I was the last guy to take the test on the day I went in, and the woman told
me the route and promptly fell asleep before the first stop sign. I drove
the route just like she told me to and woke her up as I was pulling back
in... she was mortified. She said since we made it back alive I've must've
done ok and she was gonna pass me. No quid pro quo but I got the 'wink wink,
nudge nudge' telepathically.

I 'learned to drive' on a tractor when I was a kid. Before I got my license
my stepdad took me to this big hill in a school parking lot on a weekend in
his '67 F150 (straight six, three on the tree- that was a hell of a truck).
He said before I could drive it I had to prove I could pull off the hill
properly without rolling back. He got out and put his cig under the front
tire and said I had to pull off without putting out the cig or I couldn't
drive the truck- and by the way he didn't want to smell his clutch burning.
Took me about four tries and I got it. For years after that I thought about
that every time I pulled that thing from a stop on a hill- which is exactly
the way he wanted it.

I don't smoke but when it comes time for my kids I guess I'll have to buy a
pack... make it last me through the whole lot of 'em.

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Demarest" <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: teenagers and vanagons

> At 12:24 PM 10/11/2006 -0700, Florian Speier wrote:
>>this included thirty hours of driving with a teacher who
>>has a second set of pedals. of these three are on the autobahn, five
>>highway, two at night and the rest in town. Additionally roughly twenty
>>hours of theory, which includes driving rules, suggestion and basic
>>mechanics. failing a driving test costs you roughly 300usd.
>
> Let's contrast that to the state of New Jersey, where I got my license in
> 1981...
>
> After passing the written test, I went to the Wayne, NJ Motor Vehicle
> office, where I took my "road test" on a closed course within the grounds.
> I demonstrated my ability to recognize (and stop at) a stop sign, use
> signals, back up, make a three-point turn,  and parallel park (flawlessly,
> for the first, and so far only time in my life :-). I doubt I exceeded 8
> MPH at any point.
>
> After that they handed me a license, and turned me loose... presumably to
> exit the facility and drive directly into the merge of Routes 46, 23 and
> I80... one of the most notoriously congested and accident plagued
> stretched
> of really bad road in all of New Jersey. From < 10MPH on a closed course
> to
> full-on NJ congestion at highway speed in a heartbeat.
>
> My sister (8 years older) refused to let me drive the car home from the
> test, which may be why we are both alive today. ;-)
>
> Tim