I was 11. It was on the access road from Irons Fork Lake to CR 70 in Polk County, Arkansas. The road is a narrow low speed gravel road. It was in a white 1980 Ford Fairmont station wagon with a 200 cid I-6. I kept locking up the brakes every time my dad would comment on my driving. After that, he would let me drive on the forest service roads south of Mena. One lane roads with grassy "medians" and zero traffic. Once we were driving on a forest service road that forded a creek. I panicked while I was in the middle of the creek, and the car got stuck. We had to walk about 5 miles out of the woods to make it to a state highway. We got a ride into town and came out and pulled the car out of the creek. Now I know not to stop when driving through a natural ford (I got a Ford stuck in a ford.) By the time I got my permit/restricted license at age 14 I was a veteran driver. I also had a 5 HP go kart at age 9 or 10, and so I already knew how to drive the first time I took the wheel. The go kart also taught me how to push the limits. I tried to flip that thing but I couldn't. By the time I was 16 I drove like a bat out of hell, but I was good enough at driving to know how to drive at limits. My first car was a 1980 Mercury Cougar XR-7 with a 302/5.0 (actually 4.9L) V8 bored .030 over (it wasn't as impressive as it sounds, as it came with a 2bbl carb and about 150 HP.) It had a first year AOD transmission, which was terrible. I eventually put a C4 transmission in it and while it was much quicker and didn't slip as much, it was taching about 3000 RPM at 55 MPH. But learning to drive at such an early age was very beneficial to me. I hope that if I ever have kids I can teach them to drive in a similar matter.
As far as learning to drive, probably 13. I was licensed at 16. My first drive by myself was just a couple of months later.
14 years old, under my dad's teaching before entering driver's ed. I got my learner's permit shortly before turning 15. I learned to drive on a 1988 Toyota Camry with a five-speed.
15 years 8 months to the day, i.e. the day I got my learner's permit. After I got the permit my mom took me to the car park at my high school (WT Woodson in Fairfax, Virginia) and let me drive her car (a 1988 Volvo 740 sedan) a little bit there. Later that week my father started teaching me the five-speed on his 1982 Honda Accord and I had that car on the Beltway within the week.
Neither of my parents ever let either my brother or me drive before we got our permits, but living in Northern Virginia I couldn't argue with that. They DID let me drive most of the way to New York when we went to visit relatives in April that year (a month and a half before I hit 16), but they made me pull off at the last service area prior to the Goethals Bridge so my father could drive into Brooklyn. I understand apparently New York City law prohibits (or at least prohibited back then) anyone under 18 from driving even with a valid out-of-state license.
Growing up in northern NJ I never got the oportunity to drive on rural roads before I had my learner's permit. Once I got my permit at 16, I drove my dad's 1986 Chevy Celebrity a bit, but more often I'd practice in my car (I bought my car as I was geting my permit). My first car was a 1990 Toyota Camry 5 speed. I drove all over with dad in the car in all different types of weather and driving conditions. By the time I got my license I had perfected clutchless shifting. My first solo journey was right after I obtained my license.
15
About 11. My dad would sit me on his lap behind the wheel of his '73 Buick LeSabre- and sometimes the '80 Olds Delta 88 Diesel Station Wagon. He'd control the brake and gas and would let me steer as we would cruise slowly around our subdivision. Later on, around age 14 we'd go out driving and he'd let me drive around town on the secondary roads before I got my learner's permit at age 15. Got my DL at 16.
14 or so. Got my learner's permit at 15, license at 19.
I drove for the first time when I was thirteen. . .right into a tree in my mom's Kia Sephia. I generally avoided trying to drive until I started drivers' ed when I was sixteen. I got my permit after that and my full license when I was twenty.
My first solo long-distance trip was during my senior year of high school, when I drove from our home in Atwood (KS) to Denver International Airport. I left before dawn (in time to catch a flight to Chicago, which was also my first solo airplane trip), and it was 220 miles one way.
