Driver License Road Test/ Getting your driver's license

Well, I took my driving test during December 2014. I had to drive around the USC area in South Central LA, so the roads were sorta underdeveloped. I did just fine since I practiced around that area weeks in advance.

There was actually a part where there was a six-way intersection, so I nearly fucked up at that part, but I did pass on my first try with only 5 mistakes (cut-off point is 15).

 

This post makes me feel sad & happy at the same time .. I'm from India by the way ..

- Happy because all I had to do is drive the car on a huge round ground and show all the handheld signals & those signals that are shown by car (i.e turning indicator on/off n all) .. Then the invigilator interviewed, showed a chart and asked what the signs mean (i.e narrow bridge, slow down etc )! That's all I had to do ..

-Sad because now I'm starting to think that my country doesn't take the test as much seriously as other countries! I hope I'm wrong and my country have fair reason for doing so.

 

In the Netherlands, I first had to take a written exam. I believe it was 40 or 50 questions about rules, signs and "what would you do if", of which you were allowed 6 or 7 wrong answers.

After passing this test, I had to do a road test as well. 30-40 minutes of driving through a city, and in between driving also doing things like (parallel) parking, turning in narrow streets, that kind of stuff.

I passed both exams at my first try.

 

In Ontario when you are 16 you write a written test basically like Timo described. If you pass that then you get your G1.

With your G1 you have to drive with your parents, between certain times, on roads lower than 80, among other restrictions. Then you take a road test and get your G2. You can drive without a parent, but there's still a bunch of restrictions. Then you take another road test and get your G, which is the full license.

 

Took it on the morning of my birthday ... a long time ago. I passed the written. Then, for the driving test, I got this real nice Hispanic lady. I had my dad's car. It was in the suburbs, about 2 miles from our house. I drove like a nerd or an old lady. They can knock off points here and there, but I didn't make any mistakes, so I got a 100. She wished me a happy birthday and asked me what I wanted for that special day. I told her the type of car that, at the time, I fantasized owning. It was just a 2 door American sports car that was fairly common. She said, 'I hope you can get one.' Great experience.

 

I'm so nervous to take mine. I've driven a lot on my own and even took the car out so many times when I wasn't permitted to(i think I drive perfectly), but when I drive with someone else, I get so damn hyper-aware and can't figure how to get to the place that I need to lol. In summary, I'm a bad driver with people around.

 

I took driver's ed at school, so I got to drive with an instructor every day after school. At the end of the school year I took my road test with the teacher, so I won't need to take it again at the DMV, unless I get unlucky and come on a spot check day. That possibility makes me nervous. o.o But otherwise, it's good I got it done at school. I bet the DMV is stricter about grading your driving, because my parents said they barely passed it, while I only got eight points taken off and I'm no good at driving...

Edit: Even though I passed the road test already, I can't get my driver's license until I get in 50 hours of driving with my parents and turn 16. And I have to be on my permit for 9 months.

 

Here in Ohio I actually work at one of the BMV branches. (In Ohio we are Bureaus, not Departments). In Ohio the BMV issues drivers licenses, plates and registrations. The State Highway Patrol runs the exam stations where you take your written and driving tests. The County Clerk of Courts does taxes and titling. We are all under the State Department of Public Safety, however each place is operated seperatly. In Other words while the state oversees us the county operates the Title division, the highway patrol operates the exam stations, and the BMV is actually subcontracted to individuals. My dad is the owner and operator of the one I work at, so while the state oversees us, we are not state employees. I have worked there for 8 years now.

That being said I took and passed my driving test while employed at the BMV. I nearly failed the driving portion of my test on the spot for yelling at the patrolwoman in my passenger seat. She told me to go ahead and back out the parking space and proceed to the manuverabilty area. I then immediately said "Honey, this car aint moving until you buckle your seat belt." She looked at me like I was crazy and buckled up. Somehow I had passed without any points taken off my score despite yelling at her.

---------- Post added 1st Jun 2015 at 04:29 PM ----------

I assure you Im very pleasant, but yes Im well aware of the stereotype. When people come into our BMV agency they are pleasantly surprised as to how pleasant, quick and efficient we are. Even if we have a line to our door its a 20 minute or less wait. Ohio also has one of the lowest prices for registration ranging between 34 and 104 dollars a year. (I think Minnesota has the lowest). Compared to many other states that charge you based on the value of the vehicle, ours is a set price. We havent even had a price increase in 12 years.

