<p>Can anyone help me navigate this - momof3sons, cptofthehouse, anyone? S1 has now turned 16, and wants to get his learner’s permit. He has already studied and is ready to take the test. But I looked at the DMV website, and was shocked at the limited hours - they close at 4 most days, with only one “late” day with a 6 pm closing, and they are not open on Saturdays. I also saw a notice that the White Plains office is not doing learner’s permit tests - now I have to figure out how to get over to Yonkers, I guess!</p>
<p>I’m also trying to figure out what ID he needs. I can probably find his birth certificate without too much trouble, but his SS card? Is that needed? I will be with him with my driver’s license. He has a school ID with a photo - does that help at all?</p>
<p>What about driver’s ed? S1 said that it is offered at school, but he thinks it’s already started. I have not heard anything about it. Are there other good options around?</p>
<p>Here in CA, the DMV offices in heavily populated areas used to be open on Saturdays. That stopped. Now with the state furloughs, they are closed every other Friday. It’s not a pretty sight in these places on the Thursdays before the closed Fridays.</p>
<p>My d went recently to the DMV and had to come home as we searched for her SS card. She went with her school ID and passport but was turned away without a Social Security card. We live in NYC and agree the hours are kind of ridiculous.</p>
<p>For you to avail of “slightly” lower insurance and male drivers are hit really high, you must do the classes, meaning, the state sanctioned one with a blue card, otherwise he will only be given a limited use type license(can’t remember if it is referred to as a junior license or what they call it)D friend took one of those commercial type driving school classes, not supported by DMV as a student course and she wouldn’t have full driving priveleges till age 18, </p>
<p>You may find schools with programs if you search around the above site, the summer courses s… can’t miss more than one or two classes the entire summer, and a car class is one and the lecture is another. So can really impede either a summer job or family vacation. Check your local community colleges as well they offer the courses at least some do. The fall classes book up REALLY fast, so don’t wait too long.</p>
<p>First let me say that he absolutely must have his social security card with him or he cannot do anything. If you don’t have it (can’t find it) you can get a new one on line fairly easily. As far as the hours, it’s a tradition in my daughter’s school that the day of their 16th birthday they will be late to school. I’m in Westchester also and I believe the offices open around 8AM so he could be in school by 9:30. If he’s willing to wait you could do it during Spring Break or maybe you have a half-day, Superintendents Conference Day or something like that. Whatever you decide the earlier in the day that you get there the better.</p>
<p>As far as Drivers Ed - your son is probably right - it’s already started. There might be a later date depending on your school but most areas offer Drivers Ed in the summer as well. My daughter couldn’t fit it into her schedule (it’s not offered during school, she was just too busy after school to fit it in) so we gave her regular private driving lessons supplemented by driving with us. The big negative here is that legally she has a junior license until she turns 18 which means she can’t drive after 9pm with a few exceptions and she can’t drive more than 2 unrelated kids (under 21) in the car with her. Not as big a deal as it might seem as most of her friends did take Drivers Ed (they have a full license at 17) and they can take her home from gatherings lasting past 9:00.</p>
<p>I’m in NYC too and the hours are ridiculous. The student can’t get a license until age 18 unless he/she has taken driver’s ed and received the certificate. In NYC, people with permits under age 18 can never, ever drive unless they’re in a car with dual brakes. Which makes it very tough to get experience and so most kids end up taking private lessons after driver’s ed.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the information. It’s very helpful. It sounds like I have to track down that SS card. I tried the DMV website for ID documents, but had a hard time figuring out what the requirements are. Of course I want him to take driver’s ed, to learn to drive well. Thanks for pointing out that not all courses are sanctioned by the state.</p>
<p>How long does a driver’s ed course take? I wonder whether he could take it at another school…</p>
<p>As far as I know, if you have a valid passport, you don’t need any other documentation. Go on the website to see the point value of all identification documents.</p>
<p>Have you looked into the Peeksill office. I’m not sure where in Westchester you live, but they may be open later. Otherwise, you don’t need to go with your child to take the test. Maybe there is another adult that can accompany him.</p>
<p>With Driver’s Ed, he can get his junior license at 16 1/2, which means he can drive until 9pm. At age 17, he will have full driving privileges. However, you need to check with DMV for rules while driving through NYC and LI</p>
<p>Hi NYMomof2,
One key is NOT to put him on your insurance until he is a licensed driver. It is unnecessary to add him until he becomes licensed. I have gone through this 3 times and Yonkers is the place that gives the learner’s permit test, not White Plains. There’s plenty of parking near the Yonkers site, but make sure you check out what time you need to be there (how soon before they close) because they don’t allow the tests to be taken after a certain time.</p>
<p>Eventually, he should take driver’s ed, but if it’s impossible to take it now you or DH can teach him to drive and he could actually have a junior license before he starts driver’s ed. He may be able to take it this summer. All of the schools in our area contract with Maria Regina high school and that’s where many of our local schools send their kids for driver’s ed. PM me if you need more details.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, try Peekskill, as michone says. Hours still aren’t very good but the lines are usually much, much shorter.</p>
