In another thread, mention was made that no one under 18 or over 50 should have a driver's license as those age groups had the most accidents. Now I am not taking issue with this even though I disagree with it. My interest is in when did you get your first driver's license?
I got mine in 1946 from the editor of a small town newspaper. He filled in the license with the information that I gave him, collected my 25 cents and I was good to go. I didn't even know how to drive yet. No driving test, no written test, no eye test. I have yet to take an actual driving test. I always pass the written exam on the first round and my vision is 20/20 so I don't even have a correctional lens thing on my license. I have never had my license revoked, nor has it ever elapsed. I gave up driving several years ago because I have to have someone to manage my wheelchair and purchases so they might as well do the driving, too. Besides , I like being the passenger and able to look at everything along the way.
When did you get your first driver's license?
I got mine in 1957 at the age of 14. I was living in Colorado for the summer and a friend of ours taught me to drive. However, the driving age in that state was 15 at that time, but just across the border in Wyoming, the age limit was 14 and a half. So, our friend drove us to Laramie where I took my test in his car and passed with no problems. Here, in California, due to the massive population, the DMV usually just sends a renewal in the mail unless you have had a reported accident. I did do some driving at age 13 while living in Wyoming, but only in the lumber camp where I lived. There was no local law enforcement there. I not only drove cars, but dump trucks, snow plows and motorcycles. I have taken maybe two drivers tests since then.
Larryj
Permit and license in PA. at age 16 (1961) after Drivers Ed. Did have written and road test. Eye test every 5 years after that.
Got my restricted license at 14 and started driving everywhere immediately.
Really dumb, too.
I remember driving my dad's car 110 m.p.h. at the age of 14.
Can't believe I was that stupid.
Believe it or not I did't get my 1st license till I was 18. I grew up in New Orleans and even back then traffic was awful so the parents thought I needed more time. I kind of agreed with them and made Jenepher and Sarah wait till almost 18 for theirs as well. Jen got her 1st there in Howard and Sarah down here in Fl.
Andrea
I don't remember. Oh yeah I do. I got my permit when I turned 14 and was taking driver's ed from Mr. Shephard at Severy High School. That man had us drive everything. A school bus, some kind of a car that you shifted by pressing down on the foot feed then letting up, if my memory is correct.
I have never failed a driver's written test and the only driving test I ever took was in driver's ed. Once I got my license, I drove all the time. My grandparents on both sides used me as their driver alot. My Grandpa Hancock said that I was one of the best driver's he had ever ridden with and my Grandpa Furrow told me that he trusted my driving more then he did one of my male cousins.
I am a good driver and plan to stay driving until Zimmerman's put me in the ground. LOL
I will confess this because the statute of limitations has run out long ago. I got into a drag race with some kid from Howard with an old ford against my '58 Chevy. We raced ------well, his car quit somewhere along the road-------all the way to Severy. I made it to Severy in less than ten minutes and scared the heck out of my girlfriend. The word got around Howard and nobody challenged me to a drag anymore that summer.
Larryj
Janet forgot to tell you about the '64 Ford Galaxie that she claimed could out run any other car on the road. It had dual mufflers, I think it was, and when you revved it, it sounded like a hundred horses pounding down the road. I don't know if she ever had to prove her claim because she has never admitted to that.
Much to my mother's dismay, I did take drivers training and did pass all my tests.....Dad took me to get my liscense and when
I got home, Mom still wouldn't let me drive the car with her in it. She was such a fearful lady........and thank goodness that when dad and I went somewhere by ourselves, errands and such, he let me drive.
I learned on a standard and altho I haven't driven any buses or large trucks. I did drive one of our firetrucks to a brush fire and except that I am older and my reflexes aren't as good. Still think I am a fair driver.
Oh, I was 17 when I graduated. I think (not sure) that was the year I took drivers ed. Knowing mom, that was cause she had to let me.
Larry,
Wonder how fast you could have made it to Severy if K-99 was in as good a shape then as it is now? The last mile along the old K-99, though, might slow you down.
I started driving at age 14. My dad and I always drove to the country to buy eggs on a Sunday and one day he pulled over on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to drive. I did not. I was scared to death. Had not even ever thought of driving. But I did not tell him that. Over a number of Sundays I gradually took over driving all the way to the country and back. No license, no restricted permit, and no learners permit.
Took the written test and drivers test on my Birthday but received a scolding from the state patrol officer administering the drivers test. I thought I did rather good. I came away with the opinion that his speech was reserved for anyone who was 16.
In that Ford Galaxy, I drove from Howard to Severy and topped people's hill at 100 MPH. I had a girl named Carol Gray and my little sister in the car. We were on our way from school to Eureka for a Rainbow meeting. I think I scared Carol half to death because I don't remember her ever riding with me again. Anyway, I thought it was fun. I don't know if Patti did. In my tenure as sheriff, I got to driver my patrol unit and ambulances very, very fast. I loved it so much and I really have to watch my speed when I'm driving a regular vehicle.
I got my learner's permit as soon as I could at 14. My mom is the most patient driving teacher in the WORLD! I asked her if she wold teach my kids to drive since I knew that I'd never be as calm and patient as she was :)
We had an automatic, but my parents insisted I learn how to drive standard too. Tex Carson, a family friend let me go with him to the bean field and I'd back the pickup across the field to refill the seed in the planter every little bit. I ran over more than one metal 5 gallon can, I can tell you. You'd have thought he'd learn not to set them behind the tires. HA!
