How long did it take you to learn how to drive?

[Hsn97]

About a year. I started getting lessons for my birthday in April and I passed the following May. Although I was test ready in April there were no spaces for me to take my test so I had an extra 4 lessons to tide me over until my test date in May.

I was having one hours lessons once a week, excluding several weeks over the holidays when my driving instructor took time off.

 

[Hopeless Opus]

it took me like 2 days to learn how to drive. it's still kind of nerve wracking a bit, but i can drive around with usually no problem. uhh... but i still don't have my license. i'm just lazy, and terrified of the test. so i'm stuck with driving with someone with me. i know i should get it this summer, but i'm just nervous of failure.

 

[Bluelady]

It took me 2 years to learn how to drive. So...I was 20 when I finally obtained my driver’s license. I was lucky that there was this huge recreation area near where I lived. The parking lot was huge and typically empty during weekday afternoons. Once I got better at parking and driving slowly, my dad made me drive in an empty street that just had industrial companies. I learned how to make U turns there and how to parallel park.

 

[Ghost Of Mascevanje]

I don't remember how long it precisely took me, but it was about a year.

 

[Mezzanine]

Deleted

 

[Mariah]

I’m almost 25 and I can’t drive.

 

[Your Local Wild Child]

Okay, so this has an interesting story. It took me 3-4 years from starting driving class to driver’s license because I had to take a long hiatus from training to drive because a tornado hit our neighborhood (thus ruining my dad’s training zone and stopping any other plans due to house repair taking priority). I do have my license now!

 

[deleted]

I’ve had a complicated relationship with driving since the beginning.

It started when I went to a really bad driver’s ed just because it was near my house. The teachers were fat, cranky old men who BLATANTLY treated females, private school students, and non-white people differently. I happen to be all three of those (well, I’m half white, but you get the point). Lessons were very stressful and my teacher would often refer to me as my school name instead of my real name as a put-down.

When that was done, I waited FIVE HOURS to get my permit. The DMV/DPS system in my state is in desperate need of reform and more employees.

The state-mandated six months of practice were HELL. My mom overreacted about everything despite being a horribly aggressive driver herself, and my dad tried to micromanage everything I did because he is a car insurance adjuster who deals with other people’s car accidents for a living.

Once I was eligible to take the test for my license, I made the mistake of going back to the place where I had driver’s ed. The proctor was another old man who made me feel stupid, awkward, and uncomfortable to the point where I could not function. I failed the test because of an offense that resulted in an automatic failure. If I remember correctly, someone sped past me even though I had the right of way and I “failed to yield.” Whatever.

Four months later, I took the test again somewhere else. I told the new proctor, a young woman, all of this and she was so compassionate. The anxiety from it all caused me to make a few mistakes, but she gave me a 76 (minimum to pass was a 75) and I finally got a license in August of 2019.

But it doesn’t end there.

In February of this year, I was rear-ended at a red light by a distracted driver on my way to school. His massive truck killed my little car. I’ve been scared of driving ever since then.

Exactly six months after that (in August), a student at my school hit my PARKED CAR with his truck after illegally cutting through a vacant space next to me. He tried to get away but failed. $5200 of damage. I’ve had my car back for a little over a month since that happened. I’m still very anxious about driving, especially on the 14th of every month, the date of both those incidents.

 

[deana]

I am still working on this honestly. When I was a teenager my parents were TERRIBLE teachers and expected me to pick up on driving right away... I really struggle though. I find the amount of things to be aware of sort of an information overload for me and it really freaks me out. I also have a hard time trusting things that I'm not seeing with my own eyes when I'm behind the wheel so I check my mirrors A LOT when I should be watching the road in front of me, just because I seem to not be able to trust what's going on back there when I'm not watching (if that makes any sense at all, probably not).

I don't mind driving on dirt roads out in the middle of farm land kind of area where there is literally nobody, no cars, and everyone's houses are far back on the lot, but I don't live on a farm I live in the city where the driving environment is the exact opposite.

I want to save up to take driving lessons because trying to learn from people I know has been a massive fail. I think I need to pay someone to be nice to me to have a better learning environment. Or that's what I hope for at least.

