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[diarytypething]

I passed my driving test yesterday! I'm now licensed to drive manual transmission vehicles with up to 8 passenger spaces. Despite attempting to do a substantial chunk of the turn-in-the-road - aka the 3-point turn - with the handbrake on, I only got 3 minor faults (you're allowed up to 15 in total, although if you get more than 3 or 4 in the same

Comments

[davidn]

Three! Congratulations - I got seven (but how many cumulatively? ;) ) - all of mine were for various flavours of being too slow. And here, now I get to do it all over again on the other side of the road.

[diarytypething]

One of the major faults I got on my first attempt at the test was for being too slow on a roundabout, so I know what that's like (hesitancy was also the biggest problem for me when I was learning, and the main reason that it took me so long to get to test standard). Good luck with taking the test on the other side of the road - at least you don't have to do any roundabouts...

[diarytypething]

Thanks.

[bohemiabythesea]

Yay driving test! Now, go and take a random car for a test drive! Given that there are too many doe-eyed abandoned and neglected SUVs waiting to be taken off the streets of this city... ;)

[diarytypething]

Last week I was passing a Landrover dealership, and they had a big sign in the window advertising the fact that you can now get a Chelsea Tractor with automatic transmission. Since 4x4s are already more dangerous for other road users than an average sized car, my first thought was that it couldn't be safe to let someone who can't/won't drive a "proper" car out on the roads in one of these monsters. Later, someone else pointed out that off-road driving relies heavily on gear changes, so an automatic transmission Landrover is completely useless for the task that 4x4s were originally designed for.

[bohemiabythesea]

The point of 4x4s in the city completely escapes me. The fact that they are still allowed in a city with such fundamental traffic problems as this one here strikes me as another example of the city mainly catering for a certain proportion of its citizens, while completely ignoring pressing issues such as, ooh, letting the occasional ambulance or fire engine pass through narrow streets.

[diarytypething]

Last year there were mutterings from the council about making parking permits slightly more expensive for a 4x4, but there was a massive outcry from the New Town about how these cars were only 15-20cm longer than an estate car, and they were being victimised for their choice of car. It wasn't even that much of a surcharge; certainly not enough to make an impact on the kind of pocket that can support a New Town flat and a fancy car.

[ciara_mkb]

Congratulations!

[diarytypething]

Thanks.

[stubbleupdate]

Congratulations. Passed first time - welcome to the legion of the suitably smug.

I drove once in two years after passing my test, and that was in a transit van with no bloody rear view mirror.

[diarytypething]

This was actually my second time round, so I miss out on getting to be smug on that count (although you know what they say about people who pass on the second attempt).