# I Just Failed My Driver's Test **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2000, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658 "2000-11-17T21:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/41 "2000-11-18T03:28:15Z")
SAINT ZERO: > [@](#): > > I think I got lucky and hit the guy who was ready for coffee break. And you passed anyway??? Jeez, _that’s_ a lenient test. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/42 "2000-11-18T03:35:50Z")
I passed the first time with a 90%. I got docked for making a wide right turn, and “braking too fast.” I don’t know what was up with that, since I didn’t slam the brakes at any time. Oh well. BTW…if you miss a stop sign, no matter how small, you deserve to fail…good driving is all about paying attention to the little details. Jman ---
**Author:** ![WillyK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/47e85d/32.png) [@WillyK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillyK)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/43 "2000-11-18T03:49:29Z")
I, too, failed the first two tests and passed on the last. It was in High School and I had told all my buddies that I would be picking them up after the test. Well, it was very imbarrassing calling them up and saying, " well, I failed the test again…" After all that, I am now a paid “Perfessioinal Driver”. My employer trusts me to drive a $100,000 vehicle! Such is life! ---
**Author:** ![Niggle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Niggle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niggle)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/44 "2000-11-18T03:54:51Z")
I passed on my first try. That’s the good part. The bad part is that in BC I have to take a second test 1.5 years after I recieved my license. This is a 30 minute road test just to “make sure” that I know what I’m doing. It’s really irritating that they’re testing me again JUST as I’ve picked up all sorts of bad habits. Grrr. I don’t have a good feeling about it. -nigel ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/45 "2000-11-18T04:33:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tiggeril \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > So let’s put it this way…did anyone pass their test the first time? > > ::raises hand:: \*\* Me too. I guess some of you didn’t pay attention in your drivers-ed class. It ain’t rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![Welfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e56c9b/32.png) [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/46 "2000-11-18T04:47:25Z")
Heh…just don’t drive at all! Ah, 18 and not driving…it’s kind of nice. I’m too scared to drive since I suck at it. Besides, my 16 year old brother, though a good driver, didn’t see a van coming because of a blind spot so he got in a wreck today. I found out later since I was in the senior class play, and I went hysterical. Luckily Ben wasn’t seriously hurt, just blood gushing from his hands and a cut to the head. We’re all pretty shaken. He totalled our van. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/47 "2000-11-18T04:48:29Z")
I, too, failed my first drivers test. I had to make a 3 point turn, which I did… but apparently I didnt back up far enough on my way out. Gimme a break, lady… I -cleared- the thing. So she sent me away and I was right back out there the next day. Got 10 pts off for failing to yield to a pedestrian… but we got him scraped off the grill, so I managed to escape with a license and what was left of my self-confidence. ---
**Author:** ![Philbuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Philbuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philbuck)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/48 "2000-11-18T06:50:04Z")
Passed the first time with an 89, but got points taken off on parallel parking for being too _close_ to the curb. Of course, I haven’t parallel parked once in the five years since. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/49 "2000-11-18T09:26:38Z")
My first driving test lasted 10 seconds. I did a rolling stop on the first stop sign, and the tester directed me to head on back. A week later, I limped to a license with a score of a 79. But some of my classmates who scored in the high 90s managed to total a couple of cars by the time they finished high school. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/50 "2000-11-18T10:55:08Z")
I got below 70 (you need 70 to pass in California) both times I took the test. The instructor passed me the second time I took it, anyway. I DID come close to a seventy both times. I think I missed by three points the last time, and I lost points for things like “not taking the right of way” (ie, being a wimp). I CAN parallel park, but I need about ten back and forth tries to do it. I’m exaggerating, of course. Maybe only eight tries. I used to drive like grandma when I first got my car. Now? I’m pass more people than pass me. (I don’t regularly cut people off, though.) On the good side, I’ve never gotten a moving violation in nearly 19 years having a license (though I’ve only been driving regularly for six years). ---
