When Did You Get Your Driver's License?

[Elite]

At 16 years and 4 months I was eligible for my license. I got my license at 16 years, 4 months, and 1 day. I couldn't wait to drive.

How the F do you get a driver's license in one day?
That shit takes weeks here. Lessons, exams etc.

[Herrick]

At 16 years and 4 months I was eligible for my license. I got my license at 16 years, 4 months, and 1 day. I couldn't wait to drive.

How the F do you get a driver's license in one day?
That shit takes weeks here. Lessons, exams etc.

I don't know where Chino is from but in the US, all we have to do is have a learner's permit and schedule a road test. If we pass the road test then we immediately become licensed to drive...which may explain why there are so many shit drivers in the US.

[Cool Chris]

It might have been implied, Herrick, but you also do need to have taken an accredited driver's ed course.

[pg1067]

At 16 years and 4 months I was eligible for my license. I got my license at 16 years, 4 months, and 1 day. I couldn't wait to drive.

How the F do you get a driver's license in one day?
That shit takes weeks here. Lessons, exams etc.

I don't know where Chino is from but in the US, all we have to do is have a learner's permit and schedule a road test. If we pass the road test then we immediately become licensed to drive...which may explain why there are so many shit drivers in the US.

It varies from state to state.  In California right now, if you're under 18, you have to take a driver's ed course.  You can then take a fairly easy written test and get a learner's permit.  You can do this as early as when you turn 15 1/2.  You then have to do a bunch of behind-the-wheel training, after which, if you've turned 16, you can take another written test and a behind-the-wheel test.

[XJDenton]

I do not have a licence.

[SwedishGoose]

Very soon after I turned 18 which is the allowed age in Sweden

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Very soon after I turned 18 which is the allowed age in Sweden

Was studying for it at 18 ended up getting it at 27.

[Stadler]

The other odd thing is that, when I was in HS, driver's ed was a required class.  It was a one semester course for sophomores, and you took health the other semester.  For some reason, they scheduled me to have driver's ed during my first semester, when I was still 14 (turned 15 about 8 weeks into the semester).  I finished the class, but it was another 3 months before I could get my learner's permit (at 15 1/2).  My two best friends, on the other hand, had their birthdays in March and April, but they had health the first semester, so they turned 16 and still couldn't get their permits because they hadn't completed the class.

Nowadays, not only is driver's ed not a required class, it isn't even offered at my kids' school, except as an "enrichment" class over the summer (at a cost of $100-something).  And, of course, there's the online option.

Similar here in Connecticut on all counts.   I'm of two minds; I was happy when my kid got it, but it was an increased level of worry (of course) and I was amazed how little they were taught about the rules and protocols of the road.   I ended up spending a fair amount of time with her in the car (when we would go somewhere together, I would let her drive).

[Orbert]

The day after my 16th birthday, because my birthday was on a Sunday that year.

In the 70's, gas was cheap, cars were cheap, and teenagers either had their own car or it was a lot more common to borrow Mom or Dad's car.  My mom and dad each had their own car, and when it was time to get a new one for Mom, my sister and I "inherited" her old one.  I mean, we didn't own it per se, but the family had three cars from that point forward, and us kids had custody of the third one, eventually including my younger sister as well.  We put in the gas, paid for the oil changes, and paid our own car insurance (which was also hella cheaper back then).

[jammindude]

This thread speaks to me. I had taken a driver school when I was 16, but didn’t own a car so didn’t see the point of getting my license right away. However, when I turned 18, I got a settlement from an accident I have been in when I was 14 and I immediately went out and bought a Mustang. I took my test and got my drivers license immediately after getting the money on my 18th birthday. That was one of the best days of my life.

But skipping forward to the purpose of this thread, my son is 27 years old and getting married in January.... and has never had his drivers license. dumbfounds me to this very day. Now he’s moving to Florida and he’s going to get his drivers license down there. 

He’s had plenty of opportunities to get his drivers license up here in Washington, but he’s always had one excuse or another why it wasn’t practical.

I will admit that I discouraged him from getting his drivers license after his graduation because we were in the middle of a recession and I would’ve been forced to put him on my insurance. But I didn’t expect him to drag that excuse out for 10 years.

[ReaperKK]

I got my learners permit the day I turned 15 and then on my 16th I got my license, I picked up my motorcycle endorsement a few months later. I loved driving so I couldn't wait to drive.