What is the driving test like in the USA?
We've been living in Los Angeles for 10 months now, but I still don't have a local license. I have an ID (identity card), and in general this was enough, but it’s difficult to get around here without a car, and I want to drive myself. I have a Russian license and I drove in Moscow) not very often and confidently, but still, but here I just couldn’t decide to go take the exam, although all my friends say that it’s much easier to pass here than in Russia.
A few weeks ago I finally passed the theory and there was a driving test left, which I decided to take today. The examiner was a pleasant guy about 45 years old and, most importantly, spoke clear English. He checked the headlights/turn signals/brakes, asking me to do this or that, and then he got into the car and we drove off. At first everything was fine, I was driving, he was scribbling something on a piece of paper, but then there was a truck parked on a narrow road that had to be driven around in the oncoming lane, and without hesitation I drove off, although there was a car nearby driving in the opposite direction. Of course, I thought that I managed to get through safely. But in the end, we missed each other so close that the instructor intervened and turned the steering wheel to the right, although I could have managed it myself. After this incident, I realized that I did not pass because the examiner interfered, and this is a critical mistake. There were other moments, for example, he didn’t like my “dangerous maneuver” of going right at a red light when there were a lot of cars on the highway (in California such a turn is allowed, but in this case, it would be better if I waited) and the left turn was too wide, because of which I slightly drove into the path of another car. Of course, I didn’t pass, although I didn’t expect to pass the first time, but I also didn’t expect that there would be so many critical errors. Well, nothing, but now I know how the exam goes.
Source: Telegram channel “Anyuta in the USA | Los Angeles"
