Some of the drivers from that first class 75 years ago are still on the road.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

when i was about 6, i used to think Drivers Ed was an actual guy

From the article "Once a student completes the classroom course, they move on to 10 hours of in-car training - four more hours than the state requires" That scares me, only 6 hours of actual behind the wheel time is required. I think we need a lot more than that.

TheFlannelAvenger: they move on to 10 hours of in-car training - four more hours than the state requires" That scares me, only 6 hours of actual behind the wheel time is required.

I never took Driver's Ed. I had paid for one hour of driving lesson with a professional and the rest was all taught by those who gave a damn enough to teach me.

Vio: They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

Very true.

TheFlannelAvenger: From the article "Once a student completes the classroom course, they move on to 10 hours of in-car training - four more hours than the state requires" That scares me, only 6 hours of actual behind the wheel time is required. I think we need a lot more than that.

When I did mine (Michigan), we got 4 hours of on-the-road training with an instructor, and then we were required to log 50 hours with a parent or other adult while we had our permits. I know a lot of people fudged their logbooks, but in theory this would give kids a lot more practice before letting them out on their own.

ShillinTheVillain: When I did mine (Michigan), we got 4 hours of on-the-road training with an instructor, and then we were required to log 50 hours with a parent or other adult while we had our permits. I know a lot of people fudged their logbooks, but in theory this would give kids a lot more practice before letting them out on their own.

Yeah, was going to say... I don't see what the problem is with that. People shouldn't be relying on schools so much to deal with this shiat; it seems to me that parents spending time behind the wheel with their kids would be a given.

True story; the drivers ed instructor at my High School was a perpetually nervous chain smoker and heavy drinker. Imagine getting drivers instruction from a drunk Don Knotts.

We didn't have drivers ed in high school you had to take it from a private school. The teachers were always wackos. I still run in to one guy. Its 25 years later and I swear he hasn't changed a bit. He is just scary.

Vio: They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

Illinois already requires this for drivers over 75:

- All drivers aged 75 or older licensed in Illinois are required to take a driving test at every renewal

in addition

- 21 to 80 year olds are issued licenses that expire every 4 years
- 81 to 86 year olds are issued licenses that expire every 2 years
- 87 and older are issued licenses that expire every year

also everyone, regardless of age, must take a written test every 8 years, unless they have no traffic convictions and must have their vision checked at renewal time.

I just wish more states would do this.

No driver's ed thread would be complete without a mention of Signal 30 (new window).

CAUTION - not for the squeamish....even though it's a 50 year old film.

I had such hopes that the game Carmagedon would someday become a driving simulator for new drivers. But alas, the game had serious memory problems and crashed most of the time.

My dad was an unusual and practical man. When he was about 70 he told me that he kept his driving to an absolute minimum because he noticed his own reflexes slowing down.

ShillinTheVillain: TheFlannelAvenger: From the article "Once a student completes the classroom course, they move on to 10 hours of in-car training - four more hours than the state requires" That scares me, only 6 hours of actual behind the wheel time is required. I think we need a lot more than that.

When I did mine (Michigan), we got 4 hours of on-the-road training with an instructor, and then we were required to log 50 hours with a parent or other adult while we had our permits. I know a lot of people fudged their logbooks, but in theory this would give kids a lot more practice before letting them out on their own.

This is how Florida's system works. Or doesn't work, I should say.

my driver's Ed teacher used to say, "If you're gonna drink and drive... use the backroads"

TheFlannelAvenger: From the article "Once a student completes the classroom course, they move on to 10 hours of in-car training - four more hours than the state requires" That scares me, only 6 hours of actual behind the wheel time is required. I think we need a lot more than that.

I solo'd an airplane after 14hrs. An hour is a long time, especially if you spend every minute on focused training exercise. FYI - Reading Fark is not a focused training exercise.

And I drive past that course almost every day (it's right by the high school) so I'm getting a kick out of these replies, etc.. It's a good course, academically AND on the simulated streets. You'll find it hard to find anybody who grew up around here that doesn't have fond memories of it.

middleoftheday: ShillinTheVillain: When I did mine (Michigan), we got 4 hours of on-the-road training with an instructor, and then we were required to log 50 hours with a parent or other adult while we had our permits. I know a lot of people fudged their logbooks, but in theory this would give kids a lot more practice before letting them out on their own.

Yeah, was going to say... I don't see what the problem is with that. People shouldn't be relying on schools so much to deal with this shiat; it seems to me that parents spending time behind the wheel with their kids would be a given.

Given the horribly poor amount of attention, coupled with awful driving habits that most people have on the road these days, I would rather these people NOT be the ones teaching people how to drive. Leave it to those who want to teach proper driving

kokomo61: No driver's ed thread would be complete without a mention of Signal 30 (new window).

CAUTION - not for the squeamish....even though it's a 50 year old film.

That was good, I also liked the "Red Asphalt" series.

Disappointed at the lack of South Park.

Driver Ed?




/obscure

Someone PLEASE start teaching people how to use their high beams. Lots of idiots rolling with the brights, and it's blinding me. I don't even care about the lack of turn signal use anymore.

/thinks someone should outlaw those bright as the sun LEDs.
//saw a car yesterday with purple headlights.

Impudent Domain, I hear ya, I went to a good public H.S., but the driver's ed guy was a drinker.

He'd hit that little brake on his side of the car...while rolling down an open highway mind you, for no apparent reason, he probably saw a giant purple squirrel...and empty bottles would roll out from under the seat.

My buddy Scott and I tested at the same time; our road test was taking him to the package store; he came out with a brown paper bag that clinked.

Mind you, riding around with young untested drivers at the wheel might drive ME to drink...

Vio: They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

I believe AARP and other seniors' rights groups fight against this wherever it's proposed. Something about ageism or some other crapola.