I remember early on he had me follow him out to the field, he in the tractor and me following in his pickup. There was a HUGE steep hill in one area that he'd forgot to warn me about, so halfway up he pulled the tractor over to make sure I could do the down-shift and manage. I thought he wanted me to stop and the hill was so steep and so muddy (and I was so short) that I had one foot on the brake and one on the clutch, both to the floor and I was stretched straight as a board trying to hold them, petrified and staring at the ceiling of the truck cab! He tried so hard not to be mad and then not to laugh as he got off the tractor, walked to the truck and took over to get the pickup to the top of that hill. And he still let me drive after that. What a great guy :)
I learned to drive when I was 15, but didn't get a license until I was 17. I didn't have to take a test then but when I applied for a CDL I took one and passed. Fred always drove a LP Gas truck, and a transport and I helped drive both of them, so had to have the special license. We moved to Oklahoma in 1955, and I had to take the OK driver's license driving test, plus the written. I hated the parallel parking part of it.
I thought maybe the patrolman was so glad to get out of the car, that he let me pass.
As mentioned, I learned how to drive in the country. There were few, and usually no, cars on the road.
When it came my turn to teach a fifteen year old (with a learners permit) how to drive, I was mortified at having someone at the wheel who had never been there before. Even in our close in country areas, the roads are all busy and people here drive like maniacs, so I did not know how I was going to go about it.
I looked around and found an abandoned Home Depot like store and took her there the first couple of times. Got her use to the car and had her drive around the empty parking lot.
After a short time, a parking lot gets boring even to a novice. I soon discovered a huge subdivision that had been abandoned. Before the builder went belly up, he had black topped all the streets, put up all the stop signs, street lights, sidewalks, etc. (as required here). He had managed to put up only four houses of about two thousand planned.
This was one great place to teach a kid to drive and she could drive up one street and down another. Nevertheless, when we finally hit the busy streets, I was still nervous—but she got there and is now in her late thirties.
One of the requirements that I placed on her was that after she got her license, she had to change a tire. I had her jack the car up, take the tire off, put it in the trunk, take it out, and then put it back on. We did this on two different occasions. I might add that she was not too happy about getting dirty, but a few years later after she found she had to do it herself, she thanked me.
The first thing I drove was an old Allis Chalmers tractor with the hand crank start. I would drive it across the fields as fast as it would go, which was never fast enough. I was probably about 12. I got a learners permit I believe at 14 at 15. My grandparents and Mom and stepdad all took turns riding with me. I remember them being nervous and pressing there foot into the floor as if they were in control of the brakes. I learned on a stick shift. The worse part was at this one railroad intersection on a hill. It was nerve wracking trying to shift and keep from rolling backwards. I did a lot of learning time on the good old country roads around Chanute. My favorite person to drive with was Grandad, (he had been letting me steer the car when just the two of us since grade school, our secret). I remember once, I told Grandma that I liked driving with Grandad best and she said; "Of course you do. The two of you drive just a like. You watch everything but the road and talk all the time." Ha, ha. Turning 16 and getting my first car, a 1949 Maroon Ford, was one of the happiest experiences for me. That license was a proud moment.
Janet Harrington is driving me crazy, I know it is a short drive. She got her start driving nails and cattle.
;D ;D ;D
Quote from: Delbert on January 23, 2010, 08:34:35 AM
Janet Harrington is driving me crazy, I know it is a short drive. She got her start driving nails and cattle.
Delbert, I would so enjoy getting you into a car with me and driving as fast as that car would let me. You being a former driver's ed teacher and all. I would show you how to do emergency driving and pursuit driving like you have never seen. LOL
Quote from: Rudy Taylor on January 23, 2010, 08:57:51 AM
;D ;D ;D
And, Rudy. What are you smiling at? I would like to do the same thing to you. LOL
You had better buy a new car. That little gas sipper wouldn't out run a jackrabbit. Maybe a vw rabbit down a hill. I could take you on my ten speed. Now that would be a sight....my fat *&% .....in bike shorts.....gettin beat by the ole popo in the economizer.
Do I hear a challenge?
Ah. You would be surprised just how fast my car can go. But, I will never share that with anyone but Delbert and Rudy and that will only happen when they take that wonderful ride. LOL
I can tell you how fast.. :o
If I wasn't blond..I'd be fully gray.. ( THAT'S what Ta Ta's driving does to my nerves...) ;D
She SAYS she is totally blonde, but do we really know where the gray hairs might be lurking? ROFLMAO
Do we want to know where the gray hairs might be lurking?
OOOH, now you've done it. Look out! ;)
ohhhh that is just plain mean... I call a foul on that one.. hahahaha
No, you don't. You really want us to ask where the gray hairs are, but instead, I'll just ask Kjell. Ha Ha. I just crack myself up sometimes.
Maybe we should get to the root of this. Get it? Roots?
An old squirrell hunter told me once that all squirrells start out with red hair but after years of "cracking" nuts it turns their hair grey. Is that maybe what you were thinking Janet ?
Thin ice Jar,very thin ice! ;D
Reading this thread is enough to make anyone squirrelly!
Larryj