Does your eligible teen have their Drivers' License?

[DLgal]

Florida didn't require driver's ed or parallel parking. My dad taught me to drive, and we never got around to parallel parking. I learned real quick on a Saturday night in Downtown Orlando about 6 months after I got my license (the day after my 16th birthday--birthday was on a Sunday and the DMV wasn't open). Bunch of friends and strangers standing around yelling instructions, while I somehow got the car into a space with about 2 inches to spare lol.

California doesn't test parallel parking anymore either. They only make you pull over to a curb and back up in a straight line for 15 feet. No freeway driving required either. Those 2 things were the hardest for me to master at 16 when I was taking my driver's test.

 

[NotUrsula]

Here parallel parking is on the test, but is the very last thing tested, with cones in the testing station parking lot. It is very common for examiners to tell candidates that "At this point you have enough points to pass, and the only section left is parallel parking. Do you want to skip it?" ... and of course, pretty much all of them do.

We live in the city and we absolutely forced our kids to learn to parallel park; there are few things that irritate me behind the wheel more than clueless suburbanites who get right up on my bumper when I've signaled that I'm about to parallel park. It happens to me all. the. time. on the medical school campus. (There is a major teaching hospital, and lots of folks come from outlying areas for treatment there. More often than not, those folks do not seem to know how to parallel park, or even the road rules when encountering someone else doing it.)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here parallel parking is on the test, but is the very last thing tested, with cones in the testing station parking lot. It is very common for examiners to tell candidates that "At this point you have enough points to pass, and the only section left is parallel parking. Do you want to skip it?" ... and of course, pretty much all of them do.

We live in the city and we absolutely forced our kids to learn to parallel park; there are few things that irritate me behind the wheel more than clueless suburbanites who get right up on my bumper when I've signaled that I'm about to parallel park. It happens to me all. the. time. on the medical school campus.

Pretty sure that's not a suburban thing at all. There's plenty parallel parking opportunities in my suburbia

All around downtown parts of cities in suburbia you'll find parallel parking and by downtown I'm not meaning urban. Shopping areas too, restaurants, etc all can have parallel parking around here.

Wonder if any of those people behind you were just impatient or clueless citydwellers

 

[csmith1004]

We delayed letting our son get his license, but he did get it at age 18.5, just a couple months ago. The factors involved in the decision were:

1. Maturity. He has autism/ADHD and wasn't mentally ready for the responsibility of operating a car at 15 (when he would have started the permit process)

2. Driving school requirements in our state (CA). If you want a license at 16, driver's education and professional behind the wheel training is required. Our son doesn't learn well from strangers and has some behaviors that would preclude group driving lessons. I needed to be the one to teach him. If you wait to obtain your permit until after age 17.5, the driver education requirement drops off and any licensed driver can teach you. We still made him complete online drivers education, even though he didn't
have to.

3. Insurance rates. Rates are SKY HIGH for under 18 teen, male drivers. We were quoted $320/month just to add our son to our policy (on a 2007 car) when he was 16. No thank you. When he got his license at 18, the price was a more reasonable $155/month.

4. No job. No social hangouts. No need for a car at 16. He's a MAJOR introvert and has no desire to go out socially. He was not developmentally ready for a job either at 16.

It worked out well. He is a wonderful driver and we did it slowly and in his own time. Next step is to get a job which he is working towards. He has a lot of money saved up and he contributes 2/3 of his insurance premium every month.

I could have written almost this exact post! My DS18 just got his permit and we will teach him ourselves. Currently he has no need to drive but we want to make sure he has the skill for the future.

 

[NotUrsula]

Pretty sure that's not a suburban thing at all. There's plenty parallel parking opportunities in my suburbia

All around downtown parts of cities in suburbia you'll find parallel parking and by downtown I'm not meaning urban. Shopping areas too, restaurants, etc all can have parallel parking around here.

Wonder if any of those people behind you were just impatient or clueless citydwellers

Nah, they're mostly suburban. I can tell by the window stickers. Most of the outer suburbs here were recently agricultural land and do not have any downtown areas, and no parallel parking, either; street parking is mostly forbidden.

It's quite common here for kids to ask to take the test at one particular suburban location because the entire test route out there is on 4-lane surface roads with no road signs at all to deal with, just stoplights. The testing route near our home, otoh, has stop signs, yield signs, caution lights, one-way streets, a railroad underpass, an ungated rail crossing AND a railroad u-overpass, and half is on residential streets where there are cars parked on both sides (which is how DS rolled that stop sign; there was a truck parked in front of it and he didn't see it until he was halfway past it.)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nah, they're mostly suburban. I can tell by the window stickers. Most of the outer suburbs here were recently agricultural land and do not have any downtown areas, and no parallel parking, either; street parking is mostly forbidden.

