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Post by sprite on Jan 31, 2024 5:04:54 GMT -5
In the UK, you can buy a magnetic L to put on a car to show a Learner is driving. And people forget to take them off, which is annoying. I had to have one when I drove partner's car, because it was a manual and the UK DVLA wouldn't accept my Canadian license for a manual until I re-tested.
I have a feeling that my sister got her license when graduated licensing came into effect, but she got an exemption on driving after dark because we lived in the country and she had a job--she was allowed to drive back from that. I don't remember clearly.
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Post by snowwhite on Jan 31, 2024 5:11:32 GMT -5
psw does this help? - it's an ebay listing for the L (learner) plates we're talking about. I don't know when NZ changed how things work. I have memories from 2006 or so of seeing cars full of kids in uniform, with one of them driving them all to school in the mornings because I think at the time, the age for getting a license was still quite low?
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 31, 2024 6:01:02 GMT -5
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 31, 2024 6:25:18 GMT -5
Huh, that's interesting. Here you have no way of knowing whether the person in the car next to you just got their license except that lots of people nowadays buy these bumperstickers that read things like "Please be patient / new driver."
I've thought it might be nice to have one that says "Please be patient / old driver" too (or "Please f*k off / old driver", but that's not polite).
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 31, 2024 6:58:48 GMT -5
Someone suggested special plates for older drivers, but the idea wasn’t popular.
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Post by groo on Jan 31, 2024 7:33:27 GMT -5
Green P plates on a white Ute (pickup) generally signifies "inconsiderate fvchwit".
Says he who still has red P's in the car - fond memories of an EUMGD who is now on her greens - and she's actually a very good driver. I really feel safer when she is driving than when her mother is at the wheel.
When she was up for "schoolies" a month or so ago I had no hesitation in lending her and her friends the 4wd.
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Post by snowwhite on Jan 31, 2024 7:42:41 GMT -5
Huh, that's interesting. Here you have no way of knowing whether the person in the car next to you just got their license except that lots of people nowadays buy these bumperstickers that read things like "Please be patient / new driver." I've thought it might be nice to have one that says "Please be patient / old driver" too (or "Please f*k off / old driver", but that's not polite). And you can't see if a car's being driven by a learner either? The new driver (P) plates aren't a requirement here, just some people use them in the hope others will be considerate I think. If I see a driving school car I try to give them plenty of space and bear in mind it could be the instructor at the wheel getting to his/her next lesson.
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 31, 2024 7:51:46 GMT -5
Nope, if you've just got your learner's permit the only constraint is about driving with someone else (or something); you can't tell from the car except for these new "please be patient" bumperstickers.
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Post by romily on Jan 31, 2024 8:26:48 GMT -5
In Germany back then you had to take lessons - standard ones, but also for night driving, country road driving, motor way driving. Oh, and a first aid course, basic vehicle knowledge...outlined in link below. www.expatrio.com/living-germany/driving-germany/driving-licence-germany-foreignersNot quick and not cheap, and none of this "my dad teaches me" - only a qualified instructor can teach you (they have separate pedals and so on) until you pass your test.
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Post by sprite on Jan 31, 2024 9:10:13 GMT -5
Yeah, when I learned, I had to take the classes offered at school, because although my Dad was a qualified driver of very.big.trucks, I would get a discount on my insurance if I took a course.
I do honestly think it should have been a lot harder. Bizarrely, there were no tests or instructions on how to drive in snow and ice. In Canada. !!
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Post by wombatrois on Jan 31, 2024 9:58:24 GMT -5
It's quite onerous to get a licence now in WA, you have to have a certain amount of logged hours during your learner period. It excludes people on low incomes who don't have access to a vehicle or a responsible adult who will dedicate the time to help them learn.
I got my licence in a similar way to Liiisa - I took around 5 lessons then rocked up to the test (there was a theory test to get the L plates though).
I had to get my UK licence for insurance purposes when I lived there. That driving test was a lot harder and I failed the first time (in my mid-20s after I'd been driving for years!). I still have that licence somewhere - it will be valid until I'm 70 (it's the non-photo type).
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Post by psw on Jan 31, 2024 10:07:38 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone, for a thorough education!
When I was 16, the driving age in Ohio, I had to pass a written exam to get a learner's permit and then a road test to get a full license. The learner's permit required the presence of an adult fully licensed driver.
