Travel writing tools of the trade – Californian driving licence
January 7, 2010 by Caitlin
Filed under On the Road
My Twitter friends may be wondering why I asked them to wish me luck this morning. But many of them did anyway and I now have some good news to share.
I am now the proud owner of a California driving licence!
First-time driver
This is also a confession – until an hour ago, I was not licensed to drive anywhere in the world. This attainment was not simply a matter of transferring my UK or Australian licence over to my new home, it was the culmination of months of practice and over $1,000 in lessons. That road trip down Highway 1 I took in October with my in-laws? My 70-year-old father-in-law drove.
Why is this a confession? Well, it was not a complete secret. I was up front with friends and family or if anyone asked and I was open on my Facebook page, which has some privacy controls. But it was not something I wanted to shout to the world, mainly because I thought it might be an impediment to getting work in California and could make me look non-serious about travel writing.
My driving history
I should point out this is partly a cultural thing. I know many Australians (especially Sydneysiders) and Europeans who don’t get their driving licence in their twenties, thirties and even forties. It’s unusual but not unheard of. But in the United States, it’s definitely odd – learning to drive is such a rite of passage for American teenagers.
I’m 33 – tell me in the comments how old you were when you got your licence and what country you are from. I’m curious!
In my case, I had lessons when I was younger but lack of money and then time meant I didn’t see it through. I took the test when I was 21 but I wasn’t truly ready and I was also trying to learn on a manual. The test was also a lot tougher in New South Wales in Australia than it is here (and now it’s tougher still – you have to have 150 hours of logged driving practice before you can even take the test). I failed and then I gave up for a while – I was fed up with my instructor, how much money I was spending, the whole thing. I didn’t need a car living in inner city Sydney and then I moved to London for five years. I had no inclination to try to learn to drive on busy London roads, especially when the public transport both within and out of the city was so comprehensive.
An essential travel writing tool
Since moving here I’ve really felt the lack of a car. We live in the city of San Francisco and we are well served by buses and streetcars and trains and we also have a bicycle. I could get by. But it’s virtually impossible to explore outside the city without a car. In Europe I could get the train almost everywhere and in Australia I could get the train some places, or go with friends.
Reflection of granite domes on Tenaya Lake, Yosemite National Park
Since moving here in July I’ve been developing seriously itchy feet – I want to go to Point Reyes and Marin county, the Napa and Sonoma wine valleys, Yosemite, gold country, Lake Tahoe, and north up to Oregon and Washington state. Many places are not served by train at all and when they are it’s slow – passenger trains have to give way to freight trains, which stretches the train ride from San Francisco to Seattle to 21 hours. It takes 14 hours to get from Sydney to Brisbane by train – the same distance – by train and high-speed rail in Europe would do it in six hours.
I’m not planning to become a petrol-head. I don’t think we’ll buy a car – we don’t need really one in the city and I am an environmentalist after all. But some weekend soon I’ll definitely be renting one.
Professional driving instruction
I think I’m prepared. I had a lot of lessons and my instructor was very confident I’d pass, which is a good sign. I ditched the idea of learning on a manual and I’ve just focused on learning to drive an automatic. I took the test in San Mateo where it’s less busy, which means I’ve been driving on the freeway a lot (both 280 and 101) and they are much wider than any roads I’ve seen in Australia or the UK. My test was easy. We drove around for 15 minutes on residential streets and then I had to pull over to the curb and back up in a straight line for three car lengths. I lost a few points for things like waiting too long to turn my signal light off after a lane change. I also went too slow along one road – I didn’t see that it was sign-posted with a higher speed limit so I stuck to the standard 25mph limit for residential streets. In all, I lost seven points out of a maximum of 15, which is not too bad.
I recommend my teacher, Collin Huey from A Safeway Driving School, if anyone in the Bay Area is looking for an instructor for themselves or their teenage children. He was the best instructor I’ve had, and I’ve had a few in my times. The lesson lengths are two hours, which is a far more productive slot than the one hour I was used to in Sydney. There may be cheaper driving schools but he gives quality instruction and will teach you to drive, not just to pass the test. He won’t nickel and dime you about time, especially if you are having a bunch of lessons with him.