My first introduction to city traffic was while I was still driving on a learner's permit. Denver, CO, during rush hour. I still hate traffic.
Early teens, I'm sure, driving my grandmother's old 55 Pontiac around our field and the oil field road in the woods back behind our place. I also got to shift the column shift on my dad's old 40-something pickup and my mom's 57 Chevy Two-Ten (three on the tree).
Got my permit by taking the written test as soon as possible after my 16th birthday, but couldn't actually drive until the spring, because we had a very bad winter that year and the road (a main Kentucky state highway) stayed snow-covered until the end of February/beginning of March.
Got my license and later that day our family headed out on vacation to Nashville. I remember being disappointed that my dad wouldn't let me drive on the Cumberland Parkway.
The first vehicle I drove was my dad's mid 90s Ford Ranger, which is a stick shift. I wasn't very good at it, of course, so I didn't pick manual up again until my early 20s.
Quote from: signalman on July 06, 2012, 04:05:32 PM
Growing up in northern NJ I never got the oportunity to drive on rural roads before I had my learner's permit. Once I got my permit at 16, I drove my dad's 1986 Chevy Celebrity a bit, but more often I'd practice in my car (I bought my car as I was geting my permit). My first car was a 1990 Toyota Camry 5 speed. I drove all over with dad in the car in all different types of weather and driving conditions. By the time I got my license I had perfected clutchless shifting. My first solo journey was right after I obtained my license.
Who needs rural roads? It was parking lots for me.
15.
Started with an automatic (might have been a family-owned Plymouth Valiant) but quickly was transitioned to a standard transmission in a Chevy Vega in driver education.
Back then, driver ed was offered in Maryland's public schools, which they no longer do.
Took the test and was licensed the day I turned 16.
14, in a parking lot shortly after getting my learner's permit. My first solo trip was on the first day of school last year (age 15 with a school permit), and I'll get my license as soon as I get back to Davenport late this month.
Permit at 18, license at 19.
I got a learner's permit at 15-1/2, nearly as soon as possibly permitted under normal circumstances of Nevada law. That was the first I ever drove.
I actually renewed my permit twice... I wasn't in a hurry to drive regularly when I was 16 and I didn't have my own vehicle yet so it wasn't a priority. Summer between junior and senior year of high school, my folks got serious about me driving. I took my driver's test around that time, so I was 17--soon after, my parents bought me my own vehicle.
First drove on residential streets and in parking lots at 13, got my permit at 15.5, then my license at 16.25, as is typical in Virginia. Did my first major road trip, Hampton Roads to Boston while still on my permit.
My mother dragged me off to the DMV to get my learner's permit in March or April (I forget which) of 2004... a few months after my 16th birthday (16 is the age you need to be in Connecticut for that). I started timidly sticking my toe into the idea of driving after that and it wasn't until over two years later (July 2006) that I actually got my license. And then it was nearly three years after that (June 2009) before I got my own car.
Although, I do also remember a time further back... I was probably about 7 or 8 (I know I was in elementary school, at least), where, in a parking lot behind one of the schools in town during the summer when it was completely empty, my father sat me in his lap in the drivers' seat and let me turn the wheel while he handled the pedals, just slowly puttering around. Does that count?
I had relatives who were farmers, and the year I turned 14, my grandpa had me try to drive his old pickup truck on my uncle's farm. I didn't actually get a permit until I was 16, in part because all my high school friends were older (so they drove everywhere), in part because I didn't have a job and in part because I loved to ride my bicycle (I was something of a Lance Armstrong wannabe, except no one knew who Lance Armstrong was then, of course).
Learned to drive when I was 13. Got my learner's permit at 15 and driver license at 16 on a 75 VW Beetle.