The road test consisted of actually driving around the neighborhood plus parallel parking on the grounds of the state highway patrol where the test was given. So many people flunked parallel parking that they separated the test into two parts because they didn't have the staff for repeat road tests.
I got lucky when I went for my road test. In the waiting area I was sitting next to a kid who had flunked it twice. His girlfriend had driven him to the test. He was telling her in minute detail all the things he had lost points for. I was all ears! You started out with 100 points and got deductions for mistakes. So I picked up a few tips and passed on the first try with a score in the 90s. Also aced the parking. Obviously a memorable event for me!
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Post by sophie on Jan 31, 2024 10:26:44 GMT -5
Growing up, we didn’t have a car and getting a license at 16 (the age here in BC to be able to get one) was not an option. I finally got a learners license when I started living with my now husband in my early twenties. In order to for me to practice, the other person in the car had to have a license. I still remember freaking out when stopped on a hill and couldn’t get the shifting right on our old standard Volvo in order to continue driving. I eventually mastered the shifting and got my license. One memorable trip during my ‘practice’ time involved me driving through the mountains to visit my dad with a friend who didn’t know how to drive a standard but had her license. There were a few stalling incidents!
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Post by snowwhite on Jan 31, 2024 10:54:10 GMT -5
One of my cousins drove home with her dad in the passenger seat (as a qualified driver) while she was still learning. He was an absolute morning lark, and fell asleep. It wasn't very late, just late and dark enough for him not to be able to stay awake.
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Post by sprite on Jan 31, 2024 13:07:18 GMT -5
It's quite onerous to get a licence now in WA, you have to have a certain amount of logged hours during your learner period. It excludes people on low incomes who don't have access to a vehicle or a responsible adult who will dedicate the time to help them learn. That's true--I want new drivers to have as much experience as possible, but that needs time and money from other people. I was very lucky that my school had a free (or very cheap?) program, but it was still tricky for rural students like me, who didn't always have parents who could pick us up. Pretty sure I stayed overnight with my grandmother a lot.
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Post by lisamnz on Jan 31, 2024 15:50:47 GMT -5
psw does this help? - it's an ebay listing for the L (learner) plates we're talking about. I don't know when NZ changed how things work. I have memories from 2006 or so of seeing cars full of kids in uniform, with one of them driving them all to school in the mornings because I think at the time, the age for getting a license was still quite low? It's been this way for a long time. Since I got my licence, which I can assure you was well before 2006! The kids you saw could have had their full licence - it's technically possible to get it by 17, if you already know how to drive when you get your learner's licence. But it's also quite likely that they were just breaking the rules. THere is an exemption for kids that live rurally which allows them to drive siblings to school on a restricted licence, but I doubt that would have been the case here, cos I think you lived in Wellington?
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Post by lisamnz on Jan 31, 2024 15:55:29 GMT -5
I got lucky when I went for my road test. In the waiting area I was sitting next to a kid who had flunked it twice. His girlfriend had driven him to the test. He was telling her in minute detail all the things he had lost points for. I was all ears! You started out with 100 points and got deductions for mistakes. So I picked up a few tips and passed on the first try with a score in the 90s. Also aced the parking. Obviously a memorable event for me! This is one of the reasons why many kids do at least a few sessions with a driving instructor before doing their test - because the instructors somehow just happen to take you on the test route for your lesson and point out every little thing you did wrong.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 31, 2024 17:34:44 GMT -5
My father taught me, but then he’d taught fellow soldiers to drive trucks during World War II, and was probably more competent than most commercial driving instructors. The first school I taught at had a driving program, and a dual controlled car, so I was accredited as an instructor. Years later, I was one of a group of local people supporting Sudanese refugees to get their licences. When I lived in Bourke, there had been a problem for Aboriginal people getting sent to jail for driving without a licence, so a local group organised a driver training program. It was very successful, with several middle aged women I worked with finally getting the opportunity to learn to drive. Bourke is very isolated, with no public transport, so a car is essential if you want to go anywhere.
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Post by lisamnz on Jan 31, 2024 18:01:20 GMT -5
My father taught me, but then he’d taught fellow soldiers to drive trucks during World War II, and was probably more competent than most commercial driving instructors. The first school I taught at had a driving program, and a dual controlled car, so I was accredited as an instructor. Years later, I was one of a group of local people supporting Sudanese refugees to get their licences. When I lived in Bourke, there had been a problem for Aboriginal people getting sent to jail for driving without a licence, so a local group organised a driver training program. It was very successful, with several middle aged women I worked with finally getting the opportunity to learn to drive. Bourke is very isolated, with no public transport, so a car is essential if you want to go anywhere. Most kids here are taught by parents, too. But parents don't know the testing routes...