Image credits: First picture – “Traffic Light” by fabrisalvetti on Flickr.
Second picture – “Reflection of granite domes on Tenaya Lake, Yosemite National Park” by Alaskan Dude on Flickr.
Both images are licensed under Creative Commons for commercial purposes.
Quite a story! Good for your for making that extra effort. SF is has such a great public transportation so that’s truly an extra effort.
Congrats!
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Tell me in the comments how old you were when you got your licence and what country/state you’re from. I’m 33.
On my 15th birthday
New Zealand
I was probably 18 like all other Americans- and been driving for too many years, now 42. Prefer to live in a greener city doing less driving, more biking, or public transportation if possible.
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The day after my 16th birthday in Salem, Oregon. Took the test in my friends ’52 Chevy Hardtop. Stick shift of course.
I was 16 and I got mine in Wisconsin.
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Well I think I was 19 when I got mine, in Sydney – I was pretty much the last of my group at Uni to get a license and had been feeling the pressure!
Public transport in Inner City Sydney is ok, but in the burbs it was (and still is) a disaster. The liberation of having a license was fantastic and driving a manual to me has always been just plain fun – except for the early learning curve which we all know is a nightmare!
Good for you, Caitlin. May your future be filled with many memorable driving excursions.
I obtained my license on the day I turned 16, in the U.S. in Houston, Texas. (Received a provisional license — enabling me to drive in the company of an licensed adult driver — a year earlier.) For the majority of my high school classmates, license acquisition was something of a rite of passage. For many of us, especially if we had working parents, the need to drive at such a young age truly was a need. And in a city with a large geographic area such as Houston — and with a then-not-very-adequate public transit system — one’s ability to drive came in handy frequently.
Congratulations!
–Molly
@mollyblock
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Not too memorable I hope – or at least not for the wrong reasons! – Caitlin.
@Cal @Ben I didn’t actually find driving a manual / stick-shift too much problem, it’s more just that it was a distraction when I was trying to learn how to deal with traffic, make turns smoothly, navigate the freeway and all of that good stuff. When I went for the test the first time, 12 years ago, my instructor turned up on the morning of the test with a new car that I’d never driven before. As well as his old car, I’d been practising in my flatmate’s old bomb where I really had to ride the clutch quite hard. The consequence was that when I took the test I did everything right except I stalled the car at the intersection too many times. I think I was probably a little too impatient to take the test and I’m certainly a better driver now, but I also think if I’d been driving an automatic, or even just a manual car I was familiar with, I would have passed. In NSW at the time if you took the test on an automatic, you were not licensed to drive a manual. However, my Californian licence lets me drive either.
I agree about the distraction, you’re learning both how to control the car AND how to drive on the road and they are two very different tasks.
I remember doing a lot of road practice on an auto as well as separate car control practice in a manual, I then took the test in the manual as the license regulations at the time wouldn’t let you drive a manual for at least a year unless you took the test on one. Now I think its even more restricted.
I SO know where you’re coming from. I first booked in exam to get my “L” plates (the intricacies of the Australian licensing system will be lost on US readers – suffice to say you need to do an exam to earn the right to learn to drive in Australia – when you pass you are given your “L” plates) when I was sixteen – won them and let them expire three times – but was too busy doing my final years of high school, and my mother refused to give me lessons, saying she didn’t want me to learn her bad habits. Then I moved to Canberra to go to university – and Canberra is a city made for cycling – it’s flat and there are cycleways everywhere – I knew no one with a car anyhow so let my Ls expire again. Then I went to Mexico – and (like Caitlin) was not interested in learning to drive in a city with crazy traffic and a great metro system. I was 23 when I got back to Australia and by that stage the laws had changed. Whereas it would have taken me about 12 months to get a full license when I was 16, by the time I got around to it about 18 months after I got back it took me four years – from the point where I reapplied for my Ls, through the log book and lessons, then through the different stages of P (provisional) plates. I was finally awarded a full licence just after my daughter was born – at 27. I became a mum and a licensed driver in the same month.
