DMV Again
I need to be honest with you all. I have been omitting a rather important part of my life here in Japan because well, it is driving me nuts. I have not informed you of my DMV stories. I think you remember that I was finally able to take my test last June and I failed. Well, I have taken it three more times all of which have been failures.
The first time was just a bunch of little stuff and the instructor decided not to pass me. Time number two was in November and I went off the very narrow ‘S’ curve. Automatic failure. Time number three I misunderstood the driving instructor and made a stupid mistake, another automatic failure. Ok, I can deal with the two automatic failures. They were stupid and obvious thus I have no problem owning up to them. The first time I took the test, I thought I had driven well but ok, I failed my first time, not a big deal.
Yesterday, I went for my fourth time to the DMV and Jana went along with me to take her test. I was the second person to drive and I did wonderful. I did the turns correctly, I made it through the elbow curve and the‘s’ curve. I was in the final stretch, I had about fifteen more seconds to go and I would have been finished. I was rounding the final corner, going about 10 km/h and the driving instructor slammed on his break and failed me for going too fast. Jana and I were shocked! We could not believe that he had done that while I was driving. There were no cars coming, it is a closed course, and there was nothing near me. But I was going too fast according to the instructor.
Yes, rounding a curve at 10 km/h is too fast. Never mind that I have never been corrected on this the other three times I have taken the test and had done the same thing. Never mind that Jana doesn’t think I could have been going any slower (she was in the car with me). In the final fifteen seconds of my driving test, I failed. This upsets me because there is no reason I should have failed for taking the corner at that speed, he said, “You didn’t break fast enough.”
I drove better then I did my second time when I went off the ‘s’ curve and the same instructor told me he would have passed me, if it had not been for the ‘s’ curve, which was an automatic failure. There is not point system for the foreign driving test. It is a simple pass or fail and from what I can tell, it is just you are one of the lucky ones that day and the instructor decides to be nice. I can think of no reason that I should have failed that test. SERIOUSLY!
There is nothing like the Japanese DMV to make me feel useless, worthless, and simply unsure of myself. As I was laying in bed thinking about the test, I realized that it is stupid to get upset over it. (I was pretty upset) I understand I should not beat myself up for driving extremely well on the test. I know that it is hard to pass and I get that. However, when a person drives perfectly and the only complaint that the instructor makes is “You didn’t break fast enough” well, in my mind that is not a big deal. It was 10km/h. SERIOUSLY, there is no need to break when you are taking a corner at 10km/h, SERIOUSLY.
The good news is that Jana passed on her third time! So once again, CONGRATS JANA!