 

Where I live, you have to get 40 hours of driving with your parents (you don't need a permit, you just have to be at least 15 and a half).
Also, most people go to driver's ed. I don't know if you have to but it definitely makes insurance a lot cheaper and everything. Driver's ed for me mainly consisted of boring power points and some old driving safety vids that were probably made in the 80s. Then they showed us a bunch of super depressing vids about texting and driving and drunk driving.
Although we did get to watch Gone In 60 Seconds and calculate the number of demerit points the characters would get!

Then you go to the DMV and take a written test, then the driving test.
The driving test is only like 10 or 15 minutes and terrifying. I guess they only have some people parallel park and it depends on the instructor and their mood
Mine was a pretty easy grader and he only made me back park in addition to driving around.

 

Over here we have a written test and then a road test. I have failed the road test three times because one mistake is enough to fail you.

 

In the UK, you first have to pass a theory test. The theory test is to check your knowledge of the Highway Code and perception of hazards. It's been mandatory for some time, but wasn't part of my driving test 20 years ago.

The practical test lasts around 30 - 40 minutes with a Driving Standards Agency examiner. He or she will expect you to demonstrate a good level of competence in general driving, reversing, parallel parking, incline (hill) starts and emergency braking. Usually the test route will include a mixture or main roads, side roads and shopping areas with differential speed limits and will incorporate a bus route. You should expect to come across and know how to react at - pedestrian crossings. railway crossings, traffic lights, right turns and roundabouts.

 

I thought that from the written exam there is one part of which you have to get those 6 or 7 answers wrong or better to pass. And from the second part (the "what to do in this situation?" questions) you have to at least answer half of the questions right.

I passed both my written exams (motorcycle and car) with only one wrong answer. And I passed all five of the road tests I took (mid-term car, final car, car-trailer, motorcycle special maneuvers and motorcycle final) the first try. The mid-term car test is not mandatory, but makes you show what you can do halfway the driving lessons. If you pass that mid-term test you don't have to show everything for the final exam.

Come to think of it: I find the average drivers education for the Netherlands too little and too easy, but it looks like it is much more and harder than most other countries.

Bytheway: why are there so many places that let your parents teach you? In the Netherlands the only people allowed to teach you to drive (or even give theoretical lessons) have to live up to these rules:

- have to at least have a high school diploma (VMBO-level in Dutch) or pass an adequacy test,
- have to pass the exam for the "law drivers education-certificate" ,
- have to follow training every five years,
- have to possess the drivers licenses they are teaching (car, motorcycle, bus, truck, etc.)

The only thing I don't get about the Dutch drivers license tests is that they get a huge boner for "modern driving". They had some large campaigns about driving eco-friendly, in which they say to don't over-rev your engine, shut the engine when standing still (even for short amounts of time), and other of this bull crap. One of the requirements for the road test is that you follow those guidelines. So if you would rev the engine to 4000 RPM's or higher a few times (unless you are driving up a freeway ramp), you could actually fail your test. They don't seem to know or care that this kind of driving actually hurts the engine and doesn't help at all for lower emissions or better mileage.

 

My experience was in Washington more than 25 years ago... One assumes things have changed.

Back then, the state required two tests: a written test, and a road test. The written test was technically required to get even a learner's permit, unless one was in a driver's training program. At that point, the test got waived until you were ready to apply for your actual license.

A state recognized driver's training class was also required if one were to get a license before 18.

The road test itself was just driving around the DMV office. Part of the test was probably on their property--parallel parking was tested using cones. They had a check list, with points, and you needed to get so many points to pass.

I needed two tries of the road test to pass. As I recall, they included the second test at no extra charge. I was told that it was not uncommon to fail the first time.

 

I don't know if it's changed since I started driving, but when I got my license, you had to sit through a three-week class and then take a written test to get your learner's permit. After you'd done that and had used your Level 1 License (Learner's permit where you had to have a parent in the front seat of the car at all times) for six months, you took the Level 2 class, which was a three-day refresher of the earlier three-week class.

