Driving; cheese; moustache pixies.

[quislibet]

Ugh. Finally -- finally -- making an attempt to become a licensed driver this coming Thursday. (Long-term readers will remember my actually sitting through a drivers' ed. class with teens half my age two summers ago, and will think as well about how long my dissertation is taking me, and might then make certain unflattering but probably true generalizing assumptions.) As I am a crappy driver, I am not confident. Alas, this lack of confidence has made me postpone the thing to the bitter end: if I don't pass the road test, I'll have to go through the annoyance and expense and, dare I say it, humiliation of getting a new permit (the things are good for two years; mine expires the 18th) before I can schedule a new attempt.

Today we took a stressful drive into Concord (MA) today to visit the cheese shop. But at least we have obtained some St Nectaire for our dinner.

Today's spam headline: "dont be fooled moustache pixy."

So if that applies to you, take it to heart, won't you?

Comments

Some advice...a bit long (sorry!)...

[khourytamarisk.livejournal.com]

The two pieces of advice I can give you on your driving exam are:

#1: Take your time. If you think that an opening in the line of traffic that you're trying to pull into is just a tiny bit too small, wait for a bigger one. If you're trying to parallel park, go slow. If the State Trooper tells you to hurry up, just respond, "I'm sorry, but I just don't want to get into an accident." They can't make you go faster than you want to, and, technically, you can get a re-do on your test if they force you to do something you don't want to do...like go faster/speedier than you prefer.

#2: "Ignore" other drivers. By "ignore," I mean "don't let them bother you." Let me give you an example. When I was taking my exam, I was performing a 3-point turn per the request of the State Trooper giving me the test, when a car pulled up and stopped about 6 or so inches from the car I was driving and leaned on their horn because I was in the middle of the street. Now, my first instinct at this time was to be stunned (instead of the instinct I'd have now, which is to swear at the other driver until they backed off so that I could complete the turn...). The Trooper looked at the shocked look on my face and the irate face of the other driver (who was still honking, by the way...), proceeded to get out of the car, and gave the offending driver the "look of death," as it were. The other driver realized that he was staring at a State Trooper, stopped honking, and backed up about 150 ft. down the street with a look of "oh, shite" written all over his face. I finished my 3-point turn and drove down the street. The other driver didn't start moving until I had reached the stop sign which was another 150 ft. away from where he nearly hit me. The Trooper said that it was understandable that I had been a bit stunned, but that I shouldn't let people like that bother me. He said, "If he had hit you, it would have been his fault. You were already in the road, performing a legal 3-point turn, so he would have had a tough time saying you pulled out in front of him. The angles would've been all wrong."

Anyway, the whole thing is that, unless you get a complete asshole/bitch, the State Trooper is basically "on your side," as long as you don't do something so truly stupid as to cause him/her to stop the test immediately.

Just remember the basics, like which way to turn your wheels when parking uphill/downhill (which is also affected if there is a curb). If you keep to the speed limit and remember the basics, you'll pass.

As long as you don't fall for the trick of "I want you to make a left hand turn here even though there's a 'No Left Turn between 7-9am/5-7pm" sign in plain view and it's only 8:58am/6:58pm.'" My tester tried that, but I noticed the time and waited until it was legal to turn. My instructor, who happened to be my sponsor for the exam, kept telling me to turn, and the line of traffic forming behind me was ticked, but the Trooper pretty much said that because I waited until the turn was legal, regardless of what the traffic or my passenger wanted me to do, whatever else I did wrong/made a mistake on during the rest of the test was wiped out....

*shrug* Just concentrate, don't freak out (being a little nervous is okay, but don't have a death grip on the wheel like my mother did during her test...she failed because of that), and be polite. The last part is rather unexpected by most Troopers, so it gives you tons of brownie points.

Re: Some advice...a bit long (sorry!)...

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

Having failed four drivers' tests for driving too slowly, I would caution against taking the first advice too much to heart, especially if like me you can find yourself waiting hours for an opening you're comfortable with.

(I finally gave up; I'm too timid to drive in the city. Better luck to you!)

[sorceror.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I had the same problem (started 16+ years too late, procrastination, no confidence) but somehow managed to get through.

[phaidros.livejournal.com]

Some more advice/reassurance:

1. I relinquished my license at 16 after getting into 2 horrific accidents in less than a year. (in each case, two months after I started driving -- one two months after getting my license, then I stopped driving for six months, started again, and two months later had a second accident). It took me until two years ago to start again.

2. My test went really easily. The trooper forgave the fact that I didn't signal when pulling to the side of the road, and she never even made me parallel park!

3. Waiting as long as possible was a good move. Your insurance goes up when you get your license, so this way you've kept it low for the maximum amount of time before actually having to get a new permit.