Your driving license experience?

[dynamitedave]

So, after this thread about your first car, I'm wondering...

Age you got your car license and how hard was it?

What experience you got while learning and just after?

Cross posted from the other thread:

My first vehicle was given to me by my Poppa when I was 8, a Gnat, which was a 3 wheeled farm thing with a bench seat for 3. Then played with motorbikes and at about 12, when pretending to drive Poppas parked-up WW2 Dodge 3/4 ton army truck, Dad said if I could get it going I could drive it. So I learnt to drive LHD. I then progressed to tractors (MF135 and Fordson Super Major) and the Austin Gipsy.

I only drove on the road twice before my test and the second time was on the way to the test!

that's not quite all true. I got my bike license around 16 (Yamaha DT 125F)and my (full) car license a few months later. I could of got either at 15 but never got around to it. After getting my car license, I never really drove a car again until I got invited to a high school party. Dad told me to take the car (4.3l Hemi) instead of the bike as it was pissing down, along with a couple of proper sized bottles of beer (750ml). I ended up towing a couple of others out of the mud and jump starting someone else. Got home at 4am. My classmates stopped me from drinking too much. (Better than little brother years later in Dad's Skyline. He hit a duck after a similar party and return home. Dad got up to find a broken headlight and the car covered with blood. Dad was panicking until he noticed feathers everywhere)

Actual test in those days wasn't too bad. 25 multi choice, 3 oral and a drive. The oral was a killer; if the cop didn't like you, he could ask something really devious. On my bike drive, I lost the cop on the u-turn and was back a the station waiting as he barreled in .

As I had my bike license, for the car it was just the 3 oral and a drive. Only problem was the one horse town only had one Give-way sign and one corner. So it wasn't too hard, though he bitched I should of stopped at the sign Passed though.

Then I did very little road driving until I got my own car at 17.5 and moved to the biggest city in this country. Never seen a traffic light as a driver before then!

[Lo-Slung Denim]

I started learning when I was 17. I failed the theory test twice, because I couldn't be bothered to revise, then I went to university and didn't need to drive so ignored the problem.

I was 19 when I took the theory for a third time and passed, then I took the practical that summer and made a total silly bollocks of it. Had a mock test right beforehand and scored 5 minor faults. Got wayyyy nervous on the actual test and got 17 minors and 3 majors.

The following spring, I booked in for another one, but the examiner was sick so it was cancelled.

The next one got booked but my instructor was double booked so I didn't take it.

By the May of 2002, I had just turned 20 and I had known how to drive for three years but just had to prove that I could, without getting nervous. I booked another test for the 28th May, and was so convinced after all the cock-ups that it wouldn't go ahead that I didn't get nervous. It helped that my examiner was great and not at all scary, and I passed with 7 minors(I think). I was absolutely overjoyed and I rang everyone I knew to tell them!

[Fromage A Trois]

I started learning shortly after my 17th birthday. Embarrassingly failed the theory test the first time with 29/35 (pass mark: 30). Passed it second time with full marks! The delay in arranging the second theory test meant that I had more driving experience before the practical - which probably helped me to pass it.

The test wasn't too hard, but I was nervous. I stalled twice doing the first manoeuver, and on the second stall thought "well, that's it then. I've clearly failed, may as well relax". So I drove much more smoothly and without worrying about the test, assuming I'd already failed, but in fact I had passed.

Then my parents were quite strict - I'd been out driving with them before I passed, so they let me go out in their car - with them, to keep me on the straight and narrow. Then they allowed me to drive the car on my own, as long as I didn't have any friends in the car distracting me. And then, finally, I was allowed to drive it on my own. I had a few scrapes in the first year (broken wing mirror, damaged wheel) which are part and parcel of being an inexperienced driver, but no serious accidents.

[takowasakun]

Although I could've started learning at 15, I didn't bother until shortly before my 17th birthday, mostly because I didn't really see much need for a car until I started thinking about getting an after-school job. I passed the written test perfectly, but came just shy of passing the practical test. A great deal of it was that I was completely unfamiliar with the vehicle. I fumbled a lot when I was asked to turn on the wipers because I didn't even realize they'd be in a different location. As a result of my stumbling, I failed to slow down in time and ended up entering a 25 MPH zone going 35. Did just fine on my second try, though.

