Obtaining a driver’s license is always one of the most important goals that many high school students want to accomplish. A license is a symbol representing the new-found independence, freedom, and maturity older students are supposed to have, and traits I wanted to show. Even more importantly, learning to drive is just an important milestone in life.
I knew I needed to learn how to drive someday, so I decided the summer after 10th grade was the best time. Learning to drive in the future seemed inconvenient, as I signed up for multiple AP classes for 11th grade and needed to finish college applications in 12th grade. Any time beyond seemed a bit too late.
Since I was under 18, I first needed to complete my driver’s education course and take a written test at the DMV before I could even start practicing driving. I took an online course, which should not have been as easy as it was. Some of the questions were based on common sense and could have been answered mostly accurately based on someone just observing how other people drive.
However, there were many questions about traffic laws and lane markings that I either had a hard time applying when actually driving or immediately forgot after I passed my online test. The questions were all multiple-choice and allowed for retries on multiple mini-tests. I passed the online course while often not paying attention and just taking educated guesses. After completing my online course, I went to the DMV to take my learner’s permit test.
Before testing, I first had to do an eye exam. The exam I took was very simple, with a chart high on the wall behind the desk with letters of varying sizes which I had to identify. The DMV also offered another eye test, for which I would have had to put my eye into a microscope-like device, but it cost money.
The testing machine was just like an ATM. I used the touch screen to answer multiple-choice questions.
I failed my first test. Besides having to drive to the DMV again and my parent’s disappointment, failing does not cause any problems. A person gets three tries before they have to redo their driver’s education course. On my second trip to the DMV, I passed the test.
To get my license, I now had to drive six hours with a licensed driving instructor before I could take the driving test. Through some sort of miracle and a bit of skill, I never crashed. I did not like practicing driving. I felt calm and confident when the road was clear and I was sure what to do, but anxiety and stress were just as common, especially when I missed important street signs.
The hardest part of driving was driving on a highway and reversing on a curb. I kept forgetting to turn my head to look back and kept looking at my mirrors, which would be counted as an error on the driving test. The main problem with driving on the highway was just that I kept thinking how awful it would be to die in a high-speed collision, so most people shouldn’t have to worry about this.
In the end, what really improved my driving was just practicing every day. While I had less than one practice a week, I started driving to school, to the store, and to wherever else I had to go. Being on the road for such a long time helped me visualize and put into practice all the rules and methods I read during my driver’s education.
The driving test was surprisingly hard. I needed to receive at least 15 minor errors or one major error to fail the test. During my first two attempts, I was very confident while driving and received very few minor errors from the proctor. However, I received a major error, which automatically failed me, at the end of both my tests. If I failed my third attempt, I would have to retake the learner’s permit test, but fortunately, I passed.
It’s been nearly a year since I received my driver’s license, and I haven’t used it much. Still, I don’t regret obtaining my license early. I needed to get my license at some point, and I was probably never to enjoy learning to drive.