Do any of you have funny (or good) stories from when you were learning to drive? (insurance, manual transmission)

[GeorgiaGirl14]

So I'm 15 and my dad, agrees to teach me to drive as soon as I want to. So I got my permit 3 days ago.
His main car is a 2005 Toyota Corolla, and its an automatic as he never wants to bother ever with standard ever again after the one time he did. He never owned a standard so I have no way to learn even if I wanted to.

First time I break down crying, because I thought the gas pedal had a lot LESS power then it really does because I'm a little too observant when he drives on regular highways and didn't realize a little goes a long way. No crashes into curbs happened. Another funny thing was it came so naturally my dad forgot you had to have your foot on the brake to change gears.
The second time (today) went much more smoothly in the parking lot. However he wants to go ahead and get me on regular streets. After hearing a horror story from grandma about what grandpa did in the garage when he was in a hurry, I didn't want to park in our driveway though it is really big space. I wasn't used to the acceleration so I only got up to 20 MPH. Since I refused to park, I decided to pull the parking gear when we were next to the house. I did this when my foot was braking, however I didn't do it when we were completely stopped and an abrupt stop happened just when the 2nd car was passing us. I was afraid that person in the car would call the police! No one came though, so they understood, thankfully.
I did much better with steering on my second try.
Boy, if these two times are a story, I can't imagine what'll happen when my dad wants me to drive home in the dark on the interstate that goes around the city I live outside of when winter comes to get in the nighttime hours I need to apply for a license next year, if I am ready enough.

[mango23]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGirl14

So I'm 15 and my dad, agrees to teach me to drive as soon as I want to. So I got my permit 3 days ago.
His main car is a 2005 Toyota Corolla, and its an automatic as he never wants to bother ever with standard ever again after the one time he did. He never owned a standard so I have no way to learn even if I wanted to.

First time I break down crying, because I thought the gas pedal had a lot LESS power then it really does because I'm a little too observant when he drives on regular highways and didn't realize a little goes a long way. No crashes into curbs happened. Another funny thing was it came so naturally my dad forgot you had to have your foot on the brake to change gears.
The second time (today) went much more smoothly in the parking lot. However he wants to go ahead and get me on regular streets. After hearing a horror story from grandma about what grandpa did in the garage when he was in a hurry, I didn't want to park in our driveway though it is really big space. I wasn't used to the acceleration so I only got up to 20 MPH. Since I refused to park, I decided to pull the parking gear when we were next to the house. I did this when my foot was braking, however I didn't do it when we were completely stopped and an abrupt stop happened just when the 2nd car was passing us. I was afraid that person in the car would call the police! No one came though, so they understood, thankfully.
I did much better with steering on my second try.
Boy, if these two times are a story, I can't imagine what'll happen when my dad wants me to drive home in the dark on the interstate that goes around the city I live outside of when winter comes to get in the nighttime hours I need to apply for a license next year, if I am ready enough.

I don't know if this is funny but before 911 everybody taught their kids to drive at the port. They have an about 500 acre parking area for the cruse ships and it was usually pretty empty and a safe place to drive. One day I go over there to do some fishing and there is two cars that had run into each other. You would not believe it, not another car anywhere, enough room to land a plane and these two kids crashed their dads cars into each other.

[teach1234]

Haha. Some stories I'd rather not tell, like the time I caught some newspapers on fire, pulled away from the stop sign with flames billowing.

Or driving in Australia, taking the free right on the red to be faced with 3 lanes of oncoming traffic.

[2RUGGED4YOU]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGirl14

So I'm 15 and my dad, agrees to teach me to drive as soon as I want to. So I got my permit 3 days ago.
His main car is a 2005 Toyota Corolla, and its an automatic as he never wants to bother ever with standard ever again after the one time he did. He never owned a standard so I have no way to learn even if I wanted to.

First time I break down crying, because I thought the gas pedal had a lot LESS power then it really does because I'm a little too observant when he drives on regular highways and didn't realize a little goes a long way. No crashes into curbs happened. Another funny thing was it came so naturally my dad forgot you had to have your foot on the brake to change gears.
The second time (today) went much more smoothly in the parking lot. However he wants to go ahead and get me on regular streets. After hearing a horror story from grandma about what grandpa did in the garage when he was in a hurry, I didn't want to park in our driveway though it is really big space. I wasn't used to the acceleration so I only got up to 20 MPH. Since I refused to park, I decided to pull the parking gear when we were next to the house. I did this when my foot was braking, however I didn't do it when we were completely stopped and an abrupt stop happened just when the 2nd car was passing us. I was afraid that person in the car would call the police! No one came though, so they understood, thankfully.
I did much better with steering on my second try.
Boy, if these two times are a story, I can't imagine what'll happen when my dad wants me to drive home in the dark on the interstate that goes around the city I live outside of when winter comes to get in the nighttime hours I need to apply for a license next year, if I am ready enough.

When I was in drivers education we rode three to a car plus the instructor. I had been driving since I was 12 off road and could drive anything with wheels by the time I was 15. I already knew what I was doing but took it to save on insurance costs and to get my license early. If you don't take drivers ed you had to wait until 16 1/2. I had most of my experience, ok all of my experience on manual transmissions. I'm in the back seat waiting my turn while this other girl in our car was driving. We just got in the car in downtown and it was immediately apparent this girl had never been behind the wheel before, EVER! S***!!!!LOL........ As soon as she started the car and let the clutch out, we jumped a curb and went through a bush!LMAO........ You know the little flower and bush with mulch dividers they have downtown along the shoulder where people park in between them!LOL...... Everyone in the car including the instructor laughed and held on for dear life until he made her pull over because she WASN'T ready yet!

