<p>I think taking driving lessons is excellent. My son took driver’s ed and the techniques they taught him were things I’d never heard. I can now confidently parallel park and back into a parking space because my 16 year old told me how he was being taught!</p>
<p>Driving lessons are important in any case–in New Jersey they are required in school if kids want to get their license at 17. As far as failing the first time, it is a nuisance. My father taught me to drive (I did not grow up in NJ and don’t think the law was in effect then anyway), and I failed the test the first time many decades ago primarily because I took it on my father’s manual shift Peugeot whose transmission quirks I never really mastered–took it again several years later on his automatic shift Plymouth after one or two professional driving lessons and passed but didn’t really drive for a few years after that because I had no car myself. Since then, however, have driven tens of thousands of miles in a variety of cars. </p>
<p>Both my children took school-sanctioned driver’s ed and passed their tests on first go-round. Also, they had done a lot of driving with me or my husband in the car while they had their learner’s permits. NJ has another good rule for under-18-year-old drivers–they are not allowed to have more than one passenger.</p>
<p>In our state (NC) passing a Driver’s Ed (after school)class that lasted 3 weeks and spending several days driving with an instructor is mandatory before being allowed to get a Learner’s Permit at 15. This is all free if you are enrolled in a NC public school.</p>
<p>They have to have the Learner’s Permit (and practice driving with a parent) for an entire year before they can take the test to get their Driver’s License. </p>
<p>During that year, my kids were behind the wheel almost every time we left the driveway. </p>
<p>At first they get a restricted license. They can only have one passenger in the car and cannot drive after 9 pm for the first six months. If they have no violations during that 6 months, they can go back to the DMV and get a full license (no further testing req.) </p>
<p>I had to parallel park when I got my NC license in 1978 but it’s no longer required.<br>
I’m not sure if it’s even taught in Driver’s Ed anymore. Wonder if my kids (20 and 23) can even do it?</p>
<p>My kids each took a two-hour lesson (in addition to their required-by-law professional driver’s training) the week before the test and ran the actual course with the instructor (I believe that it cost $80 to do this, but is a common practice where I live). They actually practiced parallel parking, three point turns, parking on a curb, etc… on the actual course so they were pretty prepared and confident taking the actual test. Worth every penny.</p>
<p>
I think this is an important point, and it was a temptation I had when teaching my son–I had to force myself to have him drive on the interstate, park near other cars, etc.</p>
<p>My initial response would have been “Thank heavens, my insurance rates aren’t going up just yet!”</p>
<p>Happykid has had her learner’s permit for almost two years now, and we still haven’t got to the 60 hours required by Maryland. Neither Happydad nor I really want to have to teach parallel parking, so I plan to shell out the money for a few more hours with the instructors from the driving school where she took her required classes. Fortunately, Happykid can take public transportation everywhere she wants to go, so she has no pressing need for a driver’s license just yet. Her Iowa cousins are amazed though. Most of them had School Licenses at 14.</p>
<p>It is very common around here for kids with good access to public transportation to not get their license til they really need it.</p>
<p>Wow…I never took an on-the-road driver’s test to get my license. </p>
<p>In VA, you can do it that way through the DMV, but you can also do it through your school.</p>
<p>I went to the DMV when I was 15 and 6 months, took my computerized learner’s test, passed, and got my permit.</p>
<p>Then I did 50 hours of at-home driving with a parent, 10 of which had to be after dark.</p>
<p>After you complete that, I gave it to my school’s licensing person, which in this case was one of my gym teachers.</p>
<p>In my school, in 10th grade, you alternate between Gym and Health every other week, so during Gym weeks, when it was your turn, you and a partner would do “in-car” with the other gym teacher (we had two that both did in-car).</p>
<p>It wasn’t a “test” per say, more like, after several lessons of learning specific things your parents probably didn’t teacher you, have you shown adequate proficiency/improvement in the last few lessons? </p>
<p>I recall him saying he only ever failed 1 person in all the years he’s been doing in-car…like…ten to fifteen years?</p>
<p>So, yeah…you have to have a certain number of hours of in-car with a certified teacher, and unless you really CAN’T drive, you’ll probably pass…</p>
<p>After you do all that, you just wait until you’re 16 and 3 months, or until a certain number of months after you’ve gotten your permit (I got mine about a month late because I was lazy), and then you get your temporary license.</p>
<p>A couple months after that, you get your permanent one. </p>
<p>So, yeah…I never did the “two hour” test with a DMV instructor…</p>
<p>In PA the first thing they test you on is parallel parking. They have a space and cones set up right in the parking lot. A high percentage never get out onto the street. I know kids who failed because they put on their seatbelt after they started the car.