It's quite common here for kids to ask to take the test at one particular suburban location because the entire test route out there is on 4-lane surface roads with no road signs at all to deal with, just stoplights. The testing route near our home, otoh, has stop signs, yield signs, caution lights, one-way streets, a railroad underpass, an ungated rail crossing AND a railroad u-overpass, and half is on residential streets where there are cars parked on both sides (which is how DS rolled that stop sign; there was a truck parked in front of it and he didn't see it until he was halfway past it.)

What you describe as far as the route the kids like to drive sounds like country to me. And what you describe as the route near your home is very common to us.

I've got all of those examples you mentioned in just the west side of my city. A trip to library (well the old location) would have me doing stop signs, yield signs (because that's majority what is in my neighborhood), caution lights, one-way streets, a railroad underpass if I need to take that route due to train going through, one of the intersections I can take is an ungated rail crossing, etc. Cars are not prohibited from being parked on both sides of the street here and you encounter that everyday just driving in the neighborhood. Suburbia usually just means sprawled out full of neighborhoods and such.

I live very far west of my county and city and the country is under 2 miles from me. Agricultural land is the pretty much what all the land here is until it's converted so it's very common to still see it in pockets. The only expansion in my county is west and south both of which are farmlands that eventually turn into suburbs. But everyone is going to be well exposed to the things you mention here.

At the heart of your complaint is part of knowing how to drive on using a turn signal and what that means. It's in your handbook I'm sure. It's def. within ours. If someone in my area doesn't know what the turn signal is being used for they are either impatient (and that's my primary guess) or clueless on driving. On point to this topic perhaps they need a refresher on how, when and why turn signals are used. Although I will point out in our handbook it states to "allow following vehicles to pass before parking" when discussing parallel parking.

 

[JLTraveling]

Nah, they're mostly suburban. I can tell by the window stickers. Most of the outer suburbs here were recently agricultural land and do not have any downtown areas, and no parallel parking, either; street parking is mostly forbidden.

It's quite common here for kids to ask to take the test at one particular suburban location because the entire test route out there is on 4-lane surface roads with no road signs at all to deal with, just stoplights. The testing route near our home, otoh, has stop signs, yield signs, caution lights, one-way streets, a railroad underpass, an ungated rail crossing AND a railroad u-overpass, and half is on residential streets where there are cars parked on both sides (which is how DS rolled that stop sign; there was a truck parked in front of it and he didn't see it until he was halfway past it.)

Did you ever see License to Drive? Sounds like Corey Haim's character's driving test versus his sister's. Idk if it's still the same, but when I took my road test in small town Florida, it wasn't on the roads at all. Just a course set up with cones on DMV property.

 

[kdonnel]

Pretty sure that's not a suburban thing at all. There's plenty parallel parking opportunities in my suburbia

All around downtown parts of cities in suburbia you'll find parallel parking and by downtown I'm not meaning urban. Shopping areas too, restaurants, etc all can have parallel parking around here.

Wonder if any of those people behind you were just impatient or clueless citydwellers

Very much regional.

I live in suburban Atlanta. I can't think of anywhere where parallel parking is even available until you get into an actual city.

I go years without even having the opportunity to parallel park.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Very much regional.

I live in suburban Atlanta. I can't think of anywhere where parallel parking is even available until you get into an actual city.

I go years without even having the opportunity to parallel park.

Yup sure regional. But not suburbia vs city

I could encounter parallel parking every day if I wanted to and there's no way anyone could confuse my county for city. We're suburbia through and through.

 

[DLgal]

The only time I ever need to parallel park is at the beach.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I havent read the entire thread, but quite a bit of it.

I've been surprised to read how many have kids with not much interest in getting their license. Also interesting to read how things are so vastly different in other states.
My kids are 26 and 29 now. I'm not sure if things in NH have changed in the last few years, but the way it has always been is when kids are 15 1/2 they can start driving with their parents. We don't have any learner type permits here at all. You can take drivers ed when you are 16. Drivers Ed is offered at most high schools after school. It cost between $600-$700 when we boys took it. Probably 90% of the kids took drivers ed at the school location, with a handful taking it at an on-site driving school. I believe you have to take drivers ed in order to get your license if you are under 18.

My oldest got his license when he was 16 and my youngest was closer to his 17th Birthday, which he hated!! Its just the way it worked out with getting drivers ed in around his sports schedule.

I can't think of anyone who's kids didnt get their license fairly close to turning 16.

 

[NotUrsula]

FWIW, the suburban test route I mentioned isn't country at all; it's right through the middle of a typical major business thoroughfare, strip malls, fast food restaurants and big box stores all along most of the route. The road that office is on is 6 lanes wide to accomodate the traffic.