[ASAKMOTSD]

Driver's training was provided in public schools in 10th grade. I went during the summer before 10th grade because marching band practice overlapped the driver's ed class (bonus!). We had a "driving range" (an area on school property with every possible traffic and turn pattern built on it) where we practiced for weeks before going out in real traffic. Tests (written and driving) passed, I got my learning permit which I used with parents in car until I was 16. I got my license somewhere around my 16th birthday (much to my mother's dismay) when I persuaded my father to take me to the secretary of state office as my mother was out of town. Had to take another written and road test at that time. Timing was not the greatest as I ended up doing my road test just as the auto factories released all of their employees onto the road. Still passed.

[Ramsey]

My mom started letting me drive her Chevy Celebrity around our country backroads for a while before I got my learner's permit. In Virginia (at least then, don't know about now) you could get a learner's permit at 15 years and 8 months. I took classroom driver's ed as the second half of my gym class in 10th grade, and then had several weeks of behind-the-wheel training provided by the gym coach with an extra brake pedal on the passenger's side of the car. It had a plastic sign on the roof warning everyone that I was a student driver (looked like a pizza delivery sign). When I went to the DMV to get my license, I had to take the written portion only of the test. At that time, and again, not sure how it is now, if you made an A in classroom and behind-the-wheel, you didn't have to take the practical part.
When my dad helped me buy my first car, I had no idea how to drive a manual. He took me to the parking lot of the elementary school on a Saturday and taught me. When I was ready to try it on a a real road that afternoon, the first thing I did was smash a bird flying across the road into a billion pieces.

[SoylentPopTart]

I could have started learning at 15 - 1/2 and I did take a drivers ed class in high school, which I passed. However, there was no way I could afford to insure myself and times were tough in the family. I got my real license on my 18th birthday. By the time I had gotten my license legally, I had spent the previous summer illegally driving a work pickup (with a trailer and 'three on the tree shifting'). So it was hilarious, I passed my written test and had my learners certificate and my Mom asked me if I needed to practice driving. I said sure. So we hopped in her Toyota, she was all worried I would have troubles because it was a manual transmission. Apparently this wasn't a problem because she suggested we drive to the MVA and take my test, which I passed with flying colors.

[3acres]

I got my learner's permit as soon as I was allowed by law, at 15 1/2. I took driver's ed at school, both the classroom stuff* and the car stuff. I got my grades up. (I was after the good student and drivers ed discounts on the insurance.) I passed the written test with 100%. I failed the driving test.

The tester said I'd scuffed the curb on a right turn and put it down as an accident and failed me. I had to wait 2 weeks to take the test again and lost 15 points (passing score, hurray!) for swinging wide on the right turns (improper lane usage). That tester asked why I'd done that and when told about my first test, remarked that that particular tester liked to fail guys their first time out.

*I was nuts for that stuff. The teacher gave us an assignment to draw a picture of the dashboard of the family car...I guess to make us actually look at it. Everybody else showed up with scribbles on a piece of notebook paper or a napkin. I came in with a perfectly rendered, half-scale picture of the dashboard, done up on posterboard, and painted. I debated showing the speedometer pegged at 125 mph, but ended up putting it at 0. It even had the current odometer reading on it. It looked almost real. The teacher loved it.

[Merestil Haye]

[old codger mode]

What is this theory test of which you speak?

[/old codger mode]

My test predates the theory test. The closest you got to a theory test was identifying road signs from a book your examiner carried.

In my learner days, I got good at hill starts. Living halfway up a steep hill tends to do that. My driving instructor would park facing upward 9 times out of 10. Sadist.

(That's not as bad as my late father's communication problem. Our instructor used to start the first lesson by asking the new pupil to read a car numberplate, to replicate the eyesight test. When he asked Dad to do so, Dad wasn't sure which car he was indicating, so he asked which one. Unfortunately his exact words were "Which numberplate?" The instructor thought he meant he couldn't make the numberplate out (at 75 feet) and refused to teach him because his eyesight was too bad to take the test.)

I took the test twice. The first time I failed for embarrassing reasons, the second - let's just say I had chemical help.

On my first test, my left leg had the shakes so badly I stalled six times, in three groups of two. The sad thing is, the last two were pulling away down a hill. So, before my second test my mother (who, for all her sterling qualities, believed she knew more about prescription medication than doctors did) slipped one of her steroids into my morning coffee. She didn't actually tell me until after I got home though. I thought it was strange that I could feel the leg wanting to shake, but not doing so.

My driving icence is so old it doesn't have a picture. I wonder what will happen when I move next (the licence itself is valid for another 18 years or so).

