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05-13-2008, 09:10 PM | #1 |
I hear them call the tide
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
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Learning to Drive
UK vs US and stuff.....
In the UK, we learn(ed) to drive at 17. we are/were taught at home. Mostly not by parents -this is the time to hire a private instructor -about the only thing UK parents will uniformly agree is worth private tuition fees. In the old days -when I took my test- there were a few theory questions after the practical, I believe that now they may have a theory test first (not sure -I'm so old I've been driving for 20 years). But the practical test was hard and many people take two ot three tries to pass and from what I've heard there's been no let up. I have taken a US (Michigan) driving test -it's the law. It was scarily easy. I had to reverse park in a space the size of an aircraft hangar, and turn on the radio while driving. the tester told me that I was the third brit she had tested that week (we came en masse) and she loved it, we were so easy to pass. Well hell i should think so, we're old enough to have children we've been driving forever on a tiny crowded island in Europe.. But I digress... BrianR's recent comment in the truck strike/slow down thread about the way car drivers treat trucks got me thinking -you have all this driver's ed in school -do they not teach this or is it simply that kids don't pay attention because it's school? I remember very clearly in the 10 hours tuition I had, being taught how to pass trucks (lorries), how to join the freeway (motorway) safely from the ramp (sliproad) and hard shoulder (at speed, not from fucking standing, folks...) ...also how if you get in the wrong lane at an intersection, you don't stop traffic waiting for some sucker to let you in but you carry on, turn round and come back ...this maybe more of a cultural difference, though.... You have all this driver's Ed in school which seems like such an awesome idea, but what do they actually teach in it? Are the lessons good and you all know the theory, you just choose to express your freedom by not applying it? or is it just a way to keep the kids quiet while they get the necessary expeeriece hours to get they keys?
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The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart |
05-13-2008, 09:17 PM | #2 |
is not a palindrome...
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Des Moines
Posts: 341
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Wasn't this a Tom Petty song?
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05-13-2008, 09:18 PM | #3 | |
Your Bartender
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Philly Burbs, PA
Posts: 7,651
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Quote:
Oh, come on... you've lived here for a while now.. what do you think the answer is? (IMO it's all of the above, plus a generous helping of self-centered arrogance. Check out some of my commuting rants! Yes, once again, people, you are not entitled to be let through if you attempt to make a left turn out of a parking lot in the middle of the block on a 5-lane highway.) |
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05-14-2008, 10:58 AM | #4 | |
I hear them call the tide
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
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Quote:
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The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart |
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05-14-2008, 11:13 AM | #5 |
changed his status to single
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Ours was sophomore year of highschool. A full quarter, one class per day, all theory, no hands on. If you missed 3 days you failed. If you didn't get 80% or better on all tests, you failed. Completing the class allowed you to get a learner's permit. Then you had 16 hours of behind the wheel with an instructor and had to have an adult sign off for an additional 20 hours of driving experience.
If did all that you could get your license on your 16th birthday.
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Getting knocked down is no sin, it's not getting back up that's the sin |
05-14-2008, 01:33 PM | #6 |
™
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Location: Arlington, VA
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My school in Maine did not offer driver's ed. I went to a private driving school. Some classroom stuff, gore movies, and maybe 10 hours of road practice.
The test at DMV was difficult. A long written portion and the road test. I had to parallel park on the left on a one way street, which I had never practiced before. I passed the first try, but my siblings all failed on their first try. |
05-13-2008, 09:19 PM | #7 |
Come on, cat.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area
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In my experience, driver ed was taught by a gym teacher/coach of some sort and was 98% film strips about drunk driving. It was unpossible to fail.
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Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good. |
05-13-2008, 09:28 PM | #8 |
is not a palindrome...
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Des Moines
Posts: 341
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She's right... The only thing I learned in driver's ed was how to drive a stick... Oh, and not to sit in the back seat of a Malibu when your stupid co-student is trying to learn how to drive a stick... It's the reason I'm so obviously brain-damaged.
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05-13-2008, 11:03 PM | #9 |
I can hear my ears
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
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always that one sandal in the road at the scene of the crash, and the camera gets right down in front of it, and in the out of focus background, you see the stretcher roll toward the ambulance with the sheet pulled all the way up.....
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This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan |
05-13-2008, 09:41 PM | #10 |
Your Bartender
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Philly Burbs, PA
Posts: 7,651
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I didn't actually take driver's ed. I clearly missed nothing.
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05-13-2008, 10:48 PM | #11 |
NSABFD
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MS. usa
Posts: 3,908
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I took my first test 50 years ago in july. Wouldn't give me the drivers test because didn't have 2 red reflectors on rear of pickup. So off to Western Auto for 2.
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I've haven't left very deep footprints in the sands of time. But, boy I've left a bunch. |
05-13-2008, 11:04 PM | #12 |
The future is unwritten
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My HS driver ed course consisted of, 12 hours of classroom with no gory film strips, and 9 hours of on the road. 3 of the 9 hours was driving, and the other 6 hours watching some other kid get yelled at, by the Gym Coach.
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
05-13-2008, 11:01 PM | #13 |
...
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well, I have to say I had a different experience. We had both many hours of in class and in-car instruction. School sponsored, but with a private instructor. Many people didn't pass the actual driving part the first time. (I still have a hard time backing around corners. But parallel parking is no prob.)
This instruction was meant to be supplemented by parents or other experienced drivers during the learners permit stage. My mother taught me a lot about freeway driving.
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05-13-2008, 11:21 PM | #14 |
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
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Location: Austin, TX
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My high school offered driver's ed, but no one took it. It was faster and far less painful to take it through a private company with a bunch of kids you didn't know. Plus, I'm pretty sure the school district couldn't afford real cars, you had to practice with a golf cart. The private companies had cars outfitted with secondary pedals on the passenger side, so the trainers could take over if it became necessary. 10 hours driving, 10 hours observing.
Plus, if the (accredited) company said you had completed their training, you didn't even have to do the state driving test at all. Just take a stupidly easy 10-minute multiple-choice test, and walk out with your license. |
05-13-2008, 11:30 PM | #15 |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Back in the day, when I walked to school, uphill, both ways...
Every HS had at least one driver ed car, with a big advertisement on the back, for the car dealer that donated the car. The dual controls were a bolt in item... and no seatbelts.
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
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