Illegal driving lesson with dad. So how can somebody learn to drive then?

Teaching the kid how to drive is a tradition. I taught both my daughters. My uncle taught me. I can’t think of anyone that I know that didn’t learn from a relative.

This guy screwed up royally letting his kid learn in a small store parking lot. I taught both my daughters on a dirt road near my deer camp. Then we practiced on some country roads without traffic. Eventually, after a dozen trips on back roads, I let her drive to the outskirts of town before I took the wheel. We must have logged three hundred miles in six months before she took her drivers test. It’s one of my favorite dad memories with my daughters.

What gets me is the citation for driving without a learners permit. :confused: You can’t get a permit unless you pass the written test and the driving test. A total beginner can’t get a learners permit.

Are they really criminalizing every person that teaches a relative to drive? Or did they just cite this guy for causing an accident? He was dumb as hell for letting a rank beginner learn in a small parking lot.

Florida only requires written/online tests for a learner’s permit.

Yeah, I’ve never heard of anywhere that requires a driving test for a learner’s permit. The test to get a learner permit is to show that you’ve studied enough of the theory that maybe you won’t be a menace with a teacher in the front seat. :wink:

Oh. A weird state.

Ok. Here in my state you must pass the written and driving tests to get a learners permit.

It’s been more years ago than I care to think but when I got a learner’s permit, I only had to pass a written test. According to my co-worker, that’s still the case in California.

I, along with all of my friends, learned to drive in a huge office park parking lot on a Sunday but far away from any buildings.

Out of curiosity, which state is that?

I’ve been teaching my daughter in parking lots and industrial areas on the weekends. I don’t live out in the country so that’s not an option. Where else would/could I teach her? Well, if anything, this news has given me pause.

Arkansas?

Arkansas. (According to ace’s profile.)

Ninjad

Yes Arkansas. We start with a learners license, Intermediate Driver’s License (at 16), and then a full license.

They only had learners permits and full license when I learned in the 70’s.

That sounds like a smart plan. Huge open space to learn. Nothing to hit if your daughter is slow pressing the brake.

The guy in the news story let his kid drive in a tiny convenience store parking lot. That’s just too confined a space and too many people to be safe.

I looked through the Arkansas DMV site. Basically, you go to a driving school before you start the process. It does mention driving time but no mention if it’s on the road or in a lot somewhere.

Lesson to be learned. When doing something illegal (driving without a permit), don’t fuck up (drive into a store).

As for the Arkansas issue, according to this page you only need to pass a written and vision test and have a GPA above 2.0.

dmv.org is not the official state website, and their information is incorrect in this case.

Here’s what I found in the Arkansas drivers study guide, under “Types of Graduated Driver Licenses”

So the Instruction Permit is what you get first, and only requires the written and eye tests. The Learner’s License is what you get next, and requires that you already have an Instruction Permit. The only difference I see between them is that the Instruction Permit requires a licensed driver 21 years old to sit in the front seat, while the Learner’s License only requires the licensed driver to be in the car.

The last post about driving school notwithstanding, it sounds like Arkansas is the state with the stupid law that creates the appearance of a catch 22 – have to pass a road test to get a learner permit, but can’t practice for the road test without a learner permit.

I was looking at this page.

Looks like they have two different sets of requirements. :rolleyes:

No, they have 2 different things. An Instruction Permit, which doesn’t require a driving test, and Learner’s License, which does. Again, dmv.org is NOT any state’s official website, and got this wrong. Trust it at your own risk.

<shrug> I guess things changed since I learned. I made sure my daughters knew how to drive before getting their permit. Thats how I learned too. I don’t recall my daughters getting a Learner’s License. I’m pretty sure they started with a permit at age 15 (this was 2005). The law may have changed in the past few years.

I agree it does make sense to issue a learners permit first. That way the student driver is legally protected.

:smack::smack::smack:
note self:double check which site you’re on

How can you learn to drive before you’ve got a learner’s permit? Okay, if you live on a big farm with loads of private roads, but that isn’t most people.

In the UK, you apply for a provisional licence, which I guess is our equivalent of a learner’s permit. No test for this, written or otherwise, and any full licence holder can then give you lessons. On normal roads.

My first lesson was on roads in the centre of town. No parking lot or field for me. Just straight into traffic, that’s how most of us learn here, and we have some of the strictest driving tests in the world.

Good grief, looking at runner pat’s link, you can drive at 14 in Arkansas? And need to prove you can drive before this? What age do people start?

No one hits the road in any form before 17 here. I think that’s even too young.