[Panacea]

Learner's permit at 14, license at 15.

I don't really remember anything about the test, or even what car I took it in... probably my parents' VW Van. Must have been pretty easy.

[Da Bull]

Learned to drive on the farm at 11. Learned to drive a manual at 13.

Got my learner's permit on my 15th birthday, my license on my 16th birthday.

Aced the written test. Passed the driving test, but the instructor, told me that I didn't look in my mirrors enough. Apparently, you have to completely move your head to look in each of your mirrors.

This coming from the guy that could barely fit in the vehicle and took four tries to get his seatbelt on...

[Borborygmi]

Our story (which isn't much of a story, frankly) is set in late 1980s Pennsylvania. Between money concerns, not really needing to drive, and being kind of a wuss, young Borborygmi got his driver's license on the late side... he was either 19 or 20. He remembers that the approaching need to have a license to prove he was 21 was a motivator...

I passed the "written" and driving portions on the first try.

I got a couple wrong on the written portion; I was annoyed with myself for that because I was cocky enough back then to think I could ace most any standardized test. It was still good enough to pass, apparently. I think one question that I got wrong dealt with when you were required to use headlights and drew a distinction between from dusk to dawn and from sunset to sunrise. The "written" portion was actually answering multiple-choice questions by pressing buttons on a large wood-paneled contraption, possibly designed by Dr. Seuss. When you got a question wrong it would make a lot of clunky noises as panels shifted around to reveal the right answer. Although I got a couple wrong, it was an easy test overall; I was surprised how much clunking there was from the nearby examinees and how many failed to make it to the driving portion that day.

The driving portion was a bit of a joke. There was a special course set up; you didn't have to drive in actual traffic. You just had to drive around a bit, use turn signals, stop at stop signs. You had to pull up to a curb as if parking, and you had to make a K-turn. That was about it. My tester was cool. At the beginning, his schtick was to go over a list of things that would cause you to fail: "If you do such-and-such, the test is over. If you do such-and-such, the test is over." He finished with, "If you run over anybody, the test is over" in the same serious tone he'd been using, then gave a slight grin. The only thing I sorta did wrong was that I stopped before making a particular left turn; no one was coming the other way, so there was no need.

The rumors were that, like with 3acres' place, there supposedly was one tester who liked to fail everyone testing the first time; either I didn't get him or he was a myth. The other chatter about the test that I remember among my cohorts was that you had to be sure to remember to use your turn signal at the end, when the tester has you pull into one of the angled parking places that marked the end of the test.

[Doyle]

Oh the good old days in Louisiana, circa: 1975. Learner's permit at 14, license at 15.

Legal to drink at 18, but I could buy it at 15. If the cops caught you with weed, they simply threw it out.

[The Futility of Nihilism]

I actually have two driving license experiences. Took the school sponsored driver's ed class when I was 15, didn't bother with the learner's permit, and took the test within days of turning 16. Thanks to drivers ed I aced the written and did almost as well on the driving portion. Got tripped up on stupid parallel parking, of course. I lived in a small town at the time, where the hell was I going to parallel park?

Now when I went to UT I didn't have a car or a need for one, so I let my driver's license lapse. Didn't see the need to pay for something I wasn't using and my student ID was all the ID I needed in Austin. What I didn't know at the time though was that by letting my license lapse I had to take the test all over again when I later got out of school and had to start driving again.

So, the second time around I was 23 using a friend's borrowed car. Again, I aced the written portion but I barely passed the driving portion. I guess I got rusty after not driving for a few years, and of course parallel parking still vexed me.

[Taur]

The written theory of my learner's permit was easy enough to pass on the first try at 14.

I went for my driver's license either on or as soon possible after my 16th birthday--I don't recall the exact day but I do know I was beyond excited for that day to finally arrive.

Again, I had no problem passing the written exam but there was a portion of the road test that gave me a fair bout of the jitters. My instructor told me which roads to take and where to turn, so we found ourselves at a stop sign well outside the city limits and I had instructions to turn left across the OMG IMPOSSIBLY BUSY* 2-lane divided highway. I wasn't particularly shaking off the mind-fucking little ticks he was making on a clip-boarded form while I was driving up to that point and oh, I should mention that a death, death, evil, evil bank of fog had settled over the area.

So outside of my instructor mentioning my significant hesitation at crossing the highway, I passed well clear of the mark. I didn't squeak by, but neither did I ace it. I did ace the parallel parking, the 3-point turn, and driving in reverse portions but I caught some serious flak for failing to shoulder check on a lane change.
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*No, it wasn't really. Just me freaking out, here.

