The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
QUESTION: How old were you when you got your driver license, and did you pass your test on the first try?
Also, looking back, do you think you were really ready to drive when you got your license?
Talk about it….
16 years old (North Carolina MANY years ago). We had to take the road test in a manual-shift vehicle. That was not a problem for me because I had been driving a jeep (off public streets) since I was 12.
I too learned to drive (trained by my father) in a 34 Plymouth when growing up on the farm. Had to take my test with a stick shift and was deducted points for using hand signals and shifting at the same time. Both hands off the wheel to do that, however the examiner said I did so well on everything else he let it slide. Thought I had good control.
16. Passed with flying colors. Never been in a accident. Not even a parking ticket so I guess I was ready
Got mine at 16. I passed on 2nd attempt of the driving test. Now I just don’t want to drive anymore.
I was 17 when I bought my first car, a ’51 Plymouth for 50 bucks. I took Driver Training in high school, but they taught us how to drive with an automatic transmission. The ’51 Plymouth was a stick shift, so I had to teach myself how to drive it, and I didn’t get my license until I was satisfied with how I was driving. Looking back, I wasn’t really ready, but it was fun.
I have a friend who got his license before he ever knew how to drive. How’d he do it? He had an other friend take the driving test for him. Then he bought a brand new Triumph TR 4 and taught himself how to drive.
17. Passed test the first time because I’d driven to Santa Cruz and back multiple times while unlicensed.. The old DMV in Walnut Creek was over on Pine Street. Good times back in the day.
sixteen and no no no. My boyfriend taught me in his Mom’s car after my Dad had given up.
I was 16, and there was no way in hell I was ready to be turned loose on the streets. But I survived, and I didn’t hurt anybody else, so I guess that’s good.
16 years old. Yes first try. Yes, we had homes in the country then, now City Limits. I learned standard shift in NV on a visit, mostly drove pick up trucks as they were called then. I was pretty serious with studies and as a musician at a young age, so…
Sixteen, and by then, yes. I was ready to drive any car or small truck.
Oh, and I had to take the test two times. The first time the examiner tricked me. I was driving my mom’s early 1963 VW Bug (purchased in 1962) with the four on the floor stick. I exited the El Cerrito DMV parking lot and right onto Kearney Street, which essentially was a one lane one way road that then was so old and degraded, only a small pitted and potholed unmarked strip of the crown down the middle that once was paved was drivable at the time. The street had around four feet of dirt on either side with no curbs. The examiner told me to make the first left onto Manilla Avenue. After I’d made the turn he directed me around the block, straight back to the DMV parking lot where he failed me for not driving the car about three feet further over to the left before making my left turn. He stated that the little torn up and unmarked Kearney Street, although it was used as one lane (everyone drove it in the middle partially paved crown of it rather than on either of the mostly dirt sides) was actually a two lane road, and I had made my left turn from the middle of the road where he had not had an issue that I had been driving in the whole time we were on it. I think he needed a lunch break or needed to use the restroom. I had to wait six months before I could take the test again, with an examiner who really tested me.
16. Passed test on second try, I think. I know I failed the written test first time on moving to CA. I’ve had the habit of taking the tests without studying the manual whenever I have moved to a different state. The CA test has a lot of questions unrelated to driving. Yeah, I was ready at age 16. My driving lessons were actually after sun down so I learned night driving from the start.
I got my license and a car on my 16th birthday. Yes, I was ready to drive. It came naturally to me. No accidents, and one ticket. I like to drive.
Never got a driver license in Denmark, you had to be 18 and take lesson from a licensed instructor so it was expensive, and my parents did not have a car.
When I became an au pair in Westport Ct. the second family I was with (summer of 1967 and I was 22) wanted me to drive so I could take the kids to the beach or pick them up at school. The man of the house taught me how to drive. After I got the license, they family allowed me to have one of their cars on my night’s off, usually not on my days off, because they needed it. I guess I was ready to drive, mostly I drove around town, although after awhile I did drive on the highway. There were no talk about drinking and driving, and we did party, but never got stopped, everything was within a about 5 miles or so.
I was 16, I was ready (Dad taught me well) and passed first time out.
17, driving on the left on narrow streets in London.
17, on the first try, on a stick shift. Our parents wouldn’t let any of us get our license until we graduated from high school. I was ready.
16. Was ready for it. But back then people actually followed the rules of the road so you knew what was going to happen. Now it’s a free for all that is real dangerous for new drivers
I got my drivers license at 19. I had already been working for 3 years and figured it would be easier to get to and from work driving then taking a bus. I am glad I waited, it made me appreciate this privilege much more
I was 16. But I learn to drive at 14 on old vasco rd.
I had been already riding motorcycles on the streets
Since 12.
41! Lived in the City and didn’t need a car. Decided to learn how to drive after both my kids left home. I did learn from a driving school that actually taught all parts of driving. Got my license 1st try. The driving school let me use their car for it.
@Dorothy
If these last couple of questions were contests, I’d declare you the winner. First, for getting slapped in the face by a ghost, and second for getting your license at 41.