3 of my 4 failed on the first try.<br>
My youngest went with her Dad on her second try. After she got her license she was waiting for traffic before pulling out of the parking lot and heading home and she sent me a text. :eek: I was furious at her but more furious with her father.</p>
<p>Oh man, Tennessee has to have the easiest driver’s test ever. It’s a small loop around an unpopulated road. As long as you stop at the stop signs, stay relatively within the speed limit, wear your seatbelt, signal, and use your mirrors/look at your blind spot, you’ll pass.</p>
<p>You and your parents have to sign a sheet that says you have driven for at least 50 hours, ten during the dark. Also have to have permit for at least six months. There is no parallel parking. Easy.</p>
<p>There are technical ways to learn how to parallel park. I had a good driving teacher who taught me to drive up to the car in front, matching front and back of the car. Put on blinker to warn traffic. Turn wheel 100% hard right, then back in UNTIL (here’s the technical part) the moment you see centered in the left rear-view mirror the front left bumper of the car behind you. That clues you to stop and turn the wheel completely hard left to finish the parallel park. </p>
<p>I might not be describing it well, but it’s all in knowing exactly when to make that switch from hard right to hard left on the steering wheel, using the rearview mirror. I never have to turn my head around or use my spatial judgment (heaven forbid). I have impressed many people with my skill parallel parking, completely out of character with the rest of my driving abilities which are just mediocre. </p>
<p>I also failed the test the first 2 times as a teenager until I bought my own driving lessons from a professional teacher. I never took Drivers Ed and waited until I was l8. Long story that.</p>
<p>Be sure your D is equipped with some very tight technical guidance like that on parallel parking. It’s helped me so much, especially now with one kid living in Brooklyn. When I visit, I have to move my car daily there to get away from streetsweepers, parallel parking in very tight spaces. Once, somebody applauded.
It’s the only driving skill I can boast about, really.</p>
<p>My S failed every week of his Winter Break until the last day before he had to fly back to shcool. He FINALLY passed! I think it was the 3rd or 4th time he took the test–first time he failed anything and he was very surprised. The 1st time he failed, he went 2 or 3 miles above the speed limit and didn’t stop at the right spot in the intersection for the testor. The second time he failed, he had people literally jump out in front of his car from the curb so he had to stop and then he was stuck in the intersection as it turned red (he had the green light when he pulled into the intersection). The third time, I guess he had a better time at the intersection and no pedestrians decided to jump out at him.</p>
<p>Both my kids took the standard 30 hours of driver’s ed classroom + 5 hours behind the wheel from the public schools. They also drove me around & hubby around for many, many hours. D has never taken her driver’s licensing test & still only has a learner’s permit. Not sure when she’s planning to get around to it, as she doesn’t drive often. We shall see; permit expires this summer.</p>
<p>When my daughter was a senior in high school, and had already failed the road test twice, I broke my leg and could not drive for more than a month, and it became a matter of urgency for her to have a driver’s license.</p>
<p>She contacted the driving school where she had taken lessons more than a year earlier and signed up for one extra 2-hour lesson specifically focused on the skills tested in the exam (which have little or nothing to do with the skills you need on the road). This enabled her to pass on the next try.</p>
<p>I failed twice. The first time was a bunch of little mistakes (didn’t know how to manually turn on the lights in my mom’s car, turned on a yellow light) but I parallel parked fine. The second time I couldn’t get past the parallel parking. If I failed one more time, I would have to get a new permit and wait another six months.</p>
<p>The third time was a breeze. Parallel parked perfectly, didn’t run any lights or stop signs, regardless of the color. </p>
<p>I took a month in between each one and just kept practicing - driving myself to school with dad in the passenger’s seat, we kept practicing the parallel parking - both at the high school that had a practice course and at the actual testing site. I had already taken driver’s ed (both classroom and behind-the-wheel) before starting to take the driver’s test. A lot of it is just confidence and getting as many hours driving as you can beforehand.</p>