[mlerose]

I got my learner's permit at 15 1/2 and did driver's training in school. After that, I got too busy to actually go and get my license (had an appointment at one point, but was sick that day and never rescheduled). I lived in a very small town, and my bike or my feet got me everywhere I needed to go.

Then, I went to college in a very urban area and again, had no need for a license or car.

I didn't get my license until I was 25 and needed it for my job, which I still have. The Superhero took me out in his car a few times so I could relearn how to drive, and I went in, took the written test, took the practical test, and came out with my license.

[Rock]

I took Driver's Training at high school when I was 15, first on a course in the school parking lot, then out onto the streets and highways around Milwaukee (in morning rush hour traffic). Not long after my 16th birthday I took my first test for my license and failed, for going 27 mph in a 25 zone. Retook it as soon as I was able and passed. Got a part-time job soon after that.

[hilarity n. suze]

I got my driver's license when I was 16.

I flunked the test the first time. The vision part. So I went home and got my contact lenses (hard plastic, really old-style) which I had been wearing part-time for four years without actually getting used to them or learning the right way to put them in and take them out. With my contact lenses on I PASSED, so I immediately got used to them and have been wearing them ever since.

I still flunked the night vision part, though. I pointed out that something was wrong with the machine. The examiner laughed in a nasty sort of way and said, "You flunk." I said, "No, you don't understand, something is WRONG with the MACHINE." She said, "No, YOU don't understand. YOU FLUNKED."

Oh...okay.

Thirty years later (approximately) I got a new and improved version of the same prescription I'd been using for years. Suddenly, at night, it was as if lights appeared where no lights had been before. It took that long for me to really get how bad my night vision was.

Now I have cataracts, so the lights are gone, again. The driver's license exclusion is gone too, though. So don't get in front of me after sunset.

[Mako]

When I moved to the UK I was living in London, so never needed to bother. When I moved out to West Bumpkinville at 25, I decided it was time to get a UK license.

Theory passed first time, but failed the practical the first time, mainly because of bad habits I'd got into in the States over the years.

I didn't do a "shoulder-check" when I pulled away after the emergency stop, which was a minor infraction. Bear in mind that the examiner doesn't tell you this, just marks it down.

Then he made me stop and start a few times, and again I completely forgot to do the check. Those minors (as well as thinking I was in a 40MPH zone when it was a 60; "Failing to make adequate prgress") added up to a big fat fail.

Passed the second time a couple of weeks later, with the same examiner. He didn't recognise me, the senile old coot.

[Carolia]

I got my learner's permit at 15 and my license at 16 (although not immediately upon turning 16). The only particular thing I remember from my license test is that my mother, who is a serious, practical woman, but was not too into her baby girl having a license, making faces at me during my written test. I passed anyway, albeit through fits of laughter.

[Zeener Diode]

I took my driving test when I was 18, passed with only one bad mark (failing to achieve the maximum speed limit--- I was driving 15 mph in a 25 zone). Prior to that, I got my Learner's Permit when I turned 15 and drove every time I was in the car (with or without an adult). When I was 12 my dad acquired both a VW bus and squareback, and when my brother and me got home from school and before either parent came home from work we'd take one or the other out for a spin. As far back as I could remember, when I was tall enough to sit up in the seat of the car, dad would allow us to steer while we drove on the long stretch of beach sand at Long Beach (WA). By the time I was 8 I was driving the family around the capes and beaches, with dad sitting beside me.

[Who_me?]

Took Driver's Education in high school, got my license as soon as I turned 16. Passed on the first try... even though my father had just gotten a stick shift that I had to take the test in.

[Pansy]

I got my permit at 15 1/2 because I took Drivers Ed in school (I would have had to wait until 15 and 9 months without it, and that just wasn't acceptable!), and my license 2 weeks after my 16th birthday.

I aced the theory, flunked the first practical, waited the required two weeks and aced the second practical.

Drivers Ed had simulators, as well as a "driving range" but no on street experience. Daddy taught me to drive, in his MGB.

I took the first practical test in my mothers (automatic) brown car, and slammed on the emergency brake while trying to shift, out of sheer habit. Slamming the examiners head into the windshield is bad, apparently. Bitch should have been wearing her seatbelt.

The very large examiner was not at all happy about having to squeeze into the tiny MG for my second test, but he didn't count that against me.