<p>Re driver’s ed: D (now 20) could never take it, because it conflicted w after-school sports and a number of other things. She had to take the classroom part at a local branch of WCC. Lots of frustration, tons of road hours with her, and no full lic. until she turned 18.</p>
<p>S1 (17) is fortunate in that his school offered driver’s ed on Saturday mornings. We still spend a lot of time in the car with him, but he has a full license now. Much, much better.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, Peekskill runs the same office hours as Yonkers-8:30-4 p.m., except for Thursday when they are both 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Very convenient, I know. :rolleyes: I don’t recall that there was a long wait for learner’s permit tests in Yonkers, and my kids finished quickly, probably because they studied so diligently…this isn’t like school, far more important. ;)</p>
<p>If you don’t mind him not getting a senior license until he’s 18, you can sign up for any commercial driving school course; they have a 5 hour classroom thing and then drivers lessons and you can still get the junior license 6 months after the permit. My daughter didn’t have time to take the school course and I didn’t care if she couldn’t drive after 9pm (like Harriet’s D did above)</p>
<p>Yonkers had a block long line an hour before the doors even opened… I dropped my kid off and told him to phone me when he was done. The site about ID is amazingly confusing, my recollection is that he had ss card and passport. He actually took the required lessons and driving time before getting the permit. Apparently that’s okay as long as it’s driving school and not parents driving with the kid. My kid (almost 20) still hasn’t gotten around to taking a driving test, he just has a learner’s permit.</p>
<p>There is a list of what you need for id purposes. Though I am going through this same thing AGAIN for the 4th time, I don’t remember the items and will have to go through the list again. Will pm you when I do that. </p>
<p>I took my kids up north for the test. Can’t remember name of the town (Rockland county?). There was no wait, it had a small town atmosphere. Well worth the trip in my opinion. Two of mine took the classes and instruction through commercial driving schools; one went through the highs school. Call around for times and prices. I am going to probably use Formula1 but that’s cuz it’s nearby and has the hours we want. </p>
<p>The big issue is their driving around here. The traffic is tough in this area and cops come down hard on young drivers. I know many, many kids who lost their licenses and their family’s insurance skyrocketed shortly after those kids started driving. This is a very scary time, and I can tell you that I am in no hurry for the next one to drive. They can get over a lot of mistakes in life, but in a car, it can be over in an instant.</p>
<p>** Re my own post indicating I’m happy that S1 has a full licence: It’s true, I am. But the one thing I wish there was an extended restriction on is the *&^%%$ Saw Mill. I loved it when he wasn’t even allowed on it. I wish nobody was allowed to drive on it until they turned 25. Or maybe 40.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, perhaps mathmom and I had different experiences with the length of the waiting lines at Yonkers because our family went towards the end of the day rather then right when it opened. YMMV. ;)</p>
<p>Some kids get a special junior license which is when you take the drivers test and pass it before 6 months have passed since your permit…and in some counties that’s the same thing as a learner’s permit and in some counties you actually can drive alone and then there are regs if you’re a teenage parent and have to take your kid to day care or if you have to work or if you have to go to school at night but school sports at night don’t count as the same thing as school class at night…I really couldn’t understand it all. When I got a license you either had a license to drive or you didn’t.</p>
<p>Learners permit is in hand! I took all your advice, and called a friend who had done this recently, and zoomed over to Yonkers. No line, no wait except for the very last part, after the test, which S1 passed quickly. I had his birth certificate and SS card, and I had to show my license. </p>
<p>Now I have to find a drivers’ ed class. The summer is probably out because it will be broken up by trips we have planned. Waiting until the fall is not great. S1 thinks the course at his school has already started. He will ask about it at school, and I will call around looking for other places that he can take it. I don’t want to teach him myself. I will look into the commercial courses, but I do think the not-driving-after-9pm thing is going to be a problem. In practice, this would mean that he is driiven by other kids, and I tend to think that he would be safer as the driver.</p>
<p>I think that S1 will be a good and responsible driver, but I am well aware of the accident rates for any new driver, and the neurological realities of adolescent males. (The well-established insurance industry practice of setting higher rates for males under 25 has been more recently validated by neurological research. Myelination in the parts of the brain that control judgment is not complete in males until the mid-20’s.) I trust him not to do anything crazy, but of course even responsible kids have bad accidents. I feel torn between his pride at having that precious piece of paper and worry about him being behind the wheel.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, I can understand your reluctance to teach him since many parents feel that way. However, you really should at least get him started in a local empty parking lot. If he shows up the first day of driver’s ed and has never driven a car, he will be the only one, and may well be embarrassed that he hasn’t a clue. I recall that the high school driver’s ed course my kids took last year started at the beginning of February and ran until early June. It might be more compact in the summer.</p>