It is such a palaver to get your licence in Australia (or at least in our state of NSW). I’m grateful that I’ve done it here. I now have a full, unrestricted driving licence, which is great! I too had my Ls almost continuously from when I was 16 to 23, when I decided that I was done with it for the time being and it could wait. In California we also had to take a written test to get our learner’s permit, though we don’t have to put plates on your car or have a lower speed limit (in fact my instructor was very firm on “going with the flow of traffic” on the freeway). I was amazed by how quickly the driving experience I had all those years ago came back to me. – Caitlin.
I was 16 years + 1 month old, and my mother was DONE driving me to gymnastics practice every night.
California is where “car culture” began. If the trains worked properly here, the Interstate system as we Americans know it today might not exist. Speaking of which–if you ever take the Coast Starlight south towards LA, plan to spend at least 2 and as many as 12 hours longer on the train than the ticket claims you will. But that’s another post.
Oh, and car-sharing can be a viable means of both being environmentally conscious and being able to get around California.
I can’t use the car sharing schemes like Zip Car or City Car Share until I’ve had my licence for a minimum period, but I can rent by the day from the big car rental companies. I know what you mean about the interstate highways – though Europe seems to have both good roads and good rail. It’ll be a great day if the planned high-speed rail passenger line from San Francisco to Los Angeles ever happens. – Caitlin.
16 motor bike; 19 car (could have got it at 17); 41 Heavy Goods Vehicle (could have got it at 21)
I’m in UK.
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You are far more licensed than I ever plan to be! Do you have a pilot’s or a boat licence? – Caitlin.
I think I might be a bit different from majority of the other commenters… I am 25 and still don’t have a license. It has nothing to do with money, infact its not a very nice story.
I grew up in Canada, and about a week before I got my learners license I saw a car crash that killed a pregnant woman in her car, basically right in front of me. It was really sad, but I think the part that scared me the most was that it was so easy to actually DO that to someone. The fear of living with the consequences of a momentary lapse in concentration are too much for me to think about.
There are some positives though, I live in Sydney Australia now and take the train every day. The money we save on car related things we put back in to our house payments/having fun… plus its more environmentally friendly. That’s my silver lining!
Graham
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I know what you mean. I’m very conscious of the fact it’s real life. It chilled me a little when my instructor told me how many of his teenage students think it’s just a real-life extension of playing a video game. Does your wife drive? – Caitlin.
Congrats! I was 15 when I got my permit (to drive with an adult), 16 when I got my license. In some states, you can get it at 14 if your parents work. (Yet you can’t drink until 21. Insanity.)
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Definitely! I was an exchange student in Germany when I was in high school. The drinking age was 16 but the driving age was 18. Much more sensible! Let’s the kids get the drinking silliness out of their system before they get behind a wheel. – Caitlin.
Well done!
I’m 30, from the UK and still can’t drive :p
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Congrats! I was 16 like most Americans and I can drive a stick shift and have even driven a huge Uhaul truck from LA to SF, but I’ve never really enjoyed driving really. Even as a teen, I always let my friends drive my car.
My mother was amazed that I had never noticed that cars drive on different sides of the road until I was learning how to drive! LOL! (Never needed that info til then).
Since you are in my home city, I really enjoy reading your impressions. Yes, indeed, there are some spectacular areas to see near by that only a car will do.
It is so sad that the US and Ca doesn’t have much better mass transit and rail service. That will become extremely painful come oil peak. Europe is soooo far ahead in that way.
Enjoy!
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I was 23 when I got mine (I think that’s how old I was). I did get my learners when I was younger but changed countries and money and using public transport and not having a car I didn’t bother about getting one.
Even when I got my license then I barely drove… just now and then until I was 31 when I bought my first car and then I started driving regularly.
Good on you Caitlin!
18 – Greater London.
My tip is to not to wait till you need to go somewhere, as you’ve just passed it makes sense to keep your hand in. It’s very easy to get out of practice I’ve found.
Oh yeah, well done!!!
Good point! I plan to rent a car some weekend soon. Maybe even in San Diego in a few weeks (need to do my research). – Caitlin.
I was 18, like many in more rural parts of Sweden. In Stockholm, it’s not unusual not to have a licence at all though. That all was 18 years ago!