[skinem]

I took drivers' ed at school. We did our road driving after school hours with 3 of us plus the teacher. I took it during winter quarter...snowy roads. One afternoon I'm driving around town. It had been warming up so the roads were slushy. Those of you who drive in this kind of weather know how the road kind of gets two tracks in the snow/slush where all the tires roll, and the rest of the road can have a lot of slush on it, especially closer to the shoulders.

We're driving through town when my instructor says "Don't stop or slow much, but pull to the right a little." I tell him "No way!" He says "Do it!" I tell him no again. The reason why, is that there's a girl I know in my class that I liked who is walking on the sidewalk alongside the road and I know what'll happen if I get out of those "tracks" in the snow and slush!

Just as we're about to pass her, my teacher reaches out, grabs the steering wheel and steers us right into the slush as we pass the girl and then back into the tracks. Of course, we just absolutely hose that poor girl, just soaking her. The teacher was laughing, the other guys in the car were rolling and I was horrified thinking she was going to think I did it and did it on purpose.

I saw her the next day...she told me she knew I wouldn't do something like that on purpose. She was right, I wouldn't have then.

I'll never forget that teacher, Mr. Engle, doing that. I'm sure he's dead now, or in his mid-80s, but, Mr. Engle, if you're reading this, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!

[Orincarnia]

i failed my first driving test.

i was the best in the class, got all the answers right, blah blah blah, thought it was gonna be easy.

hop in my saturn, my dad drives down with me to go to the dmv and take the test there.

i'd been practicing parallel parking for weeks, i was a pro.

so i get in, she goes through the schpiel, checks everything and we're off.

make the turns, use the signals, look both ways, big smile on my face, i'm good.

speed up, slow down, brake hard without screeching, done!

i turn left to head back to the dmv, and from the right a live (and rather intimidating) turkey stands in the middle of the road.

i think, i act, i go around the turkey like its no big deal. get into the parking lot, parallel park, and i'm done.

we're at the carport and she says "i'm sorry you failed" my 16 year old response: "whuuaa?" i read the paper

"FAILED TO NAVIGATE TURKEY CORRECTLY: RETRY IN 2 WEEKS"

[rlrl]

from January to December of 1978 practicing with my learner's permit because i failed the road test twice.

Practicing with my father one day I made a turn too soon and almost killed the both of us

Took the road test the day before Independence Day--wrong move. Too much traffic from people trying to get out of town for the holiday. I botched just about everything. Road test was near the town courts which had too many people coming and going. FAILED

Took a second test in a quieter town with less traffic on Halloween Day. Wrong move. Too many parents driving around with their kids for trick or treat. I made less errors but turned way too quickly before an approaching car and i knew the inspector did not appreciate that. FAILED

Re- took the written test. PASSED

this time I knew it was time to make my third and final test and in a place where there would be NO other cars on the road

Scheduled for 10AM on 12/26 in a quiet town where i knew NO ONE WOULD BE OUT ON THE ROAD AT THAT HOUR AFTER THE HOLIDAY!!

Well, no one was out, and I PASSED because my previous failures involved other cars and this time there were no other cars on the road!! SMART MOVE

I received the pass notice in the mail along with my tempo license on 12/31/78 and went down to see the ball drop in Times Square that night ( there was no Disney back then...!!)

[square peg]

My introdution to driving was when I was 12. I was spending the weekend at my friend's grandfather's country estate. Mr. Huggins kept a barn full of classics there dating to the turn of the century. Anyway, my friend and I were out in the fields bombing around in in a 1950 Willys when he asked me if I wanted to drive. .....................Uh, sure.............. This was a really nice jeep, the early SUV type. Perfect.

'Course I'd never driven before and was a little ashamed to admit it as my friend was such an accomplished driver. When I put it in gear we were off. Came time to shift up to second and I paid more attention to shifting than looking where I was going. Hello big maple tree! Tore the left front fender clean off and probably did a few unkind things to the parts that laid beneath.

I felt about this --> <-- big and worried quite a bit about what Mr. Huggins would say when he found out. Eventually he did come home from work and assessed the damage. "Well, that ain't so bad. I'll have the boys in the body shop straighten it out." BTW, he owned the local Buick dealership. He took us out to dinner that evening and never said a demeaning or correcting word.

He died a few years later and I never had the chance to thank him properly. But I'll never forget him. And thanks Mr. Huggins!

[Gunluvver2]

Most of my "funny" situations while driving took place many years after I first learned how to drive on the farm. Since I was driving farm trucks with manual transmissions from about age six it was probably a natural thing for me get into the trucking business as an adult. I didn't think it was too funny when it happened but getting lost in New York City in an 18 wheeler is something I will never forget. I still have nightmares about that and I quit driving big rigs twenty years ago.

GL2

[jtur88]

I never took a driving test. When I went to college in Louisiana, I had a learner's permit from Wisconsin. I went to get my Louisiana license, and they never noticed that it was only a learner's permit, so the guy just printed me up a Louisiana DL, charged me a buck and a half, and said Have a nice day. Since then (54 years), all I've ever done is just transfer state to state, without ever taking a driving test.