How long did it take you to learn to drive?

[michele]

To the original poster I can give you a few pointers that I think will help even on a UK test.

1. Scout out the route you are most likely to be tested on, get to know it well so you won't get lost or get suprised by the kinds of things that may give you problems.

2. Take one or more actual driving lessons on the same route the testor will take you on.

3. Choose your testing center with care (are you allowed to do that) for instance by taking my driving test in the suburbs I avoided having to parellel park..which I struggle with a lot.

4. Get into the car and use the time adjusting your mirrors, etc...to get yourself calm and situated.

5. Choose your time of day with care. Try for a testor who is in a good mood.

6. Try not to get flustered they do not neccesarilly know you have coordination problems just from looking at you. Don't get them looking for a reason to fail you.

7. Practice driving in the same car you will be tested in

8. Drive to the testing facility and park in a space you will be able to get out of easily.

9. Try not to volunteer information about your disability unless you ahve a good reason.

10. Don;t let fear and lack of confidance cause you more problems then your actual disability.

I think it's based on the fact that in the US you see driving as a much more vital life skill than we do. Also, what does the US driving test consist of? Is it different between states? The UK driving test is apparently much more difficult than the US equivalent.


For the record I took about a year to learn and had to take my test three times, I had previously learnt the basics of clutch control and operating a car using tractors and motorbikes on the farm

I don;t know anything about the UK test to be honest. I think there is some variation between states for driving liscence because each state has thier own traffic laws and issues thier own liscence but a lot of it is most likely the same.

Your asking me to remember the US driving test from quite a few years ago...I'll try.

Written exam (got extended time on it) and passed with flying colors

Adjust mirrors and seat, pull out of parking lot, exit onto local street, drive route as instructed (with proper turn signals and speed), take a route that includes several traffic signs and signals. Merge onto highway, change lanes, exit highway, travel to residental area, navigate residental area correctly, stop car, answer questions, return to facility, park car and turn it off. Pay fee and take picture.

Of course had I taken the test in the city they would have asked me to actually parellel park as opposed to answering questions about it

What does the U.K. test entail?

I honestly don;t know if we see it as a more vital life skill in the U.S. a lot of urban folks don;t drive but I notice most rural or suburban folks do...since I'm awful with public transportation I'm kind glad I learned to drive There pretty much is no public transport in the suburbs...so what choice do you have?

Michele

[rhyds]

Thanks for that Michele, the UK test is somthing like the following:

Written test (computerised) and a "Hazard perception" test (you view a video and have to spot potential hazards), this must be passed before you can take a driving test.

The driving test consists of a quick sight test (basically reading a number plate/licence plate at 60ft or so) and a few questions about how to change a wheel/check the coolant, then you go for a drive around town with the instructor checking for mirror use, signal use etc. then a run out on a fast road to check your confident using 5th gear etc.

You'll carry out (I think) two of the following manouvres:

Reverse parking in a bay
Parallel parking
Reversing around a bend
Emergency stop
Hill start

and after around 40mins your told if you've passed or not...

[michele]

Thanks for that Michele, the UK test is somthing like the following:

Written test (computerised) and a "Hazard perception" test (you view a video and have to spot potential hazards), this must be passed before you can take a driving test.

The driving test consists of a quick sight test (basically reading a number plate/licence plate at 60ft or so) and a few questions about how to change a wheel/check the coolant, then you go for a drive around town with the instructor checking for mirror use, signal use etc. then a run out on a fast road to check your confident using 5th gear etc.

You'll carry out (I think) two of the following manouvres:

Reverse parking in a bay
Parallel parking
Reversing around a bend
Emergency stop
Hill start

and after around 40mins your told if you've passed or not...

Very interesting to actually see the differences we don;t have the hazard identification thing or anything similar that I remember.

And our vision test takes place at the driving facility on a machine that determines your aquity and field of vision.

We have to do the reversing as well but if you play your cards right they get that when you initially reverse out of your parking spot...one you have choosen for yourself as the easiest possible choice in the lot

Since I was driving an automatic I didn;t have to deal with gears which made life much easier.

Not sure what a hill start is but they asked me questions about parking on hills...there were not any to test me on though

They asked me all about emergency stopping but I was not asked to damage the transmision of my parents vehicle By performing one.

As for parellel parking...I was suppsoed to be tested on ti but got around that issue by being tested at a time and facility where the evaluator was having an awfully hard time finding enough cars parked in such a way as to provide this challenge...I knew better then to let the evaluator know that I intended things to work out that way theat is the one issue that really might have endangered my getting a liscence so I had to avoid it.

I don;t remember having to reverse around a turn that sounds challenging.

One added bonus I have a scar on my left hand...which is the onyl reason I know it is my left hand...and if you manage to convince an evaluator to refer to the sides as your side and my side...its a lot easier.

michele

[rhyds]

A hill start is simply starting off from rest while on a hill, terribly simple in an automatic, more a challenge in a manual. It was apparently a bit of a problem in East Anglia (imagine a smaller version of the Mid-West, flat as a pancake in all directions), in Peterborough you had to do your test on the only hill in town, which was the main road through...

