johnwoo

That's a pretty nasty attitude towards elderly people. I suppose it's meant to be funny.

dj6372

I'm assuming the driving test I took was similar to other states, 20 mins at most and a large portion of that sat in the parking lot showing the instructor you knew how to turn the lights on and off, use the indicators, the horn and heated rear window................ The rest of the time was wasted, driving round the block, turn left, turn right, reverse 50 feet in a semblance of a straight line, pass!!
There you are sir/madam you are now eligible to cause utter effin chaos on the freeways.


That was a culture shock!!

tom169

Pretty much! Was very easy and quick in NC.

One big shock I had is that here people who have just got their first licence can drive on the interstates. I liken the roads to the wild west!

Provisional license holders in the UK cannot drive on the motorways.

Nutek

I didn't do any of that.

I pulled (forward) out of my parking space, drove around the block (3 right turns), pulled back into the parking space (nose first) and that was it.

Nutek

Slightly OT, but I found a shopping guide for you.

zzrmark

Sorry I didn't mean to offend you but it was meant less in jest. I have nothing against senior citizens but there has to come a time when we realise that our senses have slowed enough for us to give up driving, I'd have said that the lady in question was somewhere in her early to mid nineties and she may well have had a full complement of marbles but, coupled with the fact that she could barely see over the wheel and her daughter had to remind her why she was in waiting room I'd say that this particular driver would present a hazard on the road.
My examiner had been bemoaning the fact that the Florida test has been tightened up on in the last few years, despite the fact that I found it ridiculously simple. Driving should be considered a privilege, not an inalienable right. Bizarrely enough, if you happen to be at the other end of the age group it is treated as a privilege which can be taken from you/ restricted should you fall behind in your classes at school (I also have strong anti views about the age at which people are allowed on the roads here...)
Just yesterday a gentleman of very senior years was killed running a red light, I felt sorry for the 26 year old who has to live with the fact that he T-boned a vehicle, killing it's occupant.

Very posh, you got to go round the block!!! My DMV has a small circuit, about the size of two tennis courts, off the public road. One would have to be a special kind of muppet to mess up on that one, reckon I was on it for less than five minutes!!! Two circuits of driving a rectangle in one direction...

Pulaski

"20 minutes"!
Sounds about right. I've been to Florida and seen the drivers.

tom169

That. Is. Incredible!

I shall forward to the wife.

Nutek

kodokan

This was exactly my test! Prefaced by demonstrating parallel parking by backing into a boxed rectangle of lines and cones, which was set up on the LEFT side of the car so not actually a maneuver I'd ever do in the wild. It's quite easy, parallel parking, when you can lean out of your side window and see exactly where the 'curb' line is.

kodokan

Another small culture shock today - someone on our local Facebook group has several American flags that have reached the end of their useful life, and is enquiring how they can get them 'retired'. People are helpfully offering suggestions involving ceremonies done by the Scouts and the local Veterans' associations, and a couple of people have said they'd be honored to 'transport the flags there' if it helped.

I know symbols are important in cultures, but this fetishization of bits of cloth always seems primitive and superstitious to me.

Nutek

I didn't do any of that either.

SultanOfSwing

If someone ever told Hank Hill they were wearing a $140.00 t-shirt or $1,000 boots, he'd kick their ass. And rightly so, I tell you hwat ...

SultanOfSwing

That whole thing was always weird to me, like we'll all die if someone throws an old flag in the bin. Or "don't let it touch the ground", as if the world will come to an end if a bit of cotton touches the earth from whence it came .

livinginnyc

In NY state, people with learner permits can't go on major bridges (tappan zee, GWB.etc), drive after sun down or enter Manhattan. Highways however are fine.

Think its the same in most states but after getting your full license, you're on probation for 6 months, which means you get your license pulled for minor infractions.

I took my NY state test upstate in the mountains (it was the only place that didn't have a 5+ month waiting list), you can't drive to the test area and you park up in line. Booking the test I was more focused on actually getting a fast appointment rather than thinking about thick fog, ice, snow and significantly colder temperatures if you're testing in a mountain town. On the plus side, vehicles on the road was slim to none.

The conditions:


The examiner:

(seriously)

Guy started yelling at me literally the second he entered the car (I put my paperwork/license on the dashboard which was apparently too far away for him to reach) His biggest grievance was the passenger seat didn't slide back far enough for his fat ass to get comfortable. He then ripped into my driving style from being too slow, too fast, too hesitant, too gun-ho (wtf it was snowing hard ), asked if I had a UK drivers license, how long I'd been driving.etc, my immigration status and just when I was about to get pissy with him for being an ass (and thinking he'd failed me on principle) I got a 'congratulations you've passed, but if you get a driving infraction I'll basically hunt you down'.

I got the '411' on flag law from my grandparents-in-law when we visited... Keep the flag illuminated at night, the US flag *must* be above all others on a pole, flag must be taken down and brought in when it rains and you must never fly it if its been damaged. I was asked what the protocol on handling a Union Jack...