I learned how to drive a manual transmission in a '69 Beetle and a '73 VW Type 3 fastback that looked like this except it had stock wheels on it. The Type 3 is a rare car today.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.carnbosaverngarage.co.uk%2F22july%2520%282%29.jpg&hash=0c32025b997733b8f6de2b876d18e87008539893)
I did all of my driving stuff the earliest that I legally could: I got my permit on my 16th birthday, my provisional license on my 17th, and my regular license on my 18th (actually, I might've waited a day or two after my 18th birthday because of the lines at the f***ing DMV. I waited for a midweek midday time to go...luckily, my birthday is in the middle of the month).
When I was 16, I drove around with my dad a fairly decent amount, more than anyone I know, probably accruing 1000 miles that way. My age 17 year I probably drove 10,000 miles, certainly a lot for a teenager, mostly as a result of commuting into the city 3 days a week during the summer before senior year (well, not all the way into NYC, but the train station I drove to was a good 35 minutes away).
I went and got my learner's permit about a week after my 16th birthday (just under a year ago), but a few months prior, my dad let me drive the family's 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora around on the dirt roads of a resort in Maine.
11. stick shift '82 rabbit.
Quote from: yanksfan6129 on July 11, 2012, 07:18:18 PM
I did all of my driving stuff the earliest that I legally could: I got my permit on my 16th birthday, my provisional license on my 17th, and my regular license on my 18th (actually, I might've waited a day or two after my 18th birthday because of the lines at the f***ing DMV. I waited for a midweek midday time to go...luckily, my birthday is in the middle of the month).
....
I got my driver's license on my 16th birthday. The next day at school I put my left hand through a window, needed 35 stitches as part of the reconstructive surgery, and wasn't able to drive for about three weeks or so until the cast came off. What made it worse was that my father was away the following week on business and would have let me drive his car (the 1982 Accord on which I learned to drive a manual shift) while he was gone.
Restricted license at 14.
Quote from: yanksfan6129 on July 11, 2012, 07:18:18 PM
I did all of my driving stuff the earliest that I legally could: I got my permit on my 16th birthday, my provisional license on my 17th, and my regular license on my 18th (actually, I might've waited a day or two after my 18th birthday because of the lines at the f***ing DMV. I waited for a midweek midday time to go...luckily, my birthday is in the middle of the month).
When I was 16, I drove around with my dad a fairly decent amount, more than anyone I know, probably accruing 1000 miles that way. My age 17 year I probably drove 10,000 miles, certainly a lot for a teenager, mostly as a result of commuting into the city 3 days a week during the summer before senior year (well, not all the way into NYC, but the train station I drove to was a good 35 minutes away).
That's one thing I like about being in St. Lawrence county. There's no line at the DMV here! :D
I'd say 10 or 11, my feet barely touched the pedals - I drove/raced go-karts since age 5-6 and drove golf carts along a campground my family vacationed at, so I knew how everything worked. My dad would take me to a large cemetery in Charlotte and let me drive there. He always said it was important for me to learn how to drive at an early age (obviously not letting me drive on "real roads" yet) just in case there was an emergency. Thankfully there never was, but when it became permit time at 15, the driving part was no sweat - but I failed because I didn't stop at a non-controlled railroad crossing. Whoops!
Also got my first "ticket" at age 13, driving a golf cart in said campground. Apparently they had changed the rules and only licensed drivers could drive the golf carts (I'd been driving them since age 6 or 7 with no issues!) and wrote me a warning that was only applicable to the campground. Wish I'd have kept that!
11 in my Grandpa's S-10 with 4-speed. He had 40 acres so let me drive around his field, eventually letting me drive from his house to South Salem, Ohio (about a mile east).
I started really driving at 14 and a half when you could get a learner's permit in Idaho in a 1997 Jeep Wrangler with 5-speed. Got my license at 15 and started driving by myself shortly thereafter. That year I was pretty much just allowed to drive around McCall, with the occasional venture to New Meadows or Cascade. Once I turned 16 I was allowed to go to Boise.