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Post by psw on Jan 31, 2024 18:20:44 GMT -5
lisamnz "This is one of the reasons why many kids do at least a few sessions with a driving instructor before doing their test - because the instructors somehow just happen to take you on the test route for your lesson and point out every little thing you did wrong." My dad did send me for a few lessons - this may have been for insurance purposes. The driving school was in a different area from the highway patrol office near my home, so I would not have had that preview anyhow. There was one officer who really gave me the creeps, which I mentioned after passing. Months after my test he was busted for taking bribes from immigrants who could neither read English to take the test nor actually drive and making sure they got licenses somehow. It was all over the newspaper and I said to my dad, "remember I was telling you about that guy???" Also when I moved to MA I needed a local license. I didn't have to take a road test. I guess it was at the discretion of the officer. I also learned that the MA road test did not include parallel parking, which immediately clarified why there were so many sloppy MA drivers. They didn't know how big their cars were! Back then, 1960s, you could actually see all four fenders from the driver's seat, which is no longer possible due to all the streamlining.
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Post by wombatrois on Jan 31, 2024 18:39:07 GMT -5
Thanks, everyone, for a thorough education! The road test consisted of actually driving around the neighborhood plus parallel parking on the grounds of the state highway patrol where the test was given. So many people flunked parallel parking that they separated the test into two parts because they didn't have the staff for repeat road tests. I seem to have good spatial awareness and aced the parallel parking and can still do it in one go when I have to (I was super excited to find this out recently!). Hill starts were the renowned failure points too - of course we all learnt in manual cars, automatic cars were rare back then. Now, most kids just get their automatic licence (there are two types here). Which is a shame. My mum's first car was a three on the tree (Aussies and possibly kiwis will know what this means) :-D
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Jan 31, 2024 18:50:13 GMT -5
I hated column gear shifts. Until recently, all of my cars were 4 or 5 on the floor. My brother-in-law had a Falcon with a column shift, which got stuck in gear (2nd, I think) when I’d borrowed it to drive into Brisbane city. Fortunately, he was a mechanical engineer, and they had another car, so he came and rescued me. Of course, it was in the days before mobile phones.
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Post by Liiisa on Jan 31, 2024 19:25:23 GMT -5
Parallel parking: sure I used to be fairly good at it, but it's so much easier now that I have a car with rear and side cameras! But I still avoid it if I can just out of sheer laziness.
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Post by lisamnz on Jan 31, 2024 20:06:45 GMT -5
I can't imagine living in Bourke and not being able to drive!
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Post by lisamnz on Jan 31, 2024 20:09:50 GMT -5
oh that was a random comment that didn't post earlier. I dislike column shifts too. I'm fine with a standard manual and we recently bought a new vehicle that is manual, it's so we can tow a horse float lol.
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Post by romily on Feb 1, 2024 3:33:43 GMT -5
It still scares the shit out of me that people's parent's (or non licences instructors with no double pedals in car) are allowed to teach to drive. There was at least one incident where I would have crashed if the instructor would not have hit the breaks. It's a miracle tome that it seems to work in other countries!
And yes, driving license in Germany was super expensive - back then it was about 2000 DM - google says nowadays it's between €1500 and €2500.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Feb 1, 2024 3:41:49 GMT -5
LC will be able to get his L's in May.
Eek.
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Post by fishface on Feb 1, 2024 3:55:16 GMT -5
AFter a period of time on the restricted licence, you automatically graduate to your full. You can shorten the time by doing a defensive driving course, or an advanced practical driving course where you get to speed around a racetrack and practice emergency stops, etc. I've done both, I did the advanced driving course for work years later. You have to pass a practical test to move to your full licence! You're showing your age 😀😅
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Post by groo on Feb 1, 2024 4:16:52 GMT -5
My father taught me to drive, followed by a brief "finishing school" with an instructor who was aware of the peccadillos of the testing officers. I followed the same procedure with both of our kids.
I've never felt the need for a dual control override until quite recently, when daughter has from time to time assumed the RH seat.
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Post by ozziegiraffe on Feb 1, 2024 5:21:09 GMT -5
The Morris Minor I learnt on had a hand brake between the seats, which could have been used in an emergency.
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