Riding shotgunFollow

D:

The rest of us are doomed!

Don't yell at her if she does something wrong. My father learned that was not the best thing to do real quick.

Bye Brownduck, we'll miss you greatly.

Nah I traded in the Kia Sportage a few years ago. Driving a cobalt now, but for the purposes of driver training, I may as well be driving the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

My mom found out the hard way as well. Probably the only time I've scolded my mother without her scolding me back. Damn near went off the road when she started yelling.

Grats, Ducky. Did you get the kid a car to go with the license, or do you plan on never using your own again?

Your mom sounds @#%^ing awesome! I would've loved to have been your friend and be around your mom. Endless lulz.

did she fry it in butter first, and was your friend in a car?

I paid for driving insturctions so I wouldn't have to learn from my parents. Did some practice with them though. Went ok, except for the couple of stop signs i drove through. That had my mother gasping a bit.

My mom took me to the cemetery to practice driving, but I took the AAA driving lessons, since completing the course gave me an insurance break and a free year of AAA coverage.

Edited, Feb 8th 2012 6:36pm by Spoonless

This was back in the 1700's? I didn't realize they had cars back then.

Edited, Feb 8th 2012 10:59pm by Xsarus

Down here, parents can teach you, but you still have to take a written and driving test before you get your license, and most people just opt for the driving schools in the area. The schools handle the necessary paperwork, we drive a test car around (an old clunker they've pretty much resigned to a wreck), and our parents get the peace of mind of not having to scream at us "No, the OTHER pedal!" when we end up careening off the side of the road. Which would have likely happened if my parents taught me.

Plus, in the instructor cars, they installed extra breaks in the passenger seat, "just in case."

It's good to see that your going to start to loose lots of hair teaching driving to a teen.

I took Drivers Ed. when it was still offered through my High School. If I'm not mistaken it was in fact the LAST year it was offered through school due to cost/liability issues. That being said, our cars weren't brand new, but they certainly weren't clunkers either. They were single digit aged Buicks.

I didn't take driver's ed in school, but my friends did. The teacher was an old coach, and it was taught over the summer. My friend told me that he used to either have them drop him off at his girlfriend's house and drive around for an hour then come back, or drop him off at Sam Hill's (a bar and grill in town) and drive around for an hour then come back.

Interesting that you say that. After successfully drilling into her head the importance of being GENTLE on the break / gas pedals, it now takes her 10+ feet to stop... in a parking lot. Yeah, we've overrun quite a few spots and damn near added a new entrance to a few buildings. I'm trying to teach her that it's OK to break faster when you're only traveling 5mph, but last night's efforts weren't so successful.

Also, WTF with wanting to keep looking at the steering wheel as if it is some critical source of visual feedback. EYES ON THE ROAD DAMN IT.

She's likely watching the dashboard, not the steering wheel. I know I did for the longest time after getting my license, until I learned to listen for the engine sound for gear shifting and only glimpse at the speedometer occasionally.

It's also crazy that you can take your license at 16 in the US. I'd be nervous getting in a car with a 16-year-old driver regardless of their training. The kids are high on hormones most of the day and you're throwing cars at them like it's nothing.

Edited, Feb 10th 2012 3:08pm by Mazra

We throw beer at them instead, much better.

That's why you drink then drive.

But then I'd have to stop drinking...

Yeah. I'm not sure how the laws have changed over time (cause it's not like I'm aging backwards or anything ), but in California the earliest you can get a license is 16. However, it's a provisional license and can only be acquired if you complete a drivers ed and drivers training course (and pass the normal written and driving tests of course). You may begin that process at 15.5 years of age, getting a learners permit (which allows driving only under very very limited conditions).

Even with the provisional license, you have restrictions. You can only drive to/from work/school. Can't drive after curfew (10 I think?). Must have an adult licensed driver with you at all times. Once you turn 18 though, all you need to get a full license is to pass the tests. Done.


In my case, since we didn't have money for the drivers training course, and didn't have extra cars sitting around (my choices were a pinto and a big honking truck with a shell on it), I just waited until I was 18 to get my license. I'd been practicing the whole time though, so theoretically my license was easy to get. Didn't turn out that way though since the aforementioned pinto had some electrical issues that decided to appear right before the damn test (literally as we pulled up to the testing place). Turn signals stopped working and the car started sputtering and stalling. Did I mention it was a stick? Hand signals while shifting and trying to keep said car from stalling didn't work out so well.


Passed no problem on second attempt though.

If 16 is scary to you guys, bear in mind that in some rural-type states if a kid is doing farm/ranch related work he/she can drive the equipment on or off the farm with no license at all at any age.

In Illinois you can get a license at 16, though it's not a full license, you can only have one other person in the car with you that isn't family, and no driving after curfew, and all that jazz, the real annoyance is getting the damn thing in the first place.

Mandatory:
1) Take Driver's Ed
2) Pass Driver's Ed and Pass the written test to get your Learner's Permit
3) After you get your Learner's Permit, accumulate x hours of time behind the wheel with an adult in the car with you to sign off on it, of which 20% must be done at night (it was 50 with 10 night included when I did it, but my little sister in the year after me had to do 100/20)
4) Pass the written test again
5) Pass the actual driving test
6) Get your license

Combine all that work with the fact that the gas pedal my mom's minivan was sticky (she never noticed, but me, my little sister, and my dad all did), and the fact that I had no reason to want/need to drive in the first place, and you get me being 20 and still not having my license. I'm told that getting your license after you turn 18 is a lot easier, but I haven't bothered to look into it.

There are more populated regions of Illinois?

Eh? The kids only get the car if the parents provide it and allow them to drive it, regardless of the insurance.

I wish. I live in central IL, smack dab the middle of the heartland.



If the rest of us had our way, Chicago would be a separate state, if only for the fact that people stop instantly assuming that everyone from Illinois is from Chicago, even though the Chicago Metropolitan Area constitutes 3/4 of Illinois's population. I can totally feel a kinship with New Yorkers who don't live in NYC (If not for the rampant corruption, I would probably side with chicago on politics, but as it stands in IL, it doesn't matter if the politician is a republican or a democrat, there's a 75% chance they're corrupt as all @#%^.)

No more than a person ceases to be their mother's spawn when they leave the womb. Environments like Chicago merely breed corruption; they do not contain it.