Not to brag or anything, but the first time I got a driver’s license, I did really really well. I got 100% on my permit test (though a lot of my friends did, too). A few of my friends also got 100% the driving portion of the in-car test, as did I. However, I was the ONLY person I knew who passed Ohio’s very weird maneuverability test (perfectly, no less) on the first try. (I’m not sure what good that actually did–today I can’t parallel park to save my life.)
Then I moved to California and almost failed the written test I had to take. I hadn’t bothered studying because, hey, how much different can the laws be? Different enough, as it turns out, although I did eke by with one question to spare. (Incidentally, I spent 17 years in California, and a couple weeks ago my husband and I got in an argument over how far you have to park from a fire hydrant. I thought it was 10 feet. He claimed 15. Since he’s a firefighter, I should have taken his word for it, but I had to google. Turns out he’s right. It’s 15 feet in California; 10 feet in Ohio.)
A couple years ago we moved to Texas, sort of, for a few months, and getting a license there was a snap. All we had to do was take a vision test, turn in our old license, and voila! Texas drivers!
Now we’ve moved to another state (Illinois), and it appears I have to take a written test again, which means learning a bunch of potentially new stuff. Not that that’s a bad thing. I’m sort of looking forward to it in a geeky way.
My husband and I had planned on reading the driver’s handbook and quizzing each other on the drive out to Illinois, but we wound up driving separate vehicles so that didn’t happen. (Just came up with a great idea: driver’s-handbook-on-tape!) Now we’re mired in making repairs to our new house, unpacking, trying not to freeze to death, etc., and haven’t had a chance to study yet. We’ll get to that one of these days. After all, I need to find out in which cases we can legally make a u-turn, and whether we can turn left into any lane or if we have to turn into the one closest. What’s the residential speed limit? Can we turn right on red? (Pretty sure the answer is yes…and I hope it is because we’ve been doing it.) And the burning question: How far do we have to park from a fire hydrant?
Wish me luck!
Many years ago, at college basketball games, the halftime entertainment would be the “Jesse White Tumblers”. He ran (maybe still runs) an acrobatic gymnastics organization for underprivileged youth in Chicago housing projects. I think he has been in politics a long time, so I’m not sure which one is his day job! I believe he had just become secretary of state when the driver’s license scandal was exposed that helped put a former governor in prison.
Iowa has an App for that! http://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/ods/iadrivertest.html
He’s the 2nd longest-serving Sec of State of IL. And he’s evidently proud of it, lol! I remember being mad at my mom for not taking me to get my driver’s license the first day back from our Hawaiian vacation. I had turned 16 during vacay and wanted to get my license *right away*. I passed easily as I recall. ID was pretty tough with us when we moved there, but didn’t make us take a driving test–just a book test. NV just took our old licenses, lol.
I wrote this post a couple weeks ago, and I’m happy to announce that in the meantime, I took the test and passed with 100% Woo! DH missed one question, which means I also won bragging rights.
The most important this I learned? That Illinois’ Secretary of State is named Jesse White. I know that because his name is emblazoned on EVERYTHING. It’s on the drivers’ handbook. It’s on the front of the building. It’s on every poster in the building. It’s on banners on the walls. It’s on the employees’ name tags. It’s ON MY FREAKING LICENSE! Who is this guy???
In Illinois, a monkey can get a driver’s license if it has enough money to donate to a political campaign!
You go, girl! I don’t remember what I had to do to get my VA license 8 years ago, but I remember that finding ‘proof of legal presence’ was kind of a pain for some reason (my filing system is bad, there was much digging through papers, I don’t even remember which paper it was they needed, just the vague term, ‘proof of legal presence’, lol).
My son is studying for his learner’s permit now, and peeved that it’s 2 days AFTER his time to go get it at the DMV (15 years and 6 months, that was Monday). Oy!
My mom set up practice cones in our yard and made me practice the maneuverability test. I didn’t knock any cones over during the test, but did bump one, apparently. Still, that’s a passing grade. And I was using my mom’s minivan for the test too, not a cute little sedan like most of my friends! I’m not sure I’d pass the test today though. LOL