[Shadwell]

rhyds, have they removed turn in the road from the driving test now? or aka 3-point-turn

I was lucky on my driving test, he taken me into, and across the top end of town (quietest area!!) no zebra crossing!!

my car test was:

emergancy stop.
parrallel park behind another car.
and reverse around a corner. (slightly harder as it was into an area of garages)

I did do a slight up hill start as well, but nothing major like an incline of 1:10

the rig test is totally different, like drive forward over the start line, and park the truck inside the coned area, and he has to be able to see all the cones without the truck breaking the line of sight.

then reverse and get the driver front wheel as close to the white line, and reverse while keeping the wheel inline with the line, and then when the truck can't turn left any more you can start straightening the wheels, then park in the coned area on the left side of the yard, and park with the backend touching or as close to the gate as possible. (open the gate is a fail) (hit the poles in the first cones with the wing mirrors is a fail as well)

then the examiner jumps into the cab (been in the yard to this point), and then tells you to drive on up to the cone, and stop at the cone, then tells you to put the truck in 3rd (normal pulling off gear without a load, and on the flat), and to get the truck upto 20 mph, and then do an emergancy stop between the next cones (if the whole vehicle passes through the cones it is a fail),

not fogetting all of the obervation around the truck at all times as well for all of the above.

the stupid bit is, I can get through all of the yard stuff without picking up any faults. it is on the road it goes all pear-shaped.

and the large goods does do the (motorway/highway) as part of the driving test if the examiner feels like doing it as part of the route. like I had 1 test doing from J34 - J33 (about 2 miles) on the m4 for one test, and one test without.

the test without was another examiner that was brought in while the main one was on holiday or something.

as the truck munouvers are done in the yard, then the examiner just tests for:
driving
awareness and responding to traffic around you
responding to road signs
aware of speed limit for the vehicle you are driving
awareness of the road condition like not being in total control because of un-level roads (usual way around it is changing speed and/or direction, or both)
and that he doesn't spill his morning coffee filled to the brim, like you got to imagine him having on his lap!! (diesel, sugar, I just put the new fuel in from Australia, I think they call it Kangaroo Petrol!!)
and then the gear changing exercise (1st - 4th, and back down to first), and not stopping the truck before putting it back into first. (they can be sly on this though, as they can do it on a steep uphill, but you can also play sly back by not selecting first before the end of the steepest point of the hill if it is within 100 feet of starting point!!) as you need to go up, and down the gear box within 100 feet. but also showing that you have selected the right gear for about 12 feet a gear. (just about enough time to cheese off any car driver in the quietest of areas). as by the time you are in 4th, you are only doing 15-20mph, and then off goes the right, and on goes the left indicator to say you are slowing down/stopping

[Charlotte]

I can't drive myself. I tried to learn for two years in a manual car before learning about mobility centres that assess people who are having difficulty learning to drive. For more info, see here:

http://www.mobility-centres.org.uk/serv ... ssment.htm

During the assessment, the man who assessed me actually seemed fairly positive. He recommended I switch to an automatic car instead of a manual and, as he also taught driving lessons, asked me if I like him to take over mine. I jumped at the chance and thought I'd give driving six months and then decide whether or not I wanted to carry on. He seemed positive at first (at one point even calling me his star pupil), although expressing concern over my lack of concentration, hesitancy and panic at new situations. After four months he stopped me in the middle of the lesson saying he was concerned I was still too hesitant and my mistakes, although infrequent, were often dangerous. If I was going to pass a driving test it was going to take me longer than he'd thought at least another year and even then he couldn't see me passing. He strongly recommended stopping and I agreed.

[rhyds]

IIRC a turn in the road/3-point turn was part of my test practice so was part of the test in 2003

[November Rain]

Just a little update; I'm about to do my practical test next week for the second time. I passed my theory in the spring last year and I attempted my practical for the first time in November, now I'm finally giving it another go. My last practical test actually went fairly well, it wasn't as if I failed drastically, so I feel quite confident that I'll be able to do it this time. Fingers crossed.

[hollypop18]

It took me exactly a year and 4 tests, in an automatic. x

[Alex]

It took me 4 years passed on 4th attept the day before my 22nd birthday still can't believe I passed!!

[Evasura]

Two years of practice with my dad every Sunday morning. When I finally felt confident enough to start in driving school,passed test in two months.

[phoena]

It took me 1 year and eight months to practice driving because it's on and off and by January of the following year I have my driving school, then four months after i passed the test.

[shakey]

It took 4 tests over 4 years for me to pass!
I started learning just after my 17th birthday (back in the 80's) & passed within a day or 2 of my 21st birthday! Though there was a break in the middle when I first went to uni 'cos I couldn't afford lessons.
I only told 1 person that I was taking it the 4th time!

I did struggle with learning a fair bit.
Staying in lane when looking over my shoulder to check for traffic before changing lanes was one of my difficulties. Have had difficulties with reversing round a corner and parking.
Bit annoying that my big sis & my hubby passed 1st time!

[Ryallke]

I feel quite relieved to read how many people are learning to drive or do drive its been a worry that my son may not be able to do things others take for granted and he keeps saying he wants to be a fireman obviously i dont say or even think he cant do it and im sure he'll change his mind a thousand times until hes much older but it kind of struck me that it may not be possible for him too but reading this subject im more hopeful that it is a possibility for him and more positive i guess. Congratulations to you for passing!