Driver’s ed of course–
I passed my driver’s ed permit course (yea, yea, I’m a little late on this one) on the first try, with only 1 wrong on the test. Just thought I’d mention that I can now legally drive (with a licensed driver at least 21 years of age in the passenger seat) but damned Minnesota law won’t let me get my license for 6 months, so I’ll get my license at/around November 9th, 2001 
Isn’t it fun?
I just got my license a week ago today, on my sixteenth birthday (I just barely passed the test because I wasn’t expecting to have to do a three-point turn and it kind of caught me off guard). I’m looking for any excuse I can find to drive now.
Please learn from a fool. Me. Obey all traffic and safety laws. The learning curve can be steep. I have had my license revoked twice. Avoid doing stupid things. Since you have little experience, you don’t know yet what all the stupid things are. Hell I don’t know what they all are. Be aware and good luck.
Booker57 makes a good point. Taking nothing away from your driving skills, the fact is that no new driver has the experience needed to be a safe driver. I know I had my share of fuck-ups.
Have fun driving, but be careful, and PAY ATTENTION. I can’t even keep track of the stories I hear from people I work with who are parents of teenagers with new licenses. At some point, they’ll grab something from the backseat, or screw around with the radio, and Wham!
When driving, it helps to keep the laws of physics in mind. 3000 pounds in motion can do some strange things.
For now, I’ll avoid driving in Minnesota. 
We need some more milk. Can you go out to the store and get some? And why don’t you pick up some more bread while you’re at it.
Congrats!
Congrats, Adam. Good for you. Seriously, though, be careful. I’ve gotten more than my share of speeding tickets (but no accidents knock on wood.) The cops have been driving longer than you have, and they will catch you.
Other than that, enjoy your drive!
[sub]BTW: I scored perfect on the written and the driving portions.[/sub] 
So, Adam. When are you going to kidnap a 21 year old and make a road trip for L.A. How will you pay for it, you ask? Why simple! Turn it into a movie.
Waiting period? I don’t remember any waiting period…oh, yeah, you have to wait until you are 16, don’t you?
(BTW, your birthday is the same as my daughter’s. Unless, of course, they have enacted some sort of evil six month waiting period while I was out legally driving and minding my own business, in which case, that really sucks. Vote those guys out when you turn 18!)
You still have to take the “driving” portion of driver’s ed now that you have the permit, right? Or do MN driving test laws now make some sort of sense? I always wondered why the heck you couldn’t learn “theory” and “practice” at the same time like you can in other states.
My driver’s ed experience was pretty evil. It involved looping around Lake Minnetonka while chasing down a UPS truck for the instructor, taking the instructor to the drive-up window at his bank, listening to very bad jokes about my birthplace and supposed accent, and very little actual driving instruction. My poor father still had to spend hours teaching me how to parallel park, and was he pissed–since the state made him pay for another guy to teach me for him. Perhaps that’s why my sister waited until she was 18 so that she could avoid that whole horrendous experience.
What driver’s ed did not teach me is how to calm my nerves enough to pass a driving test. (It took two failures for me to learn that. Driving when you are nervous is generally a bad idea.) Practice, practice, practice, and practice some more. Six hours is not nearly enough. Six months was not enough for me…I was nearly 17 when I got my license. And I didn’t really get all the practice I needed until long after that. Always know the rules, follow the rules and be alert at all times, especially for people who are not following the rules. There are a lot of idiots out there, especially in the Twin Cities.
I’ve got a clean driving record, no accidents, and have never even been pulled over (and I have a bright red car, too.) (Knock on wood.) My friends in high school always teased me for being an extra-cautious driver, but being cautious has worked for me so far!
Good luck!
Congratulations, Adam!
On the advice of Click and Clack, I will outfit my daughters future car with razor sharp chunks of glass all pointing at her head. This will keep her focused and attentive to the task at hand, keeping the car on the road and right side up.
(the above is not true, but contains a kernel of … something)
Really thogh, there are ways of increasing your skill not on the road. While in my early 20s I was lucky enough to get involved in the Sports Car Club of America. I participated in autocrosses in nice, open parking lots with nothing to hit except traffic cones. At my first race I learned more than I had in the previous 6 or 8 years of reckless driving. The skills I learned while autocrossing have saved my ass many times over.
Your Drivers Ed. course is interested you obtaining the minimum skill needed to get to the store and back. The SCCA is interested in teaching people to control their cars.
I look foward to my daughter racing my MG in a few years.
So look up your local chapter of the SCCA and attend one of thier driving clinics for the weekend. It should cost less than a good dinner and you’ll thank yourself the next time you hit an oily patch and end up sideways and backwards.
And you won’t tear up your car
That is some wonderful advice. I have had my license revoked, only once though, for speeding. I am only 17, so I have had my license about a year and a half. There is no better advice than this, if you MUST speed, and you get a ticket, GO TO COURT! Sure, you can make it a pretty long time without getting caught, but it comes down on ya eventually.