(no subject)
Be Quiet & Drive Far Away
Amanda Ramirez
EnglishWR300
Professor Rodgers
December 9, 2003
I am Amanda. I learned how to drive from my parents. My mother was the one who taught me the most about driving. The adventures in learning began about three years ago when I was a junior in high school. I was only 15 years old and I could not drive legally. I did not have my permit because of an incident that happened when I was a freshman. What had happened was in my drivers training class, my then teacher Mr. Mason had told the class that “If you have an ‘A’ by the end of the year when you take the pink slip test and you miss only 8 questions, you will pass the class and get your pink slip”. I had the ‘A’ grade that I needed and when it came time to take the test, I had only missed 7 questions. My teacher somehow decided to change his mind, and I never got my pink slip.
My parents still wanted me to learn. When I was in high school, I did not have a fourth period class. My mother would drive from North Highlands to Roseville everyday at about 12:30p to pick me up. When she got me, we drove to the Antelope area where the real fun would begin. We would drive around the small town to find the perfect spot to being my learning adventure. Once she found the right spot, my mom would turn off the car and switch seats with me. She would sit in the passengers seat. She would tell me how to do a certain maneuver and then she would ask me to do it. She taught me how to properly make a u-turn, how to handle a four way stop, how to parallel park & all the basics of operating a car (or a minivan in my case). She was the one who I essentially got my driving style & quirky behavior from.
Friends were another way that I learned how to drive. Being the youngest person in my class is not the most fun thing in the world. When I was a junior, everyone else was already getting his or her licenses. I would always have to get a ride from a friend if I wanted to go somewhere that my parents couldn’t take me. I had a great friend named Melissa Miller. She would always take me out to many places. She was 17 and had her own car. When we would go out, I would either sit in the passengers seat or I would sit in the back seat, I would sit quietly and observe how she drove. She would drive really fast on the freeway and even in residential neighborhoods. I watched how she parked in the mall parking lot. I watched how she looked in the mirrors when she was backing up and how she was or was not paying attention to her surroundings. I believe the reason why I learned the most from her was because she was the worst driver of all my friends. She had been in about three or more car accidents in two years and collected quite a bit of speeding tickets during the time I knew her. When she tried to sell her car after graduation, she realized that all the accidents that the car had been in made her car worth nothing! I learned quite a lot from Melissa. I learned that I should never be in a hurry when it comes to driving, how to take insurance information when involved in a traffic altercation and to never tail-gate someone in a parking lot. To this way, I still have a mental image of her in a beat up old blue Dautsn with the front smashed up.
I observed Melissa as a passenger in her car. I have also learned how to drive by being and observer outside as a pedestrian. I walk around in my neighborhood and see the stupid mistakes that drivers make. Like how Miss Thing drives her red Toyota Celica 60 miles an hour in a 30-mile an hour zone and somehow still manages to continue her conversation on a cell phone. Or how Mr. I Have An Acura doesn’t even attempt to make a complete stop at a stop sign. And how Mrs. High & Mighty in her Audi TT Roadster doesn’t check her mirrors and blind spots and miraculously manages on missing a group of kids crossing the street. I soak up this information & these images like a sponge and promise that I will never drive like those people do.
His name is Patrick. He learned how to drive from his family. His older sister Ann, his father Wayne & his uncle Robert all taught him a thing or two. Ann is just about three years older then Patrick. Ann taught Patrick how to drive just like my mother taught me to drive. Ann would let Patrick drive around Sacramento and she showed him the basics of driving. Patrick observed a lot of Ann’s driving when they would go to school in the morning. Patrick’s dad and uncle would also take Patrick around the town. He learned how to parallel park from uncle Robert. Both his uncle and dad would take Patrick out and make him drive around.
Patrick also learned how to drive from a driving school. He went to A-1 Driving School. Every Saturday for about a month, his instructor would drive to his house in South Sacramento and pick him up for his class. Patrick learned the proper ways to drive a car and even how to drive on the freeway. Once he was done with his month long course, he got a certificate saying that he could drive according to state laws. He could then get his permit.
He also learned how to drive from his school. Patrick learned the basics from a driver’s educations class that he took as a freshman in high school. The school provided him with a copy of the California drivers’ handbook. The book gave information on the different traffic signs and their meanings, the proper way of handling traffic altercations and even the simple task of starting a car.
I received my license when I was 18. I have had my license for about a year and a half now and have not had any tickets, or have been in any accidents. Patrick on the other hand, received his license when he turned 16. He has had his license for over three years and has been in approximately three traffic accidents and has had more then two tickets; one for speeding (going over 102 miles an hour on the 99 freeway in Chico) and the other for not properly stopping at a stop sign in midtown Sacramento.
Thought we both had similar training, guidance and teaching in driving, I believe that the age that we received our licenses made a big impact on the drivers we ended up as. Perhaps if everyone waited till they were adults (or atleast 18 years old) the roads would be a better place for everyone.
