them and he broke my glasses! Anyhow.. A few days after that we were driving around to no where really and he decides its time to pull over and let me drive.It was just me and another girl. We were not far from my house. So I started driving. He gave a few instructions and after following them he told me to go home and when I pulled into my driveway he handed me a piece of paper and said congrats you pass! I had no idea I was even being tested. No stress or worries by that time I was comfortable driving with the guy and the others in the car. I just took that piece of paper to the DMV and got my license.. It was a pretty easy process. I never had to drive with anyone from the DMV… We only parallel parked once and It wasn’t included in the “test” i’m not sure I could parallel park today if I had to..
OMG! Same damn thing happened to me. I am a new mom of two. I have a boy and a girl and was very unfamiliar with the area of the test and like you I have been driving too. The guy, who did not speak english(no offense), not only tricked me but allowed me to continue going down the road, which had construction going on btw, till I REALIZED I was going down the wrong way. Can you believe it?! He actually chuckled at me, thank god I had a strong reponse to the emergancy. I said,” first off, this is a $24k dollar car, not smart! Second, this is how my grandather died jerk! AND THIRD I have two kids and my husband works all the time this was a really important thing, you tricked the wrong person today.” He had the nerve to say he never passes anybody their first time and to come in and reschedule. I told him no and that I will reschedule someplace else which I did. I also filed a complaint. True, maybe I should have known the area better…Whatever. What’s done is done and I am so glad I wasn’t the only one. I definitely felt like I stepped into the twilight zone that day and it definitely freaked me out for awhile and I also felt like the dumbest person. I go test again in about a week and this time it’s game on!