My parents intentionally had me drive whenever there was a snowstorm so I'd get experience in bad weather and would take me out to unplowed parking lots to spin donuts so I'd learn car control- in hindsight this was very valuable and I plan on doing the same with my kids.
I didn't drive an automatic for well over a year after I got my license. My Dad's car was a company car I wasn't insured on, and my Mom had a brand new car that she wasn't particularly inclined to let some 15 year old drive, so I only drove the Wrangler and our plow truck (a lot of people in the snowy part of rural Idaho have an uninsured, unregistered beater truck with a snowplow on it just for plowing the driveway), a 1976 Ford F-150, both of which have manuals (the Ford having a three on the tree).
My Mom finally let me drive her car to my junior prom, which was the first time I drove an automatic.
Quote from: the49erfan15 on July 12, 2012, 07:22:54 PM
I'd say 10 or 11, my feet barely touched the pedals - I drove/raced go-karts since age 5-6 and drove golf carts along a campground my family vacationed at, so I knew how everything worked. My dad would take me to a large cemetery in Charlotte and let me drive there. He always said it was important for me to learn how to drive at an early age (obviously not letting me drive on "real roads" yet) just in case there was an emergency. Thankfully there never was, but when it became permit time at 15, the driving part was no sweat - but I failed because I didn't stop at a non-controlled railroad crossing. Whoops!
Also got my first "ticket" at age 13, driving a golf cart in said campground. Apparently they had changed the rules and only licensed drivers could drive the golf carts (I'd been driving them since age 6 or 7 with no issues!) and wrote me a warning that was only applicable to the campground. Wish I'd have kept that!
Some states require that people stop at railroad crossings? In NY we just blow on through them.
QuoteThankfully there never was, but when it became permit time at 15, the driving part was no sweat - but I failed because I didn't stop at a non-controlled railroad crossing. Whoops!
My sister nearly failed for driving three under the speed limit- the tester said she wasn't moving with the flow of traffic. She was going 22 in a 25 in downtown New Meadows, Idaho, hardly obstructing the flow of traffic.
I got marked down for driving down the middle of a very rural, snow packed road. The tester told me that if a plow came by the other direction I would have hit it. I told him that if a plow or another car came by I would have moved to the right and (as my parents taught me) I'd rather be towards the middle of the road with no other cars visible because the edges can have random snow chunks/piles from wind drifts or plowing.
Was the traffic going 30 or 35? Sometimes there are situations where you'll get marked down no matter what because the road conditions don't match textbook conditions.
I failed my road test the first time around for failing to yield to a pedestrian about two minutes in. I was ridiculously nervous and just not mentally "there". The fact that my inspector was a grouchy old man didn't help matters.
Passed the second time, six months later. Yeah, the local DMV had that long of a wait time for being able to schedule a road test.
Quote from: deanej on July 13, 2012, 05:33:46 PM
Quote from: the49erfan15 on July 12, 2012, 07:22:54 PM
I'd say 10 or 11, my feet barely touched the pedals - I drove/raced go-karts since age 5-6 and drove golf carts along a campground my family vacationed at, so I knew how everything worked. My dad would take me to a large cemetery in Charlotte and let me drive there. He always said it was important for me to learn how to drive at an early age (obviously not letting me drive on "real roads" yet) just in case there was an emergency. Thankfully there never was, but when it became permit time at 15, the driving part was no sweat - but I failed because I didn't stop at a non-controlled railroad crossing. Whoops!
Also got my first "ticket" at age 13, driving a golf cart in said campground. Apparently they had changed the rules and only licensed drivers could drive the golf carts (I'd been driving them since age 6 or 7 with no issues!) and wrote me a warning that was only applicable to the campground. Wish I'd have kept that!
Some states require that people stop at railroad crossings? In NY we just blow on through them.