Amanda Ramirez
EnglishWR300
Professor Rodgers
December 9, 2003
I am Amanda. I learned how to drive from my parents. My mother was the one who taught me the most about driving. The adventures in learning began about three years ago when I was a junior in high school. I was only 15 years old and I could not drive legally. I did not have my permit because of an incident that happened when I was a freshman. What had happened was in my drivers training class, my then teacher Mr. Mason had told the class that “If you have an ‘A’ by the end of the year when you take the pink slip test and you miss only 8 questions, you will pass the class and get your pink slip”. I had the ‘A’ grade that I needed and when it came time to take the test, I had only missed 7 questions. My teacher somehow decided to change his mind, and I never got my pink slip.
My parents still wanted me to learn. When I was in high school, I did not have a fourth period class. My mother would drive from North Highlands to Roseville everyday at about 12:30p to pick me up. When she got me, we drove to the Antelope area where the real fun would begin. We would drive around the small town to find the perfect spot to being my learning adventure. Once she found the right spot, my mom would turn off the car and switch seats with me. She would sit in the passengers seat. She would tell me how to do a certain maneuver and then she would ask me to do it. She taught me how to properly make a u-turn, how to handle a four way stop, how to parallel park & all the basics of operating a car (or a minivan in my case). She was the one who I essentially got my driving style & quirky behavior from.
Friends were another way that I learned how to drive. Being the youngest person in my class is not the most fun thing in the world. When I was a junior, everyone else was already getting his or her licenses. I would always have to get a ride from a friend if I wanted to go somewhere that my parents couldn’t take me. I had a great friend named Melissa Miller. She would always take me out to many places. She was 17 and had her own car. When we would go out, I would either sit in the passengers seat or I would sit in the back seat, I would sit quietly and observe how she drove. She would drive really fast on the freeway and even in residential neighborhoods. I watched how she parked in the mall parking lot. I watched how she looked in the mirrors when she was backing up and how she was or was not paying attention to her surroundings. I believe the reason why I learned the most from her was because she was the worst driver of all my friends. She had been in about three or more car accidents in two years and collected quite a bit of speeding tickets during the time I knew her. When she tried to sell her car after graduation, she realized that all the accidents that the car had been in made her car worth nothing! I learned quite a lot from Melissa. I learned that I should never be in a hurry when it comes to driving, how to take insurance information when involved in a traffic altercation and to never tail-gate someone in a parking lot. To this way, I still have a mental image of her in a beat up old blue Dautsn with the front smashed up.
I observed Melissa as a passenger in her car. I have also learned how to drive by being and observer outside as a pedestrian. I walk around in my neighborhood and see the stupid mistakes that drivers make. Like how Miss Thing drives her red Toyota Celica 60 miles an hour in a 30-mile an hour zone and somehow still manages to continue her conversation on a cell phone. Or how Mr. I Have An Acura doesn’t even attempt to make a complete stop at a stop sign. And how Mrs. High & Mighty in her Audi TT Roadster doesn’t check her mirrors and blind spots and miraculously manages on missing a group of kids crossing the street. I soak up this information & these images like a sponge and promise that I will never drive like those people do.
His name is Patrick. He learned how to drive from his family. His older sister Ann, his father Wayne & his uncle Robert all taught him a thing or two. Ann is just about three years older then Patrick. Ann taught Patrick how to drive just like my mother taught me to drive. Ann would let Patrick drive around Sacramento and she showed him the basics of driving. Patrick observed a lot of Ann’s driving when they would go to school in the morning. Patrick’s dad and uncle would also take Patrick around the town. He learned how to parallel park from uncle Robert. Both his uncle and dad would take Patrick out and make him drive around.
Patrick also learned how to drive from a driving school. He went to A-1 Driving School. Every Saturday for about a month, his instructor would drive to his house in South Sacramento and pick him up for his class. Patrick learned the proper ways to drive a car and even how to drive on the freeway. Once he was done with his month long course, he got a certificate saying that he could drive according to state laws. He could then get his permit.
He also learned how to drive from his school. Patrick learned the basics from a driver’s educations class that he took as a freshman in high school. The school provided him with a copy of the California drivers’ handbook. The book gave information on the different traffic signs and their meanings, the proper way of handling traffic altercations and even the simple task of starting a car.
I received my license when I was 18. I have had my license for about a year and a half now and have not had any tickets, or have been in any accidents. Patrick on the other hand, received his license when he turned 16. He has had his license for over three years and has been in approximately three traffic accidents and has had more then two tickets; one for speeding (going over 102 miles an hour on the 99 freeway in Chico) and the other for not properly stopping at a stop sign in midtown Sacramento.
Thought we both had similar training, guidance and teaching in driving, I believe that the age that we received our licenses made a big impact on the drivers we ended up as. Perhaps if everyone waited till they were adults (or atleast 18 years old) the roads would be a better place for everyone.