[OutStandingInTheField]

I don't remember any drama from getting my DL the first time around, I just took a theory test to get my learner's permit, then practised in my parents' car for a while, took a lesson or two to get useful tips from the instructor about what the testers looked for and a pass around the actual course the testers used, then took the test. Done and done.

When I moved countries, though, I was warned that the local testers liked to fail foreigners the first time around just to show them who is boss. The woman I got made me drive around for ages while she marked off stuff on her little clipboard, then we went back to her office to discuss my inadequacies. I suspect that the test was so long because she needed to find enough stuff to fail me on, but my driving was apparently not as bad as she hoped, as most of her allegations were falsehoods to do with failing to stop at stop signs (I mean, really, I was on a driving test, I did not fail to stop!). The big no-no, though, was speeding in a school zone: instant fail. In smug tones she informed me that my driving may have been good enough back home, but it was "Not Up To Our Standards".

I allowed to wallow in her assumed triumph for a few seconds, then burst her little bubble by pointing out that there was no school that day, so the speed restriction did not apply. She frantically rechecked her list, but without that one there was not enough left to fail me on, so she had to give me my license! [Nelson Muntz]Ha ha![/Nelson Muntz]

[tunaman]

I'm still bitter about the whole thing.

I got my learner's permit at 15 and gleefully went to the State Patrol office on my 16th birthday to get my "real" license (the State Patrol used to handle driving tests in GA).

Unbeknownst to me, my mother had pulled the parking brake on her car. AFAIK, she'd never pulled it before or since. And her car was a 1984-ish Mercedes, where the parking brake was on the dash, just above your left knee. It was a large square thing you pulled out. It was normally flush with the dash, but when engaged it only extended out about an 1/8" inch, so it was hard to tell it was on, and there wasn't a light on the dash or anything to tell you it was on.

So I took the test with the parking brake on. The car felt weird of course, but the first part of the test involved driving through cones in the parking lot, so it wasn't like I was going over 5 mph to begin with. I failed parallel parking, thanks to my mother.

I've always thought it was some kind of conspiracy to keep me from getting a license... Mom gave me an unconvincing "oh, I meant to tell you that I put the parking brake on!" after I failed. But this was the same woman who handed me the keys to her car and said "drive home" after getting my learner's permit (I had never driven on a public street before). So who knows.

I went back a week later and got it.

[Zombies!]

I haven't got my full driver's licence yet.

At 16 (the driving age here in SA) we had 1 car, which was my mum's. I was working a part-time job, going to school full time and using most of my money to pay for things I needed - like the rent mum insisted on charging me. So I didn't have the money to buy a car nor the time to practice driving.

In the year I turned 17 I moved to Sydney. You can't afford a car in Sydney unless you have a decent job. I didn't. I spent 2 and a bit years going from temp job to temp job, never able to get enough money up to get my licence.

Then I moved back to Adelaide. Spent about 6 months living with mum, moved out to my own place with Arac. Still had no access to a car for driving practice.

We have a proof of age card over here, so I didn't need it for my drinkin' purposes. I think I was about 21 when I finally sat down to do the theory test. Passed it first time. So now I have my Learner's permit. But I still dont' have regular access to a car, and driving lessons are at least $50 a pop. Money that I don't have given I'm the sole income earner.

I'll get there one day.

[Solfy]

I took the permit test a month or so after I turned 16 and passed. That got me an application to fill out and send to the state and wait for them to mail me my permit. I had to have a physical for that. The doctor's office was booked for three months.
I got the physical. Then I had to have a notarized parental signature. I sent in the application and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And finally got a call from the DMV office 15 miles away that the doctor's office didn't put their address on the form so rather than mail it back to me, the state sent the form back to the DMV. We had to drive there, pick up the form, take it to the doctor's office and have them put their address on it, have it renotarized, and send it back to the state.
I turned 16 in May. I got my learner's permit in December.
The week after Christmas, over break, I did my driving with the school's driving instructor. I'd been behind the wheel all of twice in my life. The 2nd day out he had me take the test so that if I failed I'd have a chance to take it again. I passed and got my license after a grand total of maybe 4hrs at the wheel. That's just not right. (they've changed that law since to require 60 (?) hrs practice driving)

The week after I got my license we had a significant snowfall. I learned to drive in snow early - there was no stopping me with my newly minted license!

[Victor Frankenstein]

I never took drivers education. I learned to drive just from being around cars and always saying "hey, let me drive!"

