Yes, you read the title correctly. I failed to get my driver’s license four different times. Now, to not make me out to be such a complete fool, I only failed my driving test two times, and the other two times were due to some circumstances which I will get into in the article.
My mom was always the one who told me and pressured me to get a driver’s education certificate and go practice with a driving instructor. I never felt like getting a driver’s license was something that I really wanted to do, as I didn’t have my own car and I walked to school most of the time. My driving instructor always yelled at me when I was practicing to drive. I mean, I get why he yelled because I came so close to ruining his car about 99% of the time, but in no way does yelling help the student driver. It causes more anxiety and fear in the driver, and every time he yelled I immediately either braked or swerved by accident.
After a few months passed, it was time to take my first driving test. I left school early and got picked up to practice driving for the big test. I didn’t go in with too much confidence, and I felt like there were so many things I needed to perfect before I got my driver’s license. I did a perfect job parking on the side of the curb and reversing. However, what I didn’t do well on was my speed control. I went too slow and waited for cars that were miles away from me. In the end, I didn’t pass by two points.
My second driving test was the worst I could have done. First of all, I was testing in a different place than where I was used to because of difficulties with appointments at my normal place. This new area I was testing at had hills, bumps in the road and a bunch of pedestrians crossing through the streets. So when my examiner and I took off driving I immediately tried to get points for looking and turning my head. That proved to be a mistake on my part because I almost rammed into the car in front of me, but the examiner, luckily, stepped on the brake. Then, when I tried to make a left turn, I thought that I had to be behind the crosswalk to wait and didn’t realize that I could’ve crossed the line and waited for cars to be passing there. Long story short, when making my left turn, the examiner used the brakes again to inform me that there were people crossing the crosswalk. I failed my second driving test with a Critical Driving Error.
I was not feeling too confident about my third time taking this driving test. I was talking to a friend before the day of the third one and told her that I couldn’t do it. My self-esteem was far too low, and I was almost 100% sure that I wasn’t going to pass this one, so I canceled it.
My fourth time wasn’t all that dramatic, but I didn’t get to do it because I “forgot” to bring my glasses. Let me explain some more. When getting your driver’s permit, you have to take an eye exam. On this day, I did bring my glasses because I wanted to try the eye test without my glasses first, and if I didn’t pass, to do it with my glasses. When taking the eye test you either have a choice to read the letters from what’s on the board or use a machine to read the letters. I made the last-minute decision to put my glasses on and read from the board because I saw someone struggling on the machine because he didn’t speak English a ton and didn’t want to put his face in the machine because of the coronavirus, so I took the liberty to opt to read from the board with my glasses. I’ve always practiced without my glasses, but I didn’t really see it as a danger. From my most recent eye doctor appointment, my doctor told me that I didn’t need to wear them and that I was fine. However, on the permit it does say if you need to wear corrective lenses or not, and sadly I didn’t bring them, so I couldn’t take the test.
After two years of driving and two learner’s permits later, I got my driver’s license the fifth time I took the test. I got passed by three points and after knowing that I passed I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I was happy that my mom didn’t get to nag about me not driving and was definitely happy to not see my driving instructor ever again. I didn’t celebrate too much because I still needed to practice a little more and perfect my driving skills before I started driving alone.
I learned some things during this two-year driving process:
- Don’t drive unless you feel motivated to do so ‘cause I know that I sure wasn’t.
- If you can, ask for a new driving instructor if you don’t feel comfortable about the one you have currently.
- The test is easy for some people and hard for others, and it is okay to fail as long as you keep trying.
- It is never too late to get your driver’s license.