Driving Test

Having obtained my learners permit I was keen to take the formal driving test. Unfortunately the closest date I could get was some 7 weeks later. On the up side, that would give me time to practice and get used to the new signs and way of doing things and get all the documentation ready. Well at least that was the theory.

In order to take the test I needed to show the original registration documents for the car I was driving and the original insurance certificate (copies are NOT acceptable). I have been practicing on my daughter's mini van (read people mover) and eventually managed to practice the parallel parking. This is set up in the parking lot (what I used to call a car park) of PEN DOT (Pennsylvania Department Of Transport) test center. It is a one size fits all parking area, with the front and back market with a series of Orange oil drums, and a curb (where you would expect the curb to be) and a line on the other side. You have to drive up to the area and then reverse park the car into it. You have a maximum of three forward and three backward movements and if you hit anything it is an automatic failure on the spot. When you have finished you have to be between the curb on one side and the line on the other. Sounds reasonable, except...

We have been so busy we forgot to practice the reverse parallel parking (and if truth be told, I had not driven very much either, life has been somewhat hectic) so, the Sunday evening before the test on the Tuesday afternoon, we went and did three parallel park practices. Never having parked a minivan before, I got the first one totally wrong. The next two were not bad (not particularly good either). Monday night another practice (hit the curb the first time got it right the second). So, by Monday night I had tried this five times and got it right 60% of the time. Not particularly good but….

Tuesday morning, panic. My son in law could not find the registration documents for the minivan and only had temporary ones for his Golf. In the end he managed to arrange to come home early and take me to the center where we hoped the temporary documents would suffice. However, this meant that the first time I would parallel park his car was on the driving test! I had also never driven his car before so all in all, it could be interesting! However, having driven Golf’s in the UK and Australia I was hoping it would not be a problem, other than the fact that everything was on the other side of course.

We arrived, queued up for a ticket, and then got told to take the car round the back to the parking lot and line up behind the other cars and wait for the examiner. There were two other cars in the line. We saw the examiner get out of a returning car and walk into the center with the young driver whilst his parent drove the car round the front. The examiner came back out, went to the first car and started the test. We eventually moved up. This happened again until I was at the front of the line. The examiner came over, asked my son in law to get out and wait, he then checked the documentation, asked me to show the wipers working, the lights the horn and the indicators plus the foot brake. Then, he got in, asked me to sign the form and the test started with the parallel parking. Get that wrong and the test is over.

However, I managed it no problem and so we went of on the test. A very short circuit around some back streets and back to the parking lot. No emergency stop (as per the UK and Aussie tests), no reversing round a corner (as per the UK), no busy street driving or three point turn around (as per both countries), no highway driving (as per Australia). I then had to go back inside, sign documentation, wait to get yet another number, wait in line to get my picture taken and be asked if I wanted to be a donor, and then wait for my brand new, temporary license. It seems they use ‘advanced image recognition technology’ to check the picture against their database to ensure there is not another picture of me under a different name. I would imagine it is a national database as you are not allowed to have more than one driving license anywhere in the US at one time, well that’s the theory. Apparently I should get my real license in 15 days.

All in all, it took just approximately 70 minutes to do everything with the test itself lasting just 5 minutes! However, I now have a valid driving license on three continents! Whats more I get unleashed on American roads on my own.....