I think some of you folks put an awful lot of faith in a simple driver test to determine driver competence. I took mine in a snow storm so I demonstrated reasonable competence in negotiating bad road conditions, but not everyone has that opportunity. So does that test determine how to react in an emergency, how to respond to an aggressive driver, or simply how to parallel park and hold your hands on the wheel? Asking an awful lot from a simple road test and the effect of suspending it because the state has suspended operations due to āunusualā circumstances.
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Does the test proves somebodyās a good driver? No, but I bet it weeds out some terrible drivers.
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Yeah it weeded out the young girl that hit my Corvair while taking the test but Iām sure after a couple tries she got her license anyway. Then there was the girl that just got her license that day after a successful road test, that plowed into the back of my 59 Pontiac. I was stopped at a stop light. True it was icy and true it was at the bottom of a hill, but hey cars are not jet planes.
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I started driving at 12, I was able to get a learners permit at 16 but my parents wouldnāt let me get a license because their car insurance would go up. I was a helper on a delivery truck from the age of 15 to 20 and the first license I got was a Chauffeurās license. I never had any driver training of any kind until I started driving a school bus in retirement and I really did not learn anything I did not know.
Before I retired our church bought two school buses and I taught 6 men in the church how to drive them and took them for their road tests. 5 passed and one didnāt and I was g;ad he didnāt because if he had passed, I was going to have to yell him why I was not going to let him drive them.
He was a muddle aged life insurance salesman who could n
ot make a living at it and had always wanted to be a trucker.
He bought an old crackerbox GMC tractor and enrolled in a driving school in Buffalo. He failed his road test 3 times and the next thing I heard he had enrolled in a driving school in Oklahoma that guaranteed a license. They were able to do that because at that time in OK all you needed to do was to go to a KP and pay a fee for the license. This is what I was told and I have no knowledge of OK law at the time nut I would assume you had to have a reguar license first
For those that donāt know a Chauffeurs License used to be required in NY State to drive for hire. There was no road test for it, just a written test and a fee, 25 cents. it was good for driving anything for pay, Taxi , Limo, truck , bus or tractor trailer.
It was a real problem for trucking companies who wanted extra drivers because you had to call the union hiring hall and the guy you got may not ever driven a tractor trailer. At the trucking company O worked the longest for I used to spot these guys and take them around the back of the terminal where the office couldn/t see and at least show them how to hook and unhook a trailer.
You may disagree, but please refrain from insulting people here.
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Heh heh, yeah off topic, but brought to mind. You may remember the famous flyer Max Conrad. He was out of Winona, Minnesota back in the 30ās or so. At any rate my dad wanted to fly and saved his hotel money to take a lesson from Max. He had done a lot reading on the subject. Once they were in the air and my dad took the controls Max asked my dad how long he had been flying. My dad looked at his watch and said about 5 minutes. Max said well come to work for me and Iāll teach you how to fly that Ford tri motor on the ground. As told by my dad anyway. He got his license but never flew after the war because my mom made him quit after my sister came along. So yeah itās all in the book I guess. His book is āInto the Windā if anyone is interested. Hard to find but available in libraries once they open again. Interesting guy-Max.
Why is anyone surprised by this?
This is the same State that wants to lift the Covid19 restrictions, which according to a Georgia Tech simulation would result in an additional 20,000 deaths. So I guess a couple hundred additional highway deaths is just a ābump in the roadā.
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This argument, taken to the logical extreme, would hold that speed limits and BAC limits are also governmental overreach. You could make the case that a specific speed limit, or the BAC in your state is too high, or too low, but: Iād rather not be around someone doing 95, with a .15 BAC.
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Driving tests are very important on where youāre living. Rural areaās test are probably no where near as important as someone who lives in a big city. Driving skills are different. Drive in a large city even a mile and you come across aggressive drivers, emergency vehicles, one way streets, people going down one way streets the wrong way. Youāll also encounter almost every single road sign in the drivers handbook (plus many more not in the book).
Iām not concerned about there not being a test as much as I am about the requirements to the test. All you have to do is say that youāve had 40 hours of driving time with someone. Now if you actually did all the prerequisites, then not taking the test doesnāt concern me that much. Iām worried about the kid who got their permit and spent a total of 2 hours behind the wheel, and then applies for a license without a road test. The road-test is really there to weed out those kids. Most people who have done the prerequisites shouldnāt have a problem passing. And those who didnāt do the prerequisites would have a difficult time passing the test.
He didnāt insult you. You said something incredibly stupid, and he pointed out that what you said was stupid. He did not say that you are stupid, just that your stated opinion - trying to filter out the absolute worst drivers via a test is government overreach - is asinine. And it is.
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I agreeā¦no one was insulted. What was said was stupidā¦Itās NOT just the parents problem by letting that kid get a license without the proper trainingā¦itās the problem of everyone else on the road with him/her.
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If I said something as stupid as that, I would be offended at the response. But I also know that wrenchers are pretty direct in their opinions, so Iād find it better for me to not getting overly sensitive to a blunt response.
People here are so rude. Heaven forbid anyone disagree.
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(insert throat clearing sound here) Excuse me guysā¦
I think we get it, points made, but since I started this discussion and know that if this line of responses continues it will be shut down.
So, I would like to politely ask a favor. Could we please get this discussion back on topic with an end to the stuff that will get us shut down.
Thanks in advance for your attention in this matter, much appreciated.
CSA
To be honest, if you donāt want discussions going down this road, quit poking the bear with constant topics bringing up COVID-19, especially in light of your earlier frequent remarks on the subject.
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I wish youād be consistent. You say others have ārights to their opinions,ā but when @pyrolord314 and I express our opinion that someoneās opinion is stupid, you get upset. Which is it?
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Just to interrupt, but those making the blunt responses are not wrenchers, and really the negative comments are hardly necessary, especially to a new poster.
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Calling an idea idiotic is not the same as calling someone an idiot. Give me a breakā¦read what @PvtPublic said because he said it a lot nicer than I was going to before I saw his responseā¦same with @shadowfaxā¦(also side note, I donāt often care about using my phone vs looking at a page on my computer. This is an exception, I prefer the computer over the phone)
Itās been a while, but IIRC, my daughters had to get a signed document from the driving school that they met all the classroom and driving requirements. I think we had to sign one that said they fulfilled their driving requirements with us, too. Despite that, passing the parking test and driving test on the road are important as far as Iām concerned.