I’ve dreamt about getting my drivers license the second the clock struck 12 on my sixteenth birthday for as long as I can remember. I wanted to spend my special day at the DMV and celebrate with my well-deserved, hard-earned ticket of independence and newfound sense of freedom. To my dismay, this isn’t what went down on January 21st, not even in the slightest. Instead, I settled for an appointment on the 22nd, when it rained for entirety of the day and the sky was filled with thick, grey clouds that practically radiated bad vibes and disappointment.
¨Go to Gilroy, the roads are wide and the testers are lenient!¨
¨Go to Santa Barbara, they passed me when nobody else would...¨
“Whatever you do, don’t go to Santa Teresa, you’ll never pass.”
¨Go to Santa Barbara, they passed me when nobody else would...¨
“Whatever you do, don’t go to Santa Teresa, you’ll never pass.”
When it comes to testing locations, everyone has a different take on which one has the simplest routes and most easy-going testers. All I know is that no matter what city you find yourself in, the DMV is the most miserable place on Earth. It’s perpetually crowded with oddballs and half the city’s elderly population trying to get their licenses renewed. However, the one thing that we all have in common is the fact that none of us want to be there.
I decided to take my test at Gilroy after pondering the overwhelming amount of advice I had received. Spacious roads, a friendly staff, and a clean, organized facility, what could possibly go wrong?
I expected to experience a normal amount of testing anxiety, but this was next-level testing anxiety. My mouth was dry and my legs were quaking- I was about to put a strangerś life in my hands upon entering a giant, metal deathmobile. The five minutes I sat in my mom’s car waiting for the instructor to come out were definitely some of the most nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching moments of my life, however I’m a rather dramatic person so take my words with a grain of salt. My twin brother, who happened to be taking the test on the same day as me, showed not even an ounce of nervousness.
To make a short story even shorter, I failed my driving test within the first 60 seconds. The tester instructed me to pull out of the parking lot and cross two lanes of traffic to reach the left turn lane. To my utmost horror, the traffic was insane. There seemed to be no way to cross without getting hit by an oncoming car, and yet cars piled up behind me and began to honk. Terrified and overwhelmed, I pulled out into traffic despite the continuous flow of cars. I knew it was over the second the instructor yelled, ¨Stop!¨ This experience was enough to traumatize anyone, let alone a 16-year-old girl with a mere six months of behind-the-wheel experience.
I decided to take my test at Gilroy after pondering the overwhelming amount of advice I had received. Spacious roads, a friendly staff, and a clean, organized facility, what could possibly go wrong?
I expected to experience a normal amount of testing anxiety, but this was next-level testing anxiety. My mouth was dry and my legs were quaking- I was about to put a strangerś life in my hands upon entering a giant, metal deathmobile. The five minutes I sat in my mom’s car waiting for the instructor to come out were definitely some of the most nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching moments of my life, however I’m a rather dramatic person so take my words with a grain of salt. My twin brother, who happened to be taking the test on the same day as me, showed not even an ounce of nervousness.
To make a short story even shorter, I failed my driving test within the first 60 seconds. The tester instructed me to pull out of the parking lot and cross two lanes of traffic to reach the left turn lane. To my utmost horror, the traffic was insane. There seemed to be no way to cross without getting hit by an oncoming car, and yet cars piled up behind me and began to honk. Terrified and overwhelmed, I pulled out into traffic despite the continuous flow of cars. I knew it was over the second the instructor yelled, ¨Stop!¨ This experience was enough to traumatize anyone, let alone a 16-year-old girl with a mere six months of behind-the-wheel experience.
I scheduled my second driving test for no more than two weeks after my first, which is the minimum amount of time youŕe required to wait in-between tests. I traveled over an hour to take the test at the Watsonville DMV, sheerly dedicated to the fact that the rest of the DMVs were completely booked for the foreseeable future. I already felt 1000 times more confident going into this test than I did my last, I was so ready to pass.
So, when the tester checked ¨Unsatisfactory¨ and uttered the words, ¨So... You didn´t pass,” it took all I had not to cry. I failed for driving 25 mph in a 40 mph zone- thatś it. Call me crazy, but that’s not an automatic fail, thatś a conversation. For some bizarre and ungodly reason, the DMV has curated a list of eight ¨Critical Driving Errors¨, ranging from collision and intervention (understandable, and also the cause of my first fail) to ¨speeding¨, which I’m not sure could even be used to describe my situation. Commit one ¨Critical Driving Error” and you’ll earn yourself an automatic fail. I felt incredibly frustrated and was filled with an overwhelming sense of defeat. Getting my driver’s license signifies so much more than being able to drive without an adult in the car- it means independence and freedom. Not to mention, it’s literally the only good thing about turning 16. It almost makes saying your final goodbyes to any lingering bits of childhood a little less tortuous.
The challenges I’ve faced trying to get my license were not ones I had expected. I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect to pass on my very first try, just as so many others have successfully done before me. I’d like to say I look forward to sharing my tumultuous experience with my future children, but for all we know, they’ll be relying on self-driving cars by then.
So, when the tester checked ¨Unsatisfactory¨ and uttered the words, ¨So... You didn´t pass,” it took all I had not to cry. I failed for driving 25 mph in a 40 mph zone- thatś it. Call me crazy, but that’s not an automatic fail, thatś a conversation. For some bizarre and ungodly reason, the DMV has curated a list of eight ¨Critical Driving Errors¨, ranging from collision and intervention (understandable, and also the cause of my first fail) to ¨speeding¨, which I’m not sure could even be used to describe my situation. Commit one ¨Critical Driving Error” and you’ll earn yourself an automatic fail. I felt incredibly frustrated and was filled with an overwhelming sense of defeat. Getting my driver’s license signifies so much more than being able to drive without an adult in the car- it means independence and freedom. Not to mention, it’s literally the only good thing about turning 16. It almost makes saying your final goodbyes to any lingering bits of childhood a little less tortuous.
The challenges I’ve faced trying to get my license were not ones I had expected. I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect to pass on my very first try, just as so many others have successfully done before me. I’d like to say I look forward to sharing my tumultuous experience with my future children, but for all we know, they’ll be relying on self-driving cars by then.