I took driver’s ed in Iowa, and although I’m not quite sure whether some of the specifics were just city/county- or statewide, here’s how it went down.
At 14, if you pass a written test, you can get a learner’s permit. And it’s not just a piece of paper–it looks exactly like a regular license, with the added restriction of requiring a licensed driver (for 2 years or more, IIRC) to be with you at all times.
If you pass the final driving test in driver’s ed, as soon as the semester’s over, or on your birthday (whichever is later) you and your proof of passing driver’s ed can go to the DMV and take an eye exam and get your license. No written test, no driver’s test (because those were covered in driver’s ed).
To screen whether or not driver’s ed is doing a good job, they will choose 3 days of the month (ex–5, 15, and 25). If your birthday falls on one of those days, you have to take the driving test. The days rotate every three months (to, let’s say, the 6, 16 and 26). So if you really don’t want to take the driver’s test, you can wait 3 months.
Sadly, I did not get to benefit from this choice system. I moved to a different state the day after school got out (which was about a week after my 16th birthday). My parents felt I needed to practice driving in “the big city” (we moved from a town of about 20,000 to about 200,000). That, plus the stressful times my dad and I always had while driving together, meant I didn’t get my license until I was almost 17, which was quite embarassing. I only missed 3 points, it was on parallel parking!
I passed the first time, too. Last Saturday I had my driver’s test, and I got an instructor who was bitching about traffic and stop signs all the way. When she wasn’t bitching, she was having conversations with my driving instructor, who was sitting in the back of the car. The whole thing was over and done with in less than thirty minutes, and now I’m the proud owner of a driver’s license :).
[sub]I’m not that much of a danger on the road, honestly.[/sub]
On Friday morning, I went to take my driving test in Pennsylvania. I was really jittery. I nailed the parallel parking, and pulled out into the parking lot. I stopped at every stop sign and went to pull out onto the main road. Apparently, I cut someone off, which I didn’t because they were pretty far back. Anyway I get to the light and its a green arrow for a right turn. I don’t know why, but I would not turn. Everyone was bleeping the horn at me but I just froze , because I remember my instructor telling me that I couldn’t turn unless the light was green. I didn’t know he meant arrow.
So anyway he failed me. The worst part is I can’t take the test again for another six weeks!!
I took my first test at 26, after having driven regularly <and mostly without incident> for 8 years already. Just never wanted to pay for insurance, which is required with most licenses it seems, since I didn’t own a CAR.
Anyway, I didn’t fail, but the guy really wanted to know why I wasn’t dramatically swinging my head and body left to right when checking intersections. I asked if he’d really never heard of moving your eyes without moving your head. He seemed confused.
Also, I would have failed my last eye exam if I hadn’t cheated. My left eye had just gotten ridiculous, and my lenses weren’t updated to correct them. So it was useless. So when I covered my right eye for the exam, I just peeked through my fingers.
The only time I failed was when I was getting a new license in Texas while on a trip there from Thailand. This was 1998, and my Hawaiian license had long expired, so I had to take the whole thing – written and driving. I failed the driving test because I pulled about hallfway into a crosswalk when stopping at a stop sign. Took it again a two or three days later and passed.
I passed the first time I tried - I also had a few hours of lessons with a professional instructor before that, and he did a very good job of teaching me how to driver properly. I think it should be mandatory to have a set number of hours of lessons with a professional instructor before even being allowed to challenge the road test.
Failed drive test #1 for backing into a lamp post in the DMV parking lot at the start of the test (driving a 70s-era Mercury of the “land barge” class, and was not yet fully aware that my depth perception isn’t exactly the greatest).
Passed drive test #2 with the minimum passing score. I had my mirrors adjusted so I could check them by moving my eyes, she didn’t think I was checking them because I wasn’t moving my head.
I passed mine, but my kids failed their first times, and for the life of me I can’t remember why. But my coworker’s husband? He failed because he totalled the car during the test. If I remember correctly he hit a dumpster. His mother was sitting in the BMV waiting and reading, and heard the crash from outside. Her first thought was, “Oh great, Rickie’s crashed the car” and she was right. Automatic fail.
