STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

driving school

crystal · Kate Spade

i say skip the driving school. i never learned anything from it other than the guy smelled bad! get friends, relatives, anyone u can to teach you. it's much better that way, but to be honest i was not even comfortable driving when i bought my first (brand new) car! i barely passed the driving test & held my license for 3 years before i got in a car (driving) again. i didn't even want to take my car for a test drive cuz i was too nervous, but i did it & then i had to drive it off the lot & all the way home. i'm glad i did it tho cuz once i started driving alone i got much more comfortable & now think i am an excellent driver!

honey · Gucci

you're not a loser, i'm 25 and don't have a license. but i do know how you feel, it took a lot for me to admit that.

as far as driving school, if you already have someone to teach you, you probably don't need it. i agree with crystal the best way to learn is probably is with patient friends and family. i learned to drive that way. however, i am actually going to go to school again this summer b/c i need a refresher. there's a school near me that offers six lessons & a road test, and i need someone to sponsor me for the road test. so off to school i go. plus i know that i can do a things like a 3 point turn, but if someone told me to do one in a car, i'd probably flip out so i need to master that.

good luck. maybe we can be each other's moral support.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

honey wrote:

you're not a loser, i'm 25 and don't have a license. but i do know how you feel, it took a lot for me to admit that. as far as driving school, if you already have someone to teach you, you probably don't need it. i agree with crystal the best way to learn is probably is with patient friends and family. i learned to drive that way. however, i am actually going to go to school again this summer b/c i need a refresher. there's a school near me that offers six lessons & a road test, and i need someone to sponsor me for the road test. so off to school i go. plus i know that i can do a things like a 3 point turn, but if someone told me to do one in a car, i'd probably flip out so i need to master that. good luck. maybe we can be each other's moral support.

yay! I am so glad that I'm not the only one. It's just gotten so embarrassing when I need to show ID anywhere and they look at my non-driver's card like "wtf?!". I talked to FH last night and he seems nervous but told me he will support me and will drive me out to the "country" where there's not so much traffic and let me practice, as long as I promise to buy my own car as soon as I get a liscense (I can't blame him for this- his car is brand new and its his baby). So I think my plan will be to go to the DMV and get a permit this weekend, and then see where it goes from there. I am going to make a goal for myself to get a license by November 1. We'll see how that goes.

good luck to you too and keep me updated!! I could def. use some moral support, so know ing that someone else is "going through" this too makes it seem so much less scary (why is it so much easier when you're 16?!)

RyanJ · Coach

I learned how to parallel park and back into a parking space from a teacher. If there is something you think you need to work on then you could probably find a teacher to teach that. I called a drivers ed teacher from the local high school (my school didn't offer drivers ed) and he taught me how to for like $10.00. When I took the test the tester told me I was the best parker he could remember.

I was thinking that a benefit of going to a driver’s school would be if you get into an accident you maybe covered. I don't know how it works were you live, but a few years ago my uncle was teacher my cousin to drive. He got in an accident (not his fault), but he didn't have his license and it was kind of a big ordeal. The cop told him that if you are w/ a driving schoolteacher the accidents wouldn't have been such a big deal. I don't remember all the details, but basically an unlicensed driver should only driver w/ a driving schoolteacher.

Lilykind · Hermes

ILoveChoo, I feel for you. *hugs*

I'm 20 and I can't drive. I get heart palpitations at the wheel becuase I'm so afraid I'll get into an accident. Living in Los Angeles is really stressful for me mostly because of my lack of driving skills (I get around on public trans and rides from friends). In fact, when I was with my co-worker dropping something off at the bank in Beverly Hills, I didn't even know how to move the car out of the red so we got a $65 ticket, which neither of us can really afford.

I have my learners' permit from New York (where I'm from) that I use as ID and I'm really tired of the looks I get from people who see it. I got it at 16, but two months afterwards I went to college and then I got internships and jobs, therefore I didn't really make the time to learn how to drive. I went to driving school and plunked down $250 attempting to learn how to drive. Instead I literally was paralyzed as I drove down some of LA's most travelled streets. It is NOT FUN driving along Santa Monica Blvd. during the lunch rush. Plus the instructor made me so nervous and eventually I was so worked up I drove onto a curb and he yelled at me for like three straight minutes as I was literally crying. So I definitely advise against driving school.

Your FH sounds so supportive...I think him giving you a refresher would be the best thing. Good luck!

(on a side note, I need to get MY ass over to DMV to renew my permit...ick)

-- Edited by Lilykind at 16:29, 2005-06-30

Andrea Julia · Coach

I would try to learn from your FH. In my state, you are required to do 6 (I think it was 6) hours of driving school to get your license. Well, I was such a bad driver that my parents put me through an extra 6 hours of driving school. I failed the driving test twice (the driving part, not the written). The law at the time in NJ was that if you were 16 and had a permit, you had to drive with someone over 21, but if you were 17 and still had a permit (like me) you could drive with anyone you wanted. I then was able to drive with friends and started to become more comfortable with it. My parents were always too nervous with me in the car and the instructors were both so unfriendly and mean and I wasn't used to their cars. Those things didn't help me at all. My friends were more laid back and I was able to drive without being stressed.

I think you should pick a day and drive out someplace in the country with the FH or a friend. You already know the basics. You just need some practice.

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

i finally got my license five years ago, at the ripe old age of 22. and geez louis, the stories i could tell! first of all i failed the test twice before i passed. the first time i got too many points off and the second time i cut someone off but only because the tester was pressuring me to take a turn and it made me nervous. and my boyfriend at the time was trying to teach me and seriously, we almost broke up over it--during one of the "lessons", he made me pull over and asks "so why do you think you're such a slow learner?" wtf?! i was so appalled he would say such a thing i didn't speak to him for a while and then when i finally did i called him an "impatient ogre" and then he apologized but still! but then i got such a cool driving teacher, every time i'd fail, he'd take me out for breakfast and say 'it's ok honey, you tried your best'...aww. and then the time my dad took me to take the test for the third time, yay, i finally passed! it was so funny too because at about the same time, i got into the law schools i wanted and all my friends were so excited i finally had my license they'd call and leave messages congratulating me and on a side not the'd be like oh, yeah that's cool about law school too...hilarious.

so anyway, i have no idea if that little trip down memory lane helped anyone but i just wanted to commiserate and say listen, if I can do it, anyone can--seriously!