<p>And in the seven years I’ve been driving, I’ve only parallel parked once or twice. I tend to keep driving until I find a space I can just pull in to, and then walk back to my destination.</p>
<p>My daughter failed the road test twice. I was thankful that she failed because she needed more practice. She is a terrific driver now.</p>
<p>The driver’s manual in PA gives very good instructions - both visual and verbal on parrallel parking. The kids just have to practice it over and over, eventually it becomes second nature and once you learn it you don’t forget it.</p>
<p>My oldest didn’t want to drive. I made her get her permit and take driver’s ed and told her that she could not go off to college until she had her license. She failed the driver’s test because she freaked out merging onto a highway. She dragged her heels so long she even had to renew her permit. Summer after senior year, I nagged her to no end to reschedule her test and get it done. She did and passed. The day before she moved off to college.</p>
<p>I mostly practiced driving with my then boyfriend (now dh) when I was 22, but I did take a few lessons with a local driving school. He specifically had me practice parallel parking the way it would be done on the test - between poles and not cars. His method was similar to what Paying3Tuitions describes in post #51. I was so cross when I got to the end of the test and wasn’t asked to parallel park - apparently even if I couldn’t park, I’d already passed the test!</p>
<p>I had to take the test once more after living in Germany 5 years. I came to the test on my own with my international license. Whizzed around in my stick shift car. I don’t think the tester dared fail me!</p>
<p>JustaMomof4, that sounds like my older son - he’s on year 3 of his Learner’s Permit - junior in college.</p>
<p>My husband is a great parallel parker, but a lousy judge of space size. He thinks they are all too small, while in reality he can get into a space with just a few inches to spare. We park a lot in NYC. I can’t imagine avoiding parallel parking spaces - there aren’t enough of the other kind around.</p>
<p>Another PA resident here. S could not get appointment locally to take his test, so I scheduled it for my home town about an hour away. We drove down on a Sunday to the course that had barrels positioned for the parallel parking. S decided that when he parked “perfectly” 10 times in a row, that we could leave. The first time, he did 4 and then a miss so he started the count over. There were two practice areas with people coming and going. After about 2 hours of parking at one spot, moving up and parking at the second spot, then getting in line to wait for the first spot to open up again, he completed his 10 in a row. Two days later he passed his test on the first try. Besides his persistence, we both think it helped that he had just passed his 18th birthday. Eight of the ten people in front of him failed that day.</p>
<p>I guess all you can do is find out the stipulations for retaking the test ( the max number of tries, if time must elapse between attempts, etc), advise your daughter of the stipulations, and let her decide when/if she wants to retake it after a bit more practice. I am sure she will be fine.</p>
<p>Back in the day, aaahhh… I failed twice, my DH failed twice (and he is a pretty good driver). when it came our kids’ turns, we thought here it goes, three times each (these have all been in the same state) - but both of them passed the first time. When DD passed, I thought, Lord, I’m never getting on the road again! She hated driving, and it was hard to get her to practice. The biggest difference was no parallel parking in our state anymore - which means practically no test.
DS did fail the written the first time. He had barely studied (my take, he said he did study), and it was a weird computerized test. The next time he went to take it the clerk told the girl ahead of him in line that if she didn’t know an answer definitively to skip the question, the way the test is graded if you got happened to get three hard questions in a row and miss them, you immediately failed, but there was no penalty for skipping a question and once you reaching a passing number you might never get back to those hard questions. He was irate (and honestly I couldn’t blame him, I was there both times and the first clerk didn’t give any instructions about skipping questions). The second time he breezed through the test, so it was either extra study or as he said, more clear instructions.</p>