Congratulations on your licence, CA will be even more enjoyable from now on I’m sure.
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I got my license in Sydney on my 17th Birthday, that is, first chance I was legally allowed. I couldn’t wait! I had even bought my own car before my 17th birthday so it was ready and waiting.
Congrats, Caitlin! I’m excited to think of all of the road trips that are in your near future!
I was 17 in NJ. We took a class with about 15 hours of behind the wheel training, had a permit for a few weeks and were done. Now in Massachusetts my kid needs 12 hours in a $$ driving school car, 6 hours watching other kids drive in the driving school car, a 30 hour classroom course AND 40 hours of supervised, documented driving with mom and dad. Then they get a jr license. The kids really have to want that license!
Probably a good thing though – I expect the roads are safer if you make it just a little harder! – Caitlin.
I was 16 when I got my license in Rockville, Maryland. I had to be on the honor roll and promise to get a job as soon as I got my license. It was less than a year later I hydroplaned and totaled my car, but was able to use junkyard parts to fix it up. I drove that 1987 Ford Taurus Station Wagon for years, then my brother inherited it, covered in a myriad of bumper stickers on the outside and Super Mario Brothers and other random stickers all over the steering wheel. He drove it until the early 200s. It was a machine.
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18 in Derby, UK – I was an Assistant Manager at the Pennine Hotel working for the Rank Organization.
I’m 38 and I still don’t have a licence. Nor do I intend getting one. I got my Ls way back in the day and did a certain amount of practice, but it became evident that my visual perception was poor, which is a fancy way of saying “I can’t steer”. The roads are undoubtedly safer without me, but there’s also no doubt that all my travel planning (whether for work or leisure) is heavily influenced by the need to have a public transport option wherever I go.
I’m sure the steering would come with practice but if you feel you can do without it, there’s no need. (For anyone who is wondering, Angus is from Sydney). – Caitlin.
>> Do you have a pilot’s or a boat licence? – Caitlin.<<
I did have a pilot's licence, but it's lapsed now.
In this country, I don't believe you need a boat licence, unless you do it professionally.
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Caitlin –
Congrats! Now you can make the lovely and iconic Route 1 coastal drive!
I got my license as soon as legally possible – I took the test on my 16th birthday. I had actually learned to drive three years earlier, on my grandmother’s farm in western Pennsylvania. My dad loves cars and racing, so driving (fast) is in my blood!
I’ve done that drive as a passenger. It’s beautiful! I’d like to do it again, and maybe go north from here as well as south. – Caitlin.
@Caitlin My wife can drive, but we dont have a car. She learned to drive in Sydney, I think that would be REALLY scary.
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I don’t think Sydney would be so bad. No worse than the Bay Area. I’ve never done bumper-to-bumper traffic though. My husband is learning to drive now as well. – Caitlin.
well I got my motorbike licence when I was 19 (very easy, a man at the Motor registry just watched me ride down the road and do a U-turn and come back again) but it was when I fell off my motorbike with you 4 months grown in my tummy, I realised I seriously had to ditch the bike and learn to drive a car (your dad had one so it wasn’t that I planned to tie you on the pillion seat or anything). So didn’t manage to do it for a year or two, it was hard learning to drive in an old Holden manual without a handbrake when your tummy was so big your feet did not reach the pedals. Twas on my 25th birthday I got it in the little town of Eden, south coast of NSW.It was the local policeman who tested me, and the main thing I had to do was a hillstart on Eden’s famous steep hill that some of our hippy cars would not even manage to climb up in first gear. But the trickiest thing he did was tell me to make a right turn and then say “you should not have done that, you could not see far enough ahead”. But he gave it to me anyway…. and I hate to think how many thousands of k’s I have driven since.
When I took my motor-bike test in UK, all you had to do was ride around the block without falling off or hitting anything. At some stage, the examiner would walk out into the road to see your ‘emergency stop’ … and there’s many an urban myth about the examiner stepping out in front of the wrong bike!
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A friend of mine took her driving test in Georgia (the US state, not the country) and she said she only had to drive around a course, not on the actual road. It sounds a lot like the motorcycle test except this was in a car! I’d ask her to comment here, but since she is on holiday on a tropical island right now I think she has better things to do.