**Author:** ![VaHermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ed655f/32.png) [@VaHermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VaHermit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/51 "2000-11-18T11:37:04Z")
Sorry guys, guess thats one advantage of growing up out in the sticks, began driving the dirt roads in old junkers when I was 13 and I’ve aced every written and on-road test I’ve ever taken, car and bike. I have no doubt that every one of you is a good driver, you can probably wheel your friends around all day without a glitch. The trick is to relax, the DMV observer isn’t your enemy, s/he is just doing their job, they put on their pants one leg at a time just like you do, they’re not out to get you and they don’t get paid a bonus for flunking you. Say hello and make with the small talk. Try not to concentrate so hard, just relax and drive, you can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/52 "2000-11-18T14:52:29Z")
I failed on overnight parking and not looking left before a 3 point turn my first real try. (I had never heard of either before my instructor told me to do them. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/53 "2000-11-18T16:01:40Z")
Unless I move to some wacky state where they make me retest, I shouldn’t ever have to do that again. I can’t drive when I get nervous. If I’m not nervous, I’m fine. It drives my mother crazy because I get really nervous with her in my car…last time I had her along was in downtown D.C., and I’d have been okay if I’d been alone. Arrrgh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/54 "2000-11-18T16:36:44Z")
Passed on the first try but I had been driving for two years on a learner’s permit. In OH if you are under eighteen you need to have driver’s ed, which I couldn’t afford at the time, and I was already married. I took my test the day after I turned eighteen. Parallel parked perfectly, I was driving a Vega! Driving test I got a 95, for “not slowing down when approaching an intersection”. There was no stop sign, traffic light or even any traffic, but the instructor said I should have slowed down to make sure there was no traffic approaching the intersection even if I had the right of way. I still think she was just making that up. ---
**Author:** ![Wump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed655f/32.png) [@Wump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wump)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/55 "2000-11-18T17:05:43Z")
I uh, don’t actually have my driver’s licence yet, my parents don’t want to pay the extra in surance for a teenage male. but i do have my Motorcycle licence, which i passed on my first time… barely. It started out fine, but apparently i was riding too close to the center line, so i lost 10 points (you have 70 that you can lose) then she gave me a warning that i wasn’t looking enough??? how the hell did she figure that? she was in a car behind me!!! Then, right at the end of the test after riding through a residential area, we pulled over and she said “You’ve got to watch for those uncontrolled intersections” And i replied “Which ones??” Apparently, i went through a controlled intersection (with stop signs) that _could_ have been uncontrolled because _she_ didn’t see the stop signs going the other way until _she_ was in the intersection, which of course meant that _I_ couldn’t possibly have seen it. So she docked me 30 points for going through an uncontrolled intersection that was _really_ a controlled intersection? When i voiced my opinion on the matter she said i was _Lucky_ because it’s supposed to be a automatic fail… BUT I DIDN"T DO IT!! AHHHH!!! testers are evil that is all… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/56 "2000-11-18T17:15:11Z")
“I failed on overnight parking” What? I don’t remember this being part of the test… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/57 "2000-11-18T17:17:24Z")
I passed my first time, partly because I chose to take the test in Española (rather than Santa Fe), a city not know for its strict driving standards. The only thing I can think of that went wrong was that, while stopped at a stop sign at a T-intersection, I waited for a bus to go by. I started to pull out and turn when two kids stepped out into the intersection. I had to stop pretty suddenly, and I was sure that would cost me the test, but I passed. ---
**Author:** ![Nimue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Nimue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nimue)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/58 "2000-11-19T13:06:27Z")
I’m another one who failed the test the first time. It was embarrassing and I felt bad about it, especially since I took the test the day before going on a family vacation and had to wait a few weeks before I could retake it. (I just wanted to get it over with because I felt I was wrongfully failed and I knew I could pass!) I was pretty nervous the second time, especially with the parallel parking. I thought for sure I would run out of time, but the instructor told me calm down and I did it. What a huge relief! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/59 "2000-11-19T17:19:37Z")
Took me four tries to pass. After the third time, I had done so poorly (including failing to yeild right of way, cutting a guy off in the process) the instructor asked me if I was on medication. I wasn’t. Cordially, Myron M. Meyer The Man Who ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2000, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658/60 "2000-11-19T18:57:50Z")
I passed on my first try. Honestly, the whole test is based on your level or nervousness. I was totally relaxed, personable with the instructor (who said 3 words to me the whole time: “Hi”, and “You passed.”), and had no trouble at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-failed-my-drivers-test/41658.md?page=4)