I had a learners permit when I was 15-16 years old. I didn't end up getting a proper license until I was around 20-21 - but that didn't stop me from driving.

I bought a motorcycle when I was around 19-20 and drove that all over town. When I finally got my license I never bothered with the motorcycle endorsement.

I've had to take two drivers tests in my life. My first one and then a renewal in another state years later.

My first test was pretty good. I missed a couple on the written (but passed with flying colours) and got dinged on my drivers test for not doing enough shoulder checks (but still passed). My second test I think I missed one on the written (something about horses or farm equipment on the road) and got a 100% on my driving test.

I've never received a speeding ticket nor caused a car crash.
I did however receive a ticket for not wearing a seat belt and one for expired tabs.

[Defenestrator]

Got my license at 18 the summer before college. (Never could find a summer job in high school, so I just didn't need it yet.) My state had just instituted an intermediate license where you could only be driving at certain hours and a requirement for 60 hours of practice signed off by an instructor or a parent. But the intermediate license was for 16-18, so I immediately got the full license. Ha! I failed the first test; the lady was kind of a bitch and picked out every little thing to score me down on. Went back the next week after practicing parallel parking a bit more, and the second lady was so nice, and I had no problems passing even though I think I still failed the parallel parking part. Never had an accident or even been pulled over since, but I'm only 23.

[SmartAleq]

Me and vehicle operation go WAY back--I have always been a driving fool. First vehicle was a boat which I learned to operate at around six or so, then qualified to take it out solo at seven by swimming a measured half mile without stopping and with no floation assistance. Drove the boat a LOT--one memorable trip was navigating from San Francisco through the bay, up the Petaluma River and docking it myself as my dad was in the back with the engine cover up troubleshooting a noise the engine was making. There are whales in San Francisco Bay, did you know that? Scary but fucking cool.

After I mastered the boat thing I learned about go karts mostly by experimentation--first time I drove one I flipped it and got some nasty road rash. Mini bikes, dirt bikes, any crazy contraption designed to kill kids I'd be all over. I first drove a real car at about twelve or so, in a parking lot. That was so much fun that I started "borrowing" the family cars and joyriding around all night whenever I had the chance, learning valuable lessons about checking the gas gauges when I ran it out about a half mile from the house and my friends and I had to push the monstrous thing back home. We blamed it on gas siphoners, which were common during the first fuel crisis back in the '70s. I first drove a stick shift at about fifteen or so, a Dodge Charger that I ended up four wheel drifting due to nobody explaining to me why putting in the clutch is pretty much necessary if you wanna slow down for a sharp turn. WHEEEEE!!! Didn't hurt anything... Went out with a 22 year old guy who got too drunk too drive and turned his hot rod muscle car over to me to drive home--at fourteen and I was pretty drunk too. I kept on driving all through high school but couldn't take driver ed because you had to be a certain age to take it, and since I skipped a grade I was too young, then couldn't take driver training because I was in the wrong grade. So after I moved out and got married I just drove without a license until I turned 18--day after my birthday I went to the DMV, took the written and passed it then scored a 90% on my driving test and haven't looked back since. I'd rather lose a foot than my driver's license, seriously.

[73 LeBaron]

Drove all over in various stuff starting at about 10 (maybe eight for tractors). Went to the Community Center (where a State Trooper gave the tests two Thursdays a month) and took and passed my written test and driving test in Mamma's Fairlane, and got my "learner's permit." Six months later, with no test as I recall, I filed for and got my "operator permit" the week of my 15th birthday. It was a long time ago, in Mississippi. Held a Mississippi license until 2007, when I moved and swapped the Mississippi license for a Virginia one. Still using it.

[Muskrat Love]

I got mine when I was 17, almost 18. The written test had about 15-20 multiple choice questions, and most questions had ridiculous joke answers for at least one of the options, I aced that part. I was really paranoid about the driving portion as I was not too good at parallel parking (probably a lot better than I am now, though) and I was told that if you bumped the curb during any portion of the test, you would fail automatically. I did bump the curb, and I was surprised at the end when the old man who gave me the test told me I passed.

[THespos]

I got my learner's permit at 16. My Dad used to take me out to practice driving. He used to give me tips, but only when he saw me screwing things up. So his approach was to get into the passenger seat, unfold a newspaper and chime in from time to time as I approach death.

"You can't pop the clutch like that, unless you want to fishtail out of the garage!"