Maybe YOU should write a book about your experiences and then recommend it during your book report. I’d buy it!:)
… 15 1/2 and yes… got 100% on the drive test 🙂
I got my Operator’s license when I was sixteen, and I was definitely ready for it. When I was eighteen, the construction company I worked for wanted me to drive their dump truck, so I got what was then called a Special Chauffeurs License, which pretty much allowed me to drive anything with wheels. No, I did not consider myself ready to drive a big rig, ambulance, or Greyhound bus. Fortunately, I went back to college before wrecking anything. I still had that license when I got out of the Navy.
16, @ Daly City DMV (preferable to Fell St). Had been a-driving various cars, trucks, stick & auto, since I was 14. I think it was a bigger deal for kids 45 years ago…especially boy-kids. We had jobs, and relationships and the expectation from parents was to grow up & be independent.
I just went to Berkeley and got a phony one.
I was 16. I was ready and safe. I had driven a tractor on our farm since I was old enough to reach the pedals. I had driven a car in our grove. Since the time we were little, my dad had taken us on dirt roads and while he drove, he let us shift the stick shift (he operated the clutch). I was a safe driver and didn’t party. I just drove to babysitting jobs, to church, and to band practice. But we didn’t live in an area with a lot of traffic. My dad had taught me to drive by taking me to the top of a mountain highway and telling me to drive to the bottom only by shifting and trying not to use the brakes.
I was 16, and passed first try. I was certainly mentally and physically ready to drive. Did I have the maturity to make good decisions? Not especially.
I purchased my first car with “lawn mowing money” and within a month was making money drag racing on the street. Fortunately that changed with attending a Racing School. My street racing days ended immediately and competing on the track began. You don’t really notice these pivotal moments until you are older.
At age 18 I sent each of my kids to skid control/collision avoidance courses. They both agree it’s kept them out of some bad situations.
Got my license on my 16th birthday. In those days yes I was ready to be on the roads. Today, no way. The volume of traffic has increased and drivers are much more aggressive today. My daughter got hers at nineteen. Even then readiness was marginal.
Something that came to mind with all these great stories. My father in law in SF who was a Fisherman wouldn’t let my husband take their driver’s test unless he or any of the four kids could handle parallel parking on a hill (the steepest, hubby use to say with a stick shift of course and other tests they needed to pass on the SF Streets then. Wow!!
Bella, I took my first driving test at the DMV in San Francisco. My car was also a stick shift, the guy had me park on a hill and I had to know which way to curb my wheels. In those days they made sure you knew how to drive and park, if you didn’t they would fail you.
P.S. My uncle was a fisherman too, he kept his boat docked at Fisherman’s Wharf.
16….because that was the ticket to freedom.& autonomy.
I grew up with go karts……..then I was learning to drive Dad’s ’68 cougar in Knightsen at 14 up to learners permit.
My 16th birthday was in March & my DMV test was scheduled in March. No more riding the bus to school, yay!!
I couldn’t get a 5.0 Mustang or V8 Camaro like I wanted due to insurance ~ pretty saved me from doing something stupid anyway.
I was 16 and yes, I was ready. My Gpa taught us how to drive on the backroads of Placerville when my brother and I were about 12. Plus, I had already been driving my boyfriends truck for about a year before I actually got my license.
Took my driver test in Nebraska at 16 years old. There was snow and ice on the road so I only had to drive around the block. Examiner said if I could handle the slick roads I could get my drivers license. Yes, I passed.
Took the test and passed,….almost 17 y/o at the time.
Yes & No ready for driving. Since my Mother didn’t drive, my Father wanted me to drive and take her out for shopping. But didn’t know roads well enough to travel much farther or use the freeway.
14 in Texas, believe it or not, full drivers license, and yes, I was ready. It was a small town and not much traffic. Glad I learned there and not here! My first job at 13 was babysitting a 9 year old and working in her parents’ drugstore. They would give me the keys to their station wagon to take her horseback riding, the best part of the job. Well, that and the free ice cream at the soda fountain. 🙂
I got my drivers license on the day I turned 16. I really was not mature or disciplined enough at the time. I like the restrictions in place for new drivers. They probably save a lot of lives.
Totally agree, I got mine at 16 and was really immature. A few restrictions early will get people up into that age group where accidents fall precipitously, and seem to be worth it.
16. Yeah, I was ready. In my state where I got my first license, your driving test was given by the State Police and you had a state trooper as your passenger that evaluated your for your driving test.
I got my learners permit at 15 and 9 months which meant I could drive with my 17 year old brother teaching. There were 10 questions. You needed to get 7 of 10 to pass. One asked what a seatbelt was used for? I really wanted to say check the answer that said “to hold groceries”.
I got my license at 16 1/2 on the exact day that I was eligible which was the Friday before school vacation week. I had bought a car the week before I got my license. I remember driving for like 4-5 hours a day for the first month that I had the license. Gas was super cheap back then. My parents were actually thrilled that their days of driving us around were officially over…
On my 16th birthday passed both written and drivers test. Had been driving since I was 15. I was living with Aunt in LA so learned to drive on scary LA freeways and lived off Mulholland drive. I was ready.
I was 14 but I lied about my age.