Spain: took the theory part twice. It’s famous for having phrasings that have been devised by a sadistic linguist; the first third must be scored perfectly, you can have up to two fails in the rest. I had a fail in that first third, the first time.
Practical, passed on the first try.
Florida: theory on the first try. Practical, the examiner found it unacceptable to be told that I was ok with taking the test in either language (English or Spanish) - reasons given to fail me were that “he hadn’t noticed the point where the car came to a stop” at the stop sign (“uhm, but you could tell it was stopped, couldn’t you?”) and that I didn’t know what a 3-point turn was (they’re illegal in Spain and I hadn’t seen anybody perform one in the 3 years I’d lived in Florida). Turned out none of the people I knew who routinely drove there knew what a 3-point turn was, either, and the web was still brand spanking new, I couldn’t just look it up… Hired a teacher telling him “I already know how to drive, I need you to teach me how to pass the exam and what a 3-point turn is”. He verified that I could indeed drive, gave me a few pointers, we went over “things which are different Over There and Over Here”. Passed the second time.
Pennsylvania: despite having a valid US license (the one from Florida) and due to being a foreigner and not from France or Germany, I would have been required to take 40h of driving lessons. I’d taken 27 in Spain, you guys tell me what the heck was I supposed to spend 40 learning Since I didn’t intend to buy a car and I could rent one with my Spanish license, I skipped the local one.
Vision test got me as well. Went to take the written test and didn’t even make it inside the exam room. To be fair, I was wearing my glasses. My eyes had changed so badly in the eight months since my eye exam that my glasses were next to useless. Had no clue since I was used to not being able to see.
Don’t blame them actually. My first solo trip was two hours after passing my test, and I was going eight blocks down the road to meet my best friend at Dairy Queen to celebrate.
I hit her car in the parking lot. :smack: It turned out to only be a scratch, but it also turned out to be the joke of the day around school the next day.
I was a nervous driver, overly cautious but prone to making serious errors when I was under pressure. I made a left turn from the straight lane at a stoplight. Automatic fail. I took it again three months later and passed with very high marks.
I’ve gotten a lot better with experience, but I must note that a couple of months ago I tried to make a left turn from the middle lane of a one-way street because I was lost, freaking out, and forgot I was on a one-way street.
My problem isn’t recklessness, it’s hyper-vigilance.
I passed my driving test on the first try when I was 16. I had been sneaking joyrides around the neighborhood since I was 12.
When I got my commercial license I did really well until we got to the parallel park. I had never parallel parked a rig before so I thought really hard about how to swing the tractor and I got out of the cab about 6 times to walk around and check my corners. In the end my drivers side wheels were all on the line and I’d already used my two free pull ups and I figured I had failed the thing for having a mirror hanging over. I looked at the instructor and he was looking away nonchalantly and making a hand gesture. After a few seconds I got what he was saying and folded the mirror in and passed.
The only one I’ve ever failed was my first…I was so nervous I drove too slowly and ended up being chastised by the test person because I was holding up a funeral convoy…the hearse behind me was flashing its headlights at me! True story, Sacramento Ca 1965-66.
I passed the first time. But, it was in a very small town. Only 9,000 people and it was the county seat.
The thought of taking that drivers test in big city traffic is daunting. It took a couple years for me to get comfortable in traffic and on freeways. I wouldn’t have passed a big city driving test at 16.
I passed first time. Got minor deductions for taking a right turn too wide and a left turn too fast and for braking too quickly, but was still a ways off from failing. Was perfect on the maneuverability test. Passed all written exams first time too, including the one I had to take when I moved back to Ohio from New York after a decade, and the one I took in Germany to get my USAREUR license, which many people failed first time. Though, I was disheartened to hear the lady next to me while waiting for my license (who was waiting to go in to take her written exam), “I hope I pass this time…this is my fifth try.”
If you can’t pass the written exam after five tries, you shouldn’t be allowed to ever operate a motor vehicle, IMO.
Since I didn’t intend to buy a car and I could rent one with my Spanish license, I skipped the local one.