Driving

[Katie3]

After just coming back from another awful driving lesson, I was hoping some other people here could share a few stories in relation to driving to cheer me up!

[keylime]

I don't drive or plan on getting my license any time soon, I'm far too scared. Public transportation is good enough for now.

 

I did drive my Dad's car once, when I was about 12. We were at a cottage and there was a small stretch of dirt road. He got out of the car, and told me to drive to the end of the road. He didn't tell me anything about how much pressure to put on the gas pedal....and I stepped on it really hard, turned the wheel for some reason, and went straight into a bush.

 

I haven't driven a car (that isn't of the bumper persuasion) since.

 

Hope this makes you feel better!

[Katie3]

Actually, yeah, a bit, but how old are you?

[keylime]

Actually, yeah, a bit, but how old are you?

 

I'm 19, so I have time to change my mind/gain some confidence...my Mom didn't get her license until she was 37!

[jimmyjimmy]

Back in the mid Seventies I got to ride along while my pop was teaching my older sisters how to drive.

I was about six at the time and they were fifteen and sixteen respectively.

 

We were going through one of the more affluent neighborhoods in town when my oldest sister took a turn a little too wide and a bit too fast; ( Keep in mind this was an old 1500cc Fiat sedan. Small, slow and with a clutch like a dump truck). She managed to side-swipe at least three parked cars before the old man was able to grab the wheel and steer he back towards the center of the road.

 

I recall finding the experience thrilling and have yet to let her live it down. To this day whenever we all travel together I am usually the one who drives.

 

Come to think of it, this is prolly why the old man started me driving out in the middle of an open pasture.

 

Don't worry. Like everything else it gets easier w/experience.

[bjorn_skurj]

When I took my first road test, I ended up getting into a contretemps with the dude administering the test. I failed.

[Atticus]

short game and putting are more important

[cryptique]

short game and putting are more important

You obviously didn't see me play yesterday.

[IATTBYB]

The following is a true story.

 

Back in the day, driver's training was actually paid for by the public school system. Any student was enrolled during the summer of their 15th year. My PE teacher was my classes instructor.

 

During the course we were required to attend regular classroom sessions, driving range instruction in the school's parking lot, and on-the-road sessions. The final requirement to get our learner's permit was to plan a route that included both open highway and city traffic. There were three of us in the car and the instructor did not have any say as to where we were supposed to drive.

 

The two guys that I was with were accidents waiting to happen and refused to drive at any high speeds or in heavy traffic. Thus I was the one who got the highway and city traffic requirement. As I was driving through the city, nearly every traffic light turned yellow as I was just entering the intersection. This happened on at least 6 occasions. I was able to make it through each intersection without having to accelerate.

 

As I was driving out of the city back to my rural high school, I was feeling pretty confident. As I pulled into the driveway, the instructor complemented me on my excellent performance and told me to pull up to the building and park the car.

 

As I was pulling up to the building, my right foot pushed down on the pedal. Unfortunately, I had failed to remove my foot from the accelerator, the instructor did not have a chance to hit his passenger side brake, and I crashed right into the building.

 

Somehow, I still got my learner's permit, a few months later I turned 16, and my brother and I proceeded to buy a 1970 Firebird.

 

Hopefully this little tale will cheer you up.

 

~Fin~

[EL the Famous]

I remember when I was a teenager attempting to learn how to drive, as well as catch the eye of a popular girl. I was able to secure a date with the girl, Mercedes, and it is was assumed that I would drive...but, I didn't have my license yet. When it came time for my driving test, I failed. I didn't want to risk the chance at going out with Mercedes, so I decided to go anyway. Not only did I disobey my parents by going in the first place, but I took my grandfather's prized possession - his Cadillac. I'll spare the details, but some pretty crazy adventures followed...

[JUDE]

I'll spare the details, but some pretty crazy adventures followed...

 

Did it involve any dead hookers or heads in duffel bags?

[Atticus]

You obviously didn't see me play yesterday.

 

get back to work

[cryptique]

get back to work

 

This work stuff sucks. I think I'll buy me some lottery tickets tonight.