On one of our learning expeditions, I stopped at an intersection a bit too late and narrowly avoided getting T-boned by a FedEx truck. He put his newspaper down:

"What was your excuse for that? Don't do that again..."

I failed my first driving test. I know that when kids fail a driving test they all call bullshit, but I truly believe my first failure was BS. My instructor gave me great marks for everything, but got on my case when I didn't turn my whole head when looking before pulling away from a curb. I did look to make sure the coast was clear, but I didn't exaggerate my head movements to make it apparent that I was looking. (My driver's ed teacher did tell me to exaggerate, but I didn't do it because I didn't think I needed to.) I passed the second time with flying colors.

Almost immediately after passing my test, I smacked my 1971 Super Beetle into a parked car in a deli parking lot. The windshield was all pitted and I couldn't see the car in front of me as I was angled right into the sun. No excuse, I know, but I was paying attention. This taught me a valuable lesson about auto maintenance - when something impairs your ability to see, even if it's just a little bit, fix it or replace it without delay. It's why I'm so anal about keeping my windshield and mirrors clean, and why I have one of those "old people" parabolic rear-view mirrors. Visibility is key.

[Clothahump]

16 here. Got the permit so that I could take a behind-the-wheel driver ed course. Passed it, then took the driver's test. Written was simple. Driving was okay, considering I had never driven the car I used before (it was my mother's and it was a land yacht compared to the smaller car I had practiced in).

[Veb]

Got my learner's permit at 16 when they offered Drivers Ed at school. Which was a waste. The fat failure football coach 'taught' it, which mostly consisted of either ridiculing or screaming abuse at us. Great way to get info across to nervous new drivers.

My dad stepped in and taught me the way he had learned, namely tooling around the local cemetery. As he so aptly noted, it wasn't like the residents would complain. So there was this hilly, twisty-laned small cemetery with me earnestly stalling out a VW bus and overshooting corners.

After that the actual test was a breeze. I had to take it in a nearby small town because the closest DMV was being remodeled. There was a National Guard place right next door, which unfortunately were having maneuvers or whatever the day I took the test. So there I was, nervous as hell anyway, carefully doing my best 3-point parallel parking routine while all these guys stood around hooting encouragment, mockery or come-ons. Nothing like a big audience to settle your nerves. "She's gonna hit something!" "Hey baby, come bump into this!"

Fortunately I nailed everything on the first try. And the cop-examiner was really nice. He could tell the shouted comments from the peanut gallery shook me so he just chatted with me for a while before starting the parking test.

When I left--with my license--I flipped off all the loudmouths.

[Capybara]

Learned to drive in high school but never had a vehicle in the family legal enough to take the test in (stepdad was a macho hotrodder who saw things like shoulder belts as a sign of weakness). Went to college, moved to cities, got increasingly groovy left wing enviro freaky bicyclist, and then managed to get to 37 with a PhD before bothering to get a license. Hate driving, do it as little as possible. Barely passed the written due to obscure Idaho (at that moment) laws dealing with farmland and tractors and such.

[drewbert]

Hm, I've got Capybara beat, at least for a few more months.

The somewhat long, whiny story:

High school driver's ed was a joke. We had the 'driving range' thing too, which was all well and good, we got to drive around in circles in a very controlled environment. (I got a Chevy Beretta, which was nearly impossible to see out the back of.) What neither the driving range nor the instructor prepared us for included: Cabarrus County NC's, narrowest, most winding roads, its most hidden stop signs, and its most intimidating man, who just happened to be employed as a driving tester.

Let's just say that near the end of a very tense driving test, I may have missed the entrance to the DMV. In an attempt to correct my error, I may have panicked and attempted to turn into oncoming traffic. Fortunately there were no collisions, but the tongue-lashing I got turned me off of the entire idea of driving on into college and well beyond. Since then I've lived in places with public transit, and am pretty happy. I've got a nice and elaborate system of rationalizations for not having a car, but it boils down to being a 'nervous driver' who really doesn't belong on the road.

In 2008 because of gas prices and budget cuts, the bus I usually took directly to work got cut. As it turns out there's another bus route that I can now take with just a little more walking, but for a while I thought I really would have to get a car. I took several weeks of lessons from a professional driving school. I wasn't getting any better, and it wasn't long before $60/week in lessons was sounding a lot like potential cab fare going down the drain.

I guess I should feel silly that one bad day in the late 80's should affect me so directly today, but you know what? Screw it. I hate driving too, and there are so many other things I'd rather spend (or save) my money and my time on.