I'm not dissing suburban dwellers; it's not that they don't know in general how to drive; after all, where they live there isn't much choice about it, and a whole lot of traffic, too. The issue here is that in this metro area, the vast majority of those who live beyond the "outer belt" never venture into the city proper except perhaps to attend a major sporting event where they exit the highway and immediately park in a garage, which means that a lot of them just never gained any experience with navigating in urban terrain, and when they find themselves in an area with street parking it just doesn't click that the driver who has stopped in front of them is planning to back up. So, they don't leave a car length, and when I just sit there with my signal on with the assumption that they will go around as soon as they can, many times they blow their horns at me for not moving forward. Again, I notice it most at the medical school campuses, where folks come because they have to; and a lot of them are probably also anxious at the time, so I suppose it's understandable. (Doesn't make it any less aggravating when it happens, but I get it.)

Also, just a note on another subtopic, driver's ed isn't at all required here; it's just advantageous to take it because passing it earns you a hefty insurance discount. Most of the school districts in the area no longer offer it, but those that do also offer it in summer, and allow out-of-district kids to enroll then. The fee is currently $425 where DD took it; with 20 hours of classroom time and 10 hours behind the wheel. Under-18 permit drivers have to log at least 40 hours driving time with parents (or some other qualified person), with at least 10 at night, before they can take the road test.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

the suburban test route I mentioned isn't country at all

I didn't say it was the country just that it sounds that way based on what you said with "4-lane surface roads with no road signs at all to deal with, just stoplights." in direct comparison to what you describe with the route near your house. TBH I wasn't sure what you were getting at with even describing the differences between the one suburban route and the route near your house.

IIRC you live near STL, I visit there often enough. Ballwin where my husband has family isn't any different than my area. I've been visiting there for 15 years, hasn't changed. We also drive to Chesterfield, Manchester, Town and Country to name a few. My ex lived in Webster Groves for years and I visited him a few times (twice while he was in college at Webster). We've made various trips to the Botanical Gardens, the Arch twice (I like the museum more lol), etc. And have visited St. Charles numerous times of which their main street area is absolutely parallel parking (maybe St. Charles is too far outside the inner core of St Louis metro for you). It's also where my mom lived and graduated high school. Granted I'll give you there is less rail traffic in STL as a whole although still enough.

Both of our metros (yours and mine) aren't like NYC for example so the whole city vs suburb folk stance isn't something I would personally describe for the lack of driver awareness into what a turn signal means. I think it just means people are too impatient or need to relearn. I'm sure there are people like that in my area and they can't use suburb/city excuse lol.

 

[texaslover]

It's so interesting reading about other parts of the country and driving habits! Living in a suburb in TX requires driving unless you want to spend $30 - 100 per day on Uber. And like someone mentioned, students under 18 can't even use the service.

My son is 25 but did get his permit at 15 and DL at 16 (2 days after his bday). It's not like he wasn't nervous about driving but it wasn't ever presented as an option. We required that he have a job at 16 when he was able to drive as well as help out as needed by running to the store for things, picking up the dog from the groomer, and various errands. My ex did give him his 10 year old paid off car and bought himself a new one so he was able to start working a part time job and get him self to and from school and sports. He was taking the bus to school, playing high school basketball, and socializing before he got a license so we drove him many places.

I was so happy not to be waiting in a dark school parking lot at 10:00 pm for the bus to bring the team back from the game, the first time I went to his game then drove straight home and got in PJs was magical . He was happy to be able to go to friend's houses/movies/activities without asking for a ride, go get food if wanted, go on dates, and go to work.

I did parent led drivers ed bc it was much cheaper than paying a school. And, no, I did not like driving with him as a teen lol. But I sucked it up to get the hours in and he's a pretty good driver now. There's no way he could live without a car at 25 as he has to drive 25 miles to work and then does a lot socially including adult sports leagues, hanging with friends, etc. Plus we have no reliable, widespread public transportation in the DFW area.

 

[sam_gordon]

I was so happy not to be waiting in a dark school parking lot at 10:00 pm for the bus to bring the team back from the game, the first time I went to his game then drove straight home and got in PJs was magical

QFT!

 

[tzolkin]

Idk if it's still the same, but when I took my road test in small town Florida, it wasn't on the roads at all. Just a course set up with cones on DMV property.

Me too! Grew up in FL in the 90s. We took the "road test" on the drivers ed course at our high school (basically like a giant fenced in tennis court with cones set up for all the different stations). Three of us in three different cars at the same time, while the instructor rode around in his golf cart observing us and noting down the points on the test forms. If you passed, you got a certificate to take to the DMV that would exempt you from having to take the test there.

 

[sam_gordon]

When my two oldest took their road test, it was actually on roads. And had to parallel park behind a stationary vehicle.

They've moved the DMV to an old mall, and our youngest took the course in the parking lot. Parallel parking was between two barrels.