It was a rural crossing with no lights, crossing arm, etc. Pretty sure in SC (not sure about anywhere else) that you're supposed to stop at those.
Quote from: corco on July 13, 2012, 06:01:27 PM
I got marked down for driving down the middle of a very rural, snow packed road. The tester told me that if a plow came by the other direction I would have hit it. I told him that if a plow or another car came by I would have moved to the right and (as my parents taught me) I'd rather be towards the middle of the road with no other cars visible because the edges can have random snow chunks/piles from wind drifts or plowing.
Don't know how Kentucky is now, but back when I took my driving test, they didn't give them if there were inclement weather conditions. That included rainy weather or wet roads. No way a road test would have been given if the roads were snow-covered.
Connecticut will give road tests in any weather condition so long as it is not severe enough to make roads impassible. They expect you to know how to drive in those conditions in order to deserve a license.
QuoteWas the traffic going 30 or 35? Sometimes there are situations where you'll get marked down no matter what because the road conditions don't match textbook conditions.
There was maybe one other car on the road, ostenibly wanting to go faster than 22 in the 25. This road test giver was notorious for getting mad at people for driving under the speed limit and failing people for questionable reasons- I took my driving test in Cascade to avoid her, but my sister was unable to do so.
QuoteDon't know how Kentucky is now, but back when I took my driving test, they didn't give them if there were inclement weather conditions. That included rainy weather or wet roads. No way a road test would have been given if the roads were snow-covered.
As a practical matter, it was impossible in the part of Idaho I'm from, as aside from the main highway most roads are snow-packed from December to March or so. They wouldn't give a test if it was currently precipitating though.
I auto-failed my test the first time for "obstructing traffic" because I slowed down to avoid a bird in the road.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 15, 2012, 09:33:52 AM
I auto-failed my test the first time for "obstructing traffic" because I slowed down to avoid a bird in the road.
Amazing that the authorities can do nothing about left lane blockers who really are obstructing traffic but will fail people on a driver's test for slowing to avoid hitting something. Actually not surprising, just disappointing.
As I recall, I got my permit very soon after I was eligible to and passed the road test not too long after I was old enough--but I actually can't remember the exact ages those were now. This was in Mass--I think 16 and 16.5 were the ages. I wound up taking the road test from a state trooper, and the test began and ended at the Topsfield police station. Drove around a lot of back roads in the road test.
if you count helping my dad deliver papers when i was 5 and 6 years old, and having to put my foot on the brake to keep our truck from rolling when he would get out, then 5years old....
Depends on if you mean intentionally or not!
When I was 5, I accidentally undid the parking brake in the car and it went out of the garage and down our long hill of a driveway, across the road and into a ditch. Thankfully I was not really hurt but I was just lucky nobody was coming. Car was totaled though (an early 80s Mazda 929 I believe). My parents almost had a heart attack.
For some reason as a teen I wasn't all that anxious to get a license. My friends drove me when we did stuff and I was a bit anxious about it I guess. I eventually went to a Sears Driving School in Danbury, CT when I was 17 going on 18 and got my license at 18. A bit before I did the school, I drove a standard transmission car a bit - my dad's old Saab 900 - in parking lots and such. My first time really driving on roads was around the time I had lessons at the school. One of the first lessons, the driver actually had me drive home about 20 miles on I-84 - he was kind of a drunk I think. I was terrified but it was a good experience looking back.
The first time I legally drove was in a 1966 Ford Mustang on AR 8 east of Mena. 55 seemed a lot faster back then than it does now.
on saterday, i watched a young kid (probably like 8 years old) at a soccer tournament playing around on a golf cart, he first was tapping the break, and then he tapped the gas, and ran over someones bag!
My grandpa ordered me to drive for him in his truck, a '77 F150 whenever I was staying with my grandparents. This started when I was 11.
I found a copied set of keys to my father's Chevette, so I began driving around town at 13 without my parents knowing.