Congrats on getting your license. I got mine when I was 18 or so–pretty late for most Americans. My next driving challenge is to drive in Latin America. I’m pretty chicken about driving in general, so this will be a big challenge for me.
Congratulations on passing the test! I sat the written test as soon as I was allowed (at 16 I think?) in New Zealand – I’d been testing friends for months, so that was a breeze. Was never so keen on the practical part, so didn’t get my restricted till I was 19 and needed to drive for work (after many, many hours of lessons). However, after some driving trauma and nine years of overseas travel, I’ve never made it to getting my full licence. Think I’d have to start from the beginning again now.
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Thanks for your comment. I sat the written test for my Ls (learner’s permit) at 16 too. I’m guessing the “restricted licence” is a bit like the Ps (provisional licence) in NSW. Do you actually have to take a second behind-the-wheel test or is it just a matter of time elapsing? They don’t have that here – you take one written test, one behind-the-wheel test, and then you’re done. – Caitlin.
I forgot to say that I got my license finally in New Zealand where the “written” test was a “scratchie” so better be sure when you scratch it off that you have the right answer and no way you can change it.
It also meant when I moved home to Australia I went straight to my full license without having to do “P’s”
Well um, I have never driven a car, well I tell a lie, I have for about 4 minutes when I was 17, but for a few reasons it’s never been top of my priorities. Well, I have a confession, not many know this but I am partially sighted, blind in my left eye, and I’ve seen how some people drive in this country.
Another reason is that I am only 25 minutes from the city centre where I work, and parking is not cheap, so it’s cheaper to catch the bus or train into work. The only time I miss not being able to drive is the summer, and like you said Caitlin, it’s so easy to get around the UK and Europe by train.
I was 18 when I got my driving license, but since then have lived in cities and travelled mostly on public transport. It is over a decade since I last drove!
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Congratulations! I was 17 and an exchange student in Oklahoma. The test was frighteningly easy. One of the questions was something like this: What do you do when you reach a red light? A)Stop, B)Proceed with caution, C)Continue. This was ages ago – hopefully they’re more demanding now.
Home in Norway, I converted the license, just needed to do an ice driving course in addition. They must have seriously overrated US driving licenses, there’s no way I could have passed a Norwegian driving test with what I’d learned in Oklahoma. (Now it’s much more difficult to convert driving licenses, so they must have wised up). Up here, with all the requirements, compulsory courses, etc – it takes a while and can cost as much as USD 2 – 3000. Also, if the driving test is taken with an automatic transmission, it’s noted on the license, and you’re then not allowed to drive a manual/stick.
Congratulations on taking yours! Will you be able to convert it in Australia?
Now it’s my turn, I’m 42 and don’t have a licence, for very many reasons all of which not I have had to review. I did learn to drive at 16 but moved overseas where public transport was the norm. After moving back to NZ attempts were made at getting my licence, but then I headed back overseas and didn’t need it. Now I’m reviewing the need because I want to work as a NGO consultant and a licence is essential. In the past I believed that owning a car would add to the environment problem and because I travel a lot I needed to counterbalance my carbon footprint. But the reality now means I must take the plunge and get my licence in order to work.
Like you, circumstances change and we have to go with it. I’m glad you have it, you will enjoy your freedom and when you come to NZ, you can drive and explore.
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It’s all about accessibility. I remember when i first moved over to Oz i was virtually housebound for months, until i managed to successfully apply for all my papers. Since then everything has been gravy, managed to pick up an old Ute and haven’t looked back since.
In the 60s in New Zealand we got our license on our 15th birthday. Once round the block in Eketahuna – a small country town, and I was free to drive with no restrictions. a bit different nowadays
Hi caitlin, nice to know you have got california full license, I have New Zealand license will it be hard to get to california(states) license. I would try to join the same class as you said. thanks for your post & putting more light on driving in states.
It’s an easier test than in Australia and probably New Zealand too, so if you drive at home, it shouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t have my Australian licence. If you need to pass a behind-the-wheel test just make sure you have some practice, read the road rules, and maybe watch the DMV’s videos on YouTube. – Caitlin.