[Oil Can Boyd]

When I took my first road test, I ended up getting into a contretemps with the dude administering the test. I failed.

When I took my road test the guy offered to buy my car in the middle of the test. (It was a bitchin' 1963 Corvair in really nice condition.)

[Mrs. Peel]

A few weeks after I got my license my friend asked if I would drive him to Boston for a karate tournament. Boston is a couple hours away and obviously a busy city. I was terrified to drive that far and into that congested area, but I said yes because I was positive my parents wouldn't let me. Well, they told me it was okay.

 

We had to leave really early in the morning to get there in time, and I'm not a morning person AT ALL. It was still dark when we left, which I was also not comfortable with. So I was a nervous wreck until dawn came. Of course once the sun rose, it was directly in my eyes. I missed the sign for an exit we were supposed to take. We soon realized we had passed our exit, so I got off the next one and pulled into an apartment complex to look at the map. There were small buildings on either side, and parking spaces in front of each one, perpendicular to the street.

 

Oh, I need to mention here that I learned to drive in my father's old diesel Mercedes in which you had to stomp on the gas pedal to make it go, and my aunt gave me her old car when I got my license that was a stick shift Subaru, which also took some pressure to step on the gas. But on this day, my parents had let me borrow their automatic Jeep Cherokee, in which you only had to LOOK at the gas pedal to make it go.

 

We got our bearings and figured out where we went wrong in the directions. I folded the map, put the car in reverse, and stepped on the gas as if it were my Subaru. We flew backwards straight into the rear of a Cadillac, totally trashing the back end of the car and setting of the alarm. I totally freaked out and said "WHAT DO I DO????" and my wonderful friend said "DRIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!" So I sped away. I went down the street to a gas station and stopped to check out the damage. To my surprise there was just a tiny piece of red tail light sticking out of the rubber bumper. I distinctly remember pulling it out with my fingers like a pair of tweezers and dropping it on the ground. It was truly a John Hughes moment, especially considering the carnage I had just left down the street.

 

I spent all day at that tournament waiting for an announcement to be made that I was to come to the information desk. I went home fully expecting that the cops would be at my house. And for a solid 3 months afterwards, I jumped every single time the phone rang. To this day I can't figure out how I got away with that. I still feel guilty and this happened 15 years ago.

 

Part two of the story is that a full year later my father noticed a little scratch of white paint on the back of the Jeep and blamed my mother for hitting something in the supermarket parking lot. They argued for weeks about that. And then when the car went in for some maintenance a few months after that, the garage called to say that the entire frame of the back half of the Jeep was bent and it cost $1000 to fix.

[M. (hristine]

These are great stories!

 

Unlike my younger brother who started taking the family compact for spins around the neighborhood as soon as he was 15, I had no interest in driving. My dad had a different idea, and decided one Saturday morning that it was high time I learned to drive.

 

We may have taken the Maverick. We also had a Suburban at the time, though I can't imagine he would have allowed me to drive that. Anyway our house was in a spacious suburban neighborhood, the layout of the houses around a big circular road about a mile in length. The idea was for me to drive around the circle and pull back into our driveway. Seemed simple enough, and the neighborhood was new so that there were rarely any other cars.

 

At the top of the circle was a fourway stop sign. As I stopped there, our neighbors approached from the left in their brand new boat tail Riviera. A fine and shapely automobile. I had driven exactly 1/4 of a mile.

 

I was to turn left at the 4 way stop to continue counter clockwise around the circle. I guess I didn't know how to stop turning. Or something. Even now I still don't understand out what was happening in my head at that moment. I continued to accelerate and crank the wheel, all the while my dad is yelling, "Stop turning! Stop turning! JESUS CHRIST STOP TURNING!!" I turned right into the front driver's side of that brand new Rivvy and didn't even slow down.

 

My dad generously claimed he was driving during the accident to the insurance adjuster, but he never took me out driving again.

 

I was 21 when I finally got my license.

[PigSooie]

I hate driving.

[foolnrain97]

I started driving when I was 15 but didn't get properly motivated to get my license until I was 20 or 21. I hate driving and probably shouldn't be allowed to do so simply because of how annoyed I get with other people on the road. And I know I'm not the best driver in the world, but it seems to me like there are a lot out there who are much worse.

