I am finally going to learn to drive

Fierlin1182

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8 Years
Aug 26, 2011
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I'm a couple of years past the minimum age for getting Ls. For some reason I've never been that eager to get started, unlike the vast majority of my classmates, who are probably up to P2 by now. Maybe because in year 11 I was convinced private car ownership was the Achilles heel of society (among other things :p) and in year 12, despite my opinion on the matter having shifted towards something less severe, I'd acquired too many random hobbies to bother taking up driving on top of them all. Oh, and you know, I was studying as well.
My decision to start now is mostly due to coercing from my parents, and resignation to the fact that the public transport system here is never going to get any better. :p

There are so many fees involved. My holiday didn't quite send me broke but I have a feeling I won't have much longer to wait. :lau

Step 1: pass the theory test. I've heard lots of stories from our friends about their kids failing their theory tests, usually multiple times. Oh well, I've always been good at cramming vast quantities of facts. (I never remember them for more than a week or two though :p)
 
LOL! Almost in the same boat as you. Due to severe and prolonged personal circumstances I had to give up on getting my L's until I was well past the stage most people have them. When I did go for them, I got them the first time I tried the actual test, but to be fair, I'd practiced their "potential questions" theory test just before going for the real thing, and instead of randomized questions as it was supposed to be, I got the exact questions I'd just answered as the actual test as well. lol. In my defense, I was getting everything right about 9 times out of 10. Yeah, I maybe didn't need to practice so much, but maybe it's a good thing I did.

Since then it's been another prolonged struggle to get my P's but so far so good. I've got about 5 more lessons on-road before I'm ready for trying the last test. And in the meanwhile, like you, I'm stuck using public transport. Sometimes that's fine, but sometimes I really wish I had my own vehicle already, and my open licence.

I highly recommend you find somewhere you're allowed to play offroad, if you can. Race paddock bombs around dangerous paddocks, practice your offroad skills in mud and on hills and so forth, through forests, etc. I believe that's the best way to learnt to handle a vehicle under widely varying conditions... Not the racing part per se, just the less than optimal conditions and having to manage a less than optimal vehicle through them. Racing just happens once you get more experienced. Great fun and educational too.

Paddock bombs are often just that, bombs, so you can learn a lot about managing a less than great vehicle under less than ideal circumstances, all without the worry of damaging something expensive, unlike too many teenagers who only ever experience flat smooth roads and rather fancy vehicles that do most of the work for them. I think hazard training, offroad driving, and those sort of courses should be mandatory for learners, because too many kids and adults I know are outright dangerous on the roads. They do not have a clue. Scary stuff, knowing they're roaming unleashed on their open licences like that.

Best wishes with your independence seeking. :)
 
I was 26 before I got my driver's license? Why? Because I was foolish enough to let family members teach me how to drive and it took me that long to screw up enough courage to go to the DMV to take the test. My mother would scream and yell, and my husband would just sit silently in the passenger's seat and wince. When I would turn to see what he was wincing about I would almost hit something. Would have served him right if I had hit something. I have a friend who, when she took her first drivng test, ran a red light and hit a cop car. Needless to say, she flunked that day. She did eventually get her license though.
 
Well I think I'm going to be stuck with paved roads as far as I can forsee - we don't know anybody who lives in the bush, and have only ever been there on short holidays, complete with our city car, sending us through the roof whenever we had to travel on some stretch of dirt road :p
Good luck with your test, chooks! Waiting for the bus is such a drag sometimes. I don't know if it would be cheaper or not, what with the cost of fuel these days. My friend is always going on about how much she has to spend on her car.

I've seen the practise tests online, I'll give them a shot once I find one of those rule books and manage to yawn my way through it (just kidding :p). I don't know if multiple choice is any easier than normal tests, but it at least makes me feel like I have kind of a clue what I'm doing when I see familiar words in amongst the possible answers.

cassie: I'm certainly going to use a driving school - my father is afraid I'll send our car into a ditch or something. Trying to decide on which one right now, they're all astronomically expensive and have nice websites, so I have no idea, lol.
 
And, after a long period of inaction, procrastination and avoidance of bureaucracy and long queues, I have acquired my Ls.
 
Cheers!

I pose a correction to my former post - I probably will have to get lessons from my parents, because I looked at costs for driving instructors and I don't even have enough money to pay for 10. :lol:
 
Haha, yes. :lol:

Well I have graduated to two dimensions - went to do circles in the carpark this morning with my mother, because the shops don't open till 11 on Sundays. This is fine because there's no gear changing involved when one is creeping around at the pace of a snail. :p
 
I have progressed onto Winston Avenue, which has roundabouts and actual traffic. Haven't gone as far as the traffic light yet but it's finally a change from circling around the quiet backstreets. And one can use fourth gear.
 

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