 

[dizzy bone]

This thread reminded me that my drivers license is expiring next month. That means I got it about 7 years ago. It took me a month or less from doing my test and hours. I've only ever driven in Korea though (where I got my license) and it's been so long since I drove that I feel like I forgot everything lol. I have a motorcycle license now and I prefer that to driving a car.

 

[visibleghost]

i started last summer and got my permit in February or March this year but i could have gotten it done quicker if i had had an earlier test time. i had to wait for 6 months for my test and i was/could have been ready before that. still, i'm just glad it's over and i have my permit and can drive now, lol

 

[Crowsie]

I learned at 15 thanks to a friend, and it only took me maybe a month to learn. I didn't buy a car of my own until I was 19 though.

 

[ting1984]

I am still working on this honestly. When I was a teenager my parents were TERRIBLE teachers and expected me to pick up on driving right away... I really struggle though. I find the amount of things to be aware of sort of an information overload for me and it really freaks me out. I also have a hard time trusting things that I'm not seeing with my own eyes when I'm behind the wheel so I check my mirrors A LOT when I should be watching the road in front of me, just because I seem to not be able to trust what's going on back there when I'm not watching (if that makes any sense at all, probably not).

I don't mind driving on dirt roads out in the middle of farm land kind of area where there is literally nobody, no cars, and everyone's houses are far back on the lot, but I don't live on a farm I live in the city where the driving environment is the exact opposite.

I want to save up to take driving lessons because trying to learn from people I know has been a massive fail. I think I need to pay someone to be nice to me to have a better learning environment. Or that's what I hope for at least.

I wish you well! I also struggled a lot with driving -- didn't start taking lessons until age 18 (late 2002), and finally got my license on my THIRD try at age 21 (late 2005).

My parents took to driving naturally and didn't teach me well because I processed driving information differently from them. My dad taught my older half sister to drive, but he wasn't good with teaching me, so my mom ended up teaching me more -- but even she wasn't good at teaching me city driving, especially (she was good with teaching me parking lot and highway driving, though). I learned more about city driving from an actual instructor that my dad paid to help me when I was struggling to get my license.

To this day, I still struggle a lot with being able to navigate myself through driving space in real time. I rely on GPS and directions from sites like Google Maps to help me get to where I need to be, ESPECIALLY unfamiliar areas.

 

[CasualWheezer]

I'm still learning to drive so I'm about a year or so behind everyone else in my grade. I got my permit last November and drove for the first time on Christmas Day. I still have have a lot of hours to go before I'm able to get my license, that'll probably take a few months but perhaps shouldn't take too long.

 

[DarkDesertFox]

It took me awhile because of my driving anxiety I just kept putting it off. I let my learner's permit expire I think twice. Finally got my driver's license at I think age 20. The driver's test itself was pretty easy. I still hate driving though. It just makes me really anxious. Glad I haven't had to actually physically drive to work since March.

 

[Livia]

I'm almost 26 and I still don't know how to drive. I tried to learn when I was 15, but I was too anxious about getting into an accident, so I never took the test to get my license. Last year I thought about trying again, but I still have too much anxiety about it.

 

[Nosfurratu]

I started driving quads In the desert when I was 13 For years so that really helped. I know it’s nowhere near the same as a vehicle but it made me more comfortable when I was being taught how to drive a car. I failed the test twice so I got upset and waited a year, I think I was 17 when I got my actual drivers license. Drove my parents giant van to work at kohl’s and got used to it after some time. Bought my first car 1995 dodge stratus dark green and it was so easy to drive after that! Now I have my cute 2016 Kia Forte and yes still paying it off but I’d say I’m pretty comfortable driving.

 

[Aurita]

my parents didn’t want me to start driving until I was 18 so I didn’t start learning until then. But I guess they forgot that I was heading off to college so I learned how to drive mostly from my boyfriend and from the one driving class I took. I ended up taking the written exam when I came back home, but didn’t take the driving test until the following year. So I got my license around right before I turned 20

 

[IonicKarma]

Like 2 years to actually be comfortable with driving. Fun fact I passed the driving test before I even trusted myself to drive because they ever explained how to drive on highways :^)

 

[itsmxuse]

I started learning to drive at 17 but the company I went with scammed me out of loads of money which put me off driving for couple years. Started having lessons again at 19 but had a breakdown which caused me to stop and this year I was going to finally do it but corona happened and haven’t been able to