[Mrs. Peel]

That beats mine I think, M. Chris.

[plasticeyeball]

I learned how to drive in a maverick too. i started driving when i was 13 by stealing it with my little friends in the middle of the night when we would sleep out in our tree fort.

 

forest green. i never crashed it. my brother did.

[EL the Famous]

A few weeks after I got my license my friend asked if I would drive him to Boston for a karate tournament. Boston is a couple hours away and obviously a busy city. I was terrified to drive that far and into that congested area, but I said yes because I was positive my parents wouldn't let me. Well, they told me it was okay.

 

We had to leave really early in the morning to get there in time, and I'm not a morning person AT ALL. It was still dark when we left, which I was also not comfortable with. So I was a nervous wreck until dawn came. Of course once the sun rose, it was directly in my eyes. I missed the sign for an exit we were supposed to take. We soon realized we had passed our exit, so I got off the next one and pulled into an apartment complex to look at the map. There were small buildings on either side, and parking spaces in front of each one, perpendicular to the street.

 

Oh, I need to mention here that I learned to drive in my father's old diesel Mercedes in which you had to stomp on the gas pedal to make it go, and my aunt gave me her old car when I got my license that was a stick shift Subaru, which also took some pressure to step on the gas. But on this day, my parents had let me borrow their automatic Jeep Cherokee, in which you only had to LOOK at the gas pedal to make it go.

 

We got our bearings and figured out where we went wrong in the directions. I folded the map, put the car in reverse, and stepped on the gas as if it were my Subaru. We flew backwards straight into the rear of a Cadillac, totally trashing the back end of the car and setting of the alarm. I totally freaked out and said "WHAT DO I DO????" and my wonderful friend said "DRIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!" So I sped away. I went down the street to a gas station and stopped to check out the damage. To my surprise there was just a tiny piece of red tail light sticking out of the rubber bumper. I distinctly remember pulling it out with my fingers like a pair of tweezers and dropping it on the ground. It was truly a John Hughes moment, especially considering the carnage I had just left down the street.

 

I spent all day at that tournament waiting for an announcement to be made that I was to come to the information desk. I went home fully expecting that the cops would be at my house. And for a solid 3 months afterwards, I jumped every single time the phone rang. To this day I can't figure out how I got away with that. I still feel guilty and this happened 15 years ago.

 

Part two of the story is that a full year later my father noticed a little scratch of white paint on the back of the Jeep and blamed my mother for hitting something in the supermarket parking lot. They argued for weeks about that. And then when the car went in for some maintenance a few months after that, the garage called to say that the entire frame of the back half of the Jeep was bent and it cost $1000 to fix.

 

i'm surprised you didn't like my story more.

[M. (hristine]

My brother and I used to steal 'the Mav' (white with a brown vinyl roof) when our parents were gone, and take it up to the the putt putt/par 3 parking lot and do high speed donuts in the snow. Well he did donuts. I was just joy riding.

 

When I think about these things now, I wonder why no one told our parents or called the cops on us. We were doing these things in plain sight and everyone knew who we were.

 

 

Mrs. Peel, your story was brilliant as well! Yours was a legitimate mistake, but I'm just a knucklehead.

[Analogman]

After just coming back from another awful driving lesson, I was hoping some other people here could share a few stories in relation to driving to cheer me up!

 

 

Keep at it - as you are pretty much screwed without it.

[Mrs. Peel]

i'm surprised you didn't like my story more.

 

but you left out all the good stuff!!!

 

but some pretty crazy adventures followed...

[plasticeyeball]

My brother and I used to steal 'the Mav' (white with a brown vinyl roof) when our parents were gone, and take it up to the the putt putt/par 3 parking lot and do high speed donuts in the snow. Well he did donuts. I was just joy riding.

 

When I think about these things now, I wonder why no one told our parents or called the cops on us. We were doing these things in plain sight and everyone knew who we were.

 

 

we had one cop covering a 15 mile circle. he lived a half mile from me. if his car was in the driveway and the lights were out, he was asleep. it was that simple.