Mongo cut wood: I had such hopes that the game Carmagedon would someday become a driving simulator for new drivers. But alas, the game had serious memory problems and crashed most of the time.

Like most old people

My baby's the star of a driver's ed movie.
I know her mother would be proud, her underwear was clean.

seiboof: The teachers were always wackos. I still run in to one guy. Its 25 years later and I swear he hasn't changed a bit. He is just scary.

Was this the guy?

/enraha

I had my learner's permit for like three years. At one point, Maryland law switched the hours required from 40 to 60, effectively erasing what I had done and then some. But when I actually went for the test, they didn't need to see the sheet or anything. My mom and I just had to sign a paper and that was that. Thanks a bunch, MVA.

Now they want to pack on more restrictions, like raising the driving age and stuff. It won't really do anything. It's just to help the governor get re-elected.

dustman81: Vio: They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

Illinois already requires this for drivers over 75:

- All drivers aged 75 or older licensed in Illinois are required to take a driving test at every renewal

in addition

- 21 to 80 year olds are issued licenses that expire every 4 years
- 81 to 86 year olds are issued licenses that expire every 2 years
- 87 and older are issued licenses that expire every year

also everyone, regardless of age, must take a written test every 8 years, unless they have no traffic convictions and must have their vision checked at renewal time.

I just wish more states would do this.

Uh, but if you take one section of driving law, they're bound to take more, and Illinois has some really farked up driving laws.

Everyone I know who took driver's ed has totaled at least one car.

I think they're doing it wrong.

I went to a very small rural school but we did have drivers ed. One day I'm driving and out of nowhere my drivers ed teacher smacks me in the back of the head. I asked him, "what was that for?" He replied, "One day you'll have kids and you need to be prepared for unexpected things to happen in the car."

I'll never forget that. He was the coolest teacher.

Impudent Domain: True story; the drivers ed instructor at my High School was a perpetually nervous chain smoker and heavy drinker. Imagine getting drivers instruction from a drunk Don Knotts.

Nip it in the bud.

Driver's Ed is, IMO, a crappy program. Students come out of it where rather little knowledge. My biggest gripe is that they don't learn proper car control. I think we need to take a lesson from how Finland does it and require part of the driver's ed training to involve time on a skidpad, learning how cars behave in more extreme situations, so they're better able to handle them if they happen on the road.

Grizzly, that's awesome.

Of course, these days, he'd probably be locked up as a sex offender :(

I took driver's Ed in grade 11, when i was 17/18.
the Class itself was good. my driver instructor, female, was kinda nuts. one of those born-again-christian type nuts. I mean she was a good teacher i guess, but other than that.... yeesh.
anyway, i failed my first test by a few points, and did some more practicing, etc. then i passed it the 2nd time. [i think i got like 80-something percent]
the good/cool thing at the time was that i finished it just a month or so before the "graduated lisencing" started. phew. that was close.

The PTA got our driver's ed program removed; the board was full of fundies, back seat sex, blah blah blah.

I should add that this was in the late 80s-early 90s.

After the elderly have been home for a while , they look out the window and yell "damn kids parked their car on my lawn!!! Hey , they have the same car as i do ...."

trainonthebrain: seiboof: The teachers were always wackos. I still run in to one guy. Its 25 years later and I swear he hasn't changed a bit. He is just scary.

Was this the guy?

/enraha

A+ for relevancy, but sadly most will not get the reference.

PunGent: Grizzly, that's awesome.

Of course, these days, he'd probably be locked up as a sex offender :(

Indeed he would. At the very least be convicted for child abuse.

My folks had the right idea. They welcomed any additional smacks to the head that the teachers could offer. I needed it.

My birthday is in November, so I missed the cut-off date for school enrollment and subsequently was a year older than most people in my class. By the time I had to take driver's ed I already had my license. I did pay for driving school, but I lived in NJ and taking the school got me a 5% savings on an outrageous insurance payment.

santadog: Lots of idiots rolling with the brights, and it's blinding me.

Heh, I drive a Jeep with big offroad lights on the front (I need them for the beach). Payback's a biatch.

Vio: They should make it mandatory to test every so many years once you're legally a senior citizen.

Senior citizens vote more than any other demographic.

Good luck with that.

It may be turning 75 but not around here. High schools in my area haven't been able to offer it for well over 5 years. I waited until I was 18, got my permit, somehow managed to pass the road test and I now have my probationary license. You should be very afraid...

It costs $300 to take it through the DMV. I worked at Mcdonalds at the time and the parents weren't paying for it.

/Walked to school till graduation
//Uphill both ways

Got my first car when I was 11.
We had a farm and it was a 56 vw beetle.
I taught my sisters (3) to drive a stick shift by making them start it on a frozen pond, drive it, force it to slide and recover from the skid.
We had no problems in drivers ed.

We were supposed to get several hours of on-the-road training, but in each four-hour session I had (in a group with two other students), we usually just drove to the mall. The instructor then told us to meet him in two hours, and afterwards we drove back. My parents weren't too pleased about that.

/Oh yeah, and my classroom instructor had a DUI.

santadog: Someone PLEASE start teaching people how to use their high beams. Lots of idiots rolling with the brights, and it's blinding me. I don't even care about the lack of turn signal use anymore.

/thinks someone should outlaw those bright as the sun LEDs.
//saw a car yesterday with purple headlights.

None of them are LEDs. Most are either blue glass bulbs or illegal (and almost by definition poorly designed/installed) HID kits.

What passed for driver ed more generally in 1935:

(clik 'n pop)

JonnyBGoode

Not MST, but Rifftrax did it. They only did the credits tho.

Someone in Ohio probably threatened to have them locked up the next time any of 'em drove thru the state. There are people like that in Ohio.