Once you'd logged 50 hours of on-road time, 10 hours of which had to be at night in at least six months, you could get your Level 2 License, which allowed you to drive alone or with one non-family member between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM, and you had that until you turned 18. Once you turn 18, all the restrictions are removed automatically.

Here in Michigan, you do have to pass the road test before you can get your restricted license. When I took it, you had to be able to stop the car at the line (not over it), parallel park, back into a parking space, and get out of a parallel parking spot. If you screwed up, you got a point, and 6 points meant failure. I got 5. Then you got out on the road, and they do some city driving and some freeway driving. You had to be able to turn in each direction from a stop sign and a light, change lanes in both directions, merge onto and exit from a freeway, the whole nine yards. 25 points meant failure, and I got 6. I got dinged for things nobody does; apparently it's illegal to turn into the far left lane when making a right, and you're supposed to turn into the right lane and then merge left. I also got a point for not looking both ways when going through a green light. Green means go, doesn't it?

Thing is, in Michigan, the SoS doesn't conduct driving tests, and you have to go to a third-party agency and pay them to take your test and get your certificate, which you then take to your own personal hell the Secretary of State to get your license.

 

One other thing I just remembered: the learner's permit required someone to ride in the passenger seat. As I recall, that person had to have been licensed for 5 years or more. Possibly to get experience, although one wonders if it wasn't the worry about the possibility of a teenager getting his slightly older friend with license to ride, as they go off and do wild and crazy things...

This actually came up as a topic of discussion in 8th grade history as a potential ethical/legal issue that we might be confronted with. What do you do if you go someplace with a parent, and they drink too much alcohol. (Not that the parent of a 14 year old at my junior high would have reason/desire to drink...) And what if we knew how to safely drive at that point, but legally couldn't? One possible solution: if we had a permit (we were getting close to the age, and it's not impossible that someone in class was old enough), we could theoretically legally drive even if the parent was totally passed out in the passenger's seat. Although I have to wonder if the police would agree with our reasoning...

 

There is driver's education in high school, if folks want to take it. It lowers your insurance a bit, which is nice, and it's fairly easy.

As for the test, it's two parts:

The first part is a written test. It's about 15-20 questions, most of which are multiple choice. The rest are identifying signs. Pass this and you get your Permit, which allows you to drive, with some restrictions.

The second part is the road/course test. Very easy, especially since the area it's done in, there are rarely other cars, so parking and maneuvering is easy. The instructor you get makes all the difference, as some of them are very strict about how you stop, turn, and accelerate.

On a scale of 1-10 on how easy it is to pass, it's a 7. But you get a carefree instructor, it's a 9, and you'd have to be intentionally horrible to fail.

 

Technically that's the case. I remember driving my mother nuts by doing things the legal way when I was first driving. There was one place where we'd always turn right, when exiting from a mail box. The right lane ended very quickly, and she'd often order me to head straight to the left lane.

Green does mean go. But it's not a bad idea to check cross traffic. Maybe someone is too busy texting to notice the red light. And it's not uncommon to see people running just-turned red lights where I live.

I'm under the impression that that may be the case here in Washington. At least, I think the option of 3rd party testing exists. IIRC, someone's daughter did a test at a driver's training school.

 

In Sweden there are 5 things you need to do to get your drivers license.

1. Health declaration, to make sure you are fit to drive a car. ie. not blind etc.
(2. If you are going to drive with a private instructor (parents etc.), you and the instructor need to take a course for that.)
3. Risk 1. One of two risk courses you need to take before the driving test. This one is theoretical. You discuss different situations in groups, watch videos about the risks of driving and talk/listen to the educator for a few hours.
4. Risk 2. The risks of slippery roads. You get to try driving on slippery surfaces for about an hour or two with an instructor. Then you talk about it and watch some videos for another hour or two.
5. Written test. This is a test of 65 questions and you need to get at least 52 right to be approved. These questions are everything from environmental, road safety to signs.
6. Driving test. Your driving skills are tested on the roads. Roundabouts, reversing around corners, highway entrance/exit, parking. Basically anything that comes up as you are driving gets evaluated.

The rules are the same for the whole of Sweden, though some places are a lot easier for getting your license. I personally did mine in Stockholm (the hardest place where most people fail) and got it on my first try :icon_bigg