_{(And... the bus that got cut? It's coming back in March! Woo!)}

[Captain Daddy]

TLDR version: Drove a car at 15, learners licence at 18, crashed a car at 18, full licence at 21.

I learned to drive in New Zealand where the rules are no doubt different.

It took me a little while to get a full driver licence. Intellectually I knew how to drive a car and I think I'd had a go with someone's and by the age of 15 I was confident enough that I "stole" my Mother's Hillman Avenger one night while she was away. I took it out onto the highway then off on to some side roads and eventually on to some dirt roads that would've made for good rally driving. When I got home and went to apply the park brake I discovered that the poor performance from the car and that weird burning smell was because the park brake had been on the whole time. "I'd better do it again, properly." I thought to myself and headed out along the same route, this time with the brake off.

When I was 18 I don't think I'd done anymore driving but I'd started learning to fly and at about the same time I realised I might need to drive myself to the airport so I got a learners licence. I also stole my Mum's car again but this time I took a friend and while driving on the same dirt road I lost control and crashed it. Wrote it off. My clearest memory is of pointing at a rock face, travelling at reasonable speed, and my friend saying "shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshit!" We were both ok. While walking home we saw a cat cross the road and decided we'd tell my Mum we'd swerved to avoid a cat and then lost control. Mum was disappointed that we'd crashed her car, though she was pleased we'd tried to save a helpless animal, even though swerving to avoid animals is a bad thing to do. She did tell me that she'd intended to give me that car shortly (d'oh!)

I realised how lame the swerved-to-avoid-a-cat story was when I told my flying instructor what had happened and he laughed and told me about the time he'd "swerved to avoid a dog". He knew it was bullshit as soon as he heard it. My mother believed we'd swerved to miss a cat until I finally told her the truth many years later.

So I just had a learners licence for a while, then the next stage is a provisional licence which allows you to drive where you like but with certain restrictions such as no passengers unless they are qualified drivers acting as an instructor and I think there may have been a curfew. I had to do a practical driving test to get the provisional licence and, as I had crashed my Mum's car, I ended up using my flying instructor's mother's car. I think it was a little Toyota Starlet or something. Anyway, he drove me to the testing centre and the first time I drove it was for the test. I did fine apart from climbing the curb while reversing around a corner. Three-point turns, hillstarts, etc were all fine.

To get a full licence after that was just a matter of spending a certain amount of time with a provisional licence and putting an application in for a full licence. This I did not bother to do for quite some time.

Meanwhile I had continued with my flying training and finally, at the age of 21, I finished my commercial licence and within a couple of days got a job flying a biplane doing aerobatic joyrides. The job included driving the passengers to the airport and back to their hotel in a company van; a task I wasn't licensed to do. I was still on a provisional licence and that did not entitle me to carry passengers. My employers never asked if I had a full driver licence, they just assumed I had one, and I never told them otherwise. So for about eight months I illegally drove my passengers to the airport then quite legally took them flying in a high performance aerobatic biplane before illegally taking them back into town. I was very nearly caught out when I was pulled over for speeding in the company van with passengers on board. The cop asked for my licence and I told him I'd left it at home (which I had.) He sighed and told me to slow down that was close.

I eventually got around to filling out the paperwork and getting a full driver licence. I was still 21 I think.

I'm much more responsible now days .

[iampunha]

I think I was 19.

My parents were getting tired of driving me places.

I'd had driver's ed in high school, but I didn't have the paperwork.

I'd had a driving instructor, but without the driver's ed paperwork, no go.

So one day, my mother and I just up and went to the DMV.

Failed because I didn't properly yield at one of those places where you can turn if there are no people standing in the way walking slowly across approximately 15 feet of street.

So the next time we went, probably a week later, I got a different guy. Same course.

This time, I stopped a good two, three feet before that zone, then went on with the rest of the thing.

For a while there, I was driving a lot. But since the wife and I moved and sold her car (didn't need it, didn't bring it with us and we'd have had to pay insurance on it in a state 1,700 miles away), I drive only when she's drunk or we're going far away.

[Katriona]

I was 14. I aced the written test, but failed the driving test. With an instructor who had a reputation of never flunking girls. He made me cry and everything.

My mom practiced with me. I started out with my dad, but I damn near wound up with an ulcer.

I retook it in the summer with a different teacher and passed. Even after nearly nailing a cop car during parallel parking.