When I turned 15 and half, I passed on my first try. That summer my father gave his Chevette to me, and I used it to take my first long trip from Alexandria, VA to Rochester, NY via U.S. 15 to pick up a few friends going home for the summer. We drank two dirty-thirties on the way down.
I got my permit as early as possible after I passed Drivers Ed in High School (before I was 16.5...I never did find out at the time if the actual age limitation was 16 or 16.5).
Got my license on my 17th Birthday, easily passing the test. My mom, who was nervous as hell about letting me drive anyway, wanted to go home and make dinner. I was livid (to put it nicely), and eventually succeeded in going straight to the DMV to get my actual license.
First time I 'drove' before getting my permit was on the AC Expressway, when my dad allowed me to touch the steering wheel while he grabbed something out of his wallet (his other hand was probably on the wheel the whole time anyway). I remember being all excited about this, until my mom and grandmother tried telling me how dangerous it was, deflating any excitement I had. The only time I actually drove the car under my own power was moving it about 10 feet in the driveway, again with a nervous mother telling me to adjust all the mirrors, seats, no radio, etc. And yes, I literally went 10 feet.
Quote from: relaxok on July 16, 2012, 01:09:53 AM
Depends on if you mean intentionally or not!
When I was 5, I accidentally undid the parking brake in the car and it went out of the garage and down our long hill of a driveway, across the road and into a ditch. Thankfully I was not really hurt but I was just lucky nobody was coming. Car was totaled though (an early 80s Mazda 929 I believe). My parents almost had a heart attack.
For some reason as a teen I wasn't all that anxious to get a license. My friends drove me when we did stuff and I was a bit anxious about it I guess. I eventually went to a Sears Driving School in Danbury, CT when I was 17 going on 18 and got my license at 18. A bit before I did the school, I drove a standard transmission car a bit - my dad's old Saab 900 - in parking lots and such. My first time really driving on roads was around the time I had lessons at the school. One of the first lessons, the driver actually had me drive home about 20 miles on I-84 - he was kind of a drunk I think. I was terrified but it was a good experience looking back.
i did that in my dads truck too, at my 4th birthday party, everyone started fliping out as the truck began rolling backwards toward a busy street. they pushed it
back to were it was lol.
I was 14. My dad taught me on his old 1961 Dodge Longbed with push button automatic transmission. My parents payed for a 2 week driving school for me. I had my permit and when the school was finished I had my license. Ah the year 1977. The day everyone in Fresno learned to stay off the sidewalks. :-P
Didn't drive or get my license until I was 21, only a few years back.
Parking lots at fourteen, and around a retirement community's residential streets at fifteen (my grandfather figured I couldn't do any worse than some of the local geriatrics.) Got a learner's permit the following year, that I almost never used, and fully licensed at seventeen.
Passed the driving and written test with no marks, although I recall being extra nervous at first starting up the car (I think it took me 30-60 seconds to start up a fairly-new vehicle that was trouble-free, so I had no excuses).
Quote from: jeffandnicole on July 18, 2012, 03:21:10 PM
First time I 'drove' before getting my permit was on the AC Expressway, when my dad allowed me to touch the steering wheel while he grabbed something out of his wallet (his other hand was probably on the wheel the whole time anyway). I remember being all excited about this, until my mom and grandmother tried telling me how dangerous it was, deflating any excitement I had. The only time I actually drove the car under my own power was moving it about 10 feet in the driveway, again with a nervous mother telling me to adjust all the mirrors, seats, no radio, etc. And yes, I literally went 10 feet.
Oh, shoot, I never considered grabbing the wheel from the passenger seat. I don't even remember when my dad first asked me to do that, probably in junior high.
A good friend of ours recently asked his young son to put the van in neutral (without cranking the engine) and roll down the driveway a bit, out of the way. What he didn't count on was the car not having power brakes, and then couldn't jump in through the open door fast enough to prevent it from hitting their other car.