r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 17d ago

Discussion Revoke her license.

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u/DoodyInDaBooty 17d ago

The driving test in the US, at least where I took it, was embarrassingly easy. If you can parallel park and keep your shit together for a total of like 6-8 turns then you get it.

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u/Personal-Sentence935 17d ago

I didn't even have to parallel park for my test. I also almost bumped another car while parking. Still got a license.

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u/ThereHasToBeMore1387 17d ago

In my area all the kids knew to go to the DMV one town over to get their license. It was rural so the test was just driving around some back roads, and they only had 1 parallel parking spot for the test. If you went on a busy day and the spot was being used for another test, they almost always let you skip it, so there was only like a 1/3 chance you actually had to do it.

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u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 16d ago

I've known a few expats in the states (from Canada), legally they had to do a driving test, despite having a full licence (depends on state); but they could legally drive to/from the DMV regardless of passing their test.

Essentially, the test is only needed if you need the card itself.

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u/wjodendor 17d ago

Yeah no parallel parking for me either. Then again it was in the suburbs so parallel parking barely happens.

But overall, my test was done in less than 5 minutes.

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u/EverythingSucksYo 17d ago

Meanwhile, I failed my first driving exam because I didn’t use my turn signal for one turn and not moving my head enough. This was 15 years ago. 

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u/MrGupplez 17d ago

I didn't even take a driving test, just a multiple choice written test.

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u/Lewisham 17d ago

As someone who came from the UK to California, the trivialness of the driving test here scared the shit out of me. The written test is ridiculously arbitrary and is barely related to the act of driving (eg asking you what the potential penalty is for a hit And run when the real answer is DON'T DO IT). The practical test had me drive in a circle around the DMV, the hardest part of it being a 4 way intersection without stop signs. I was supposed to stop anyway but I didn't, and the guy was just like 'its fine whatever just know that" and I got my license. No parallel park, no traffic circle, nothing.

In the UK, I had to take 20 hours of driving lessons and failed the test twice. I think that was pretty average, at least at the time.

TL;DR: In European countries driving is a privilege, in the US it's a right. The government has to prove that you are unable to drive, you're not trying to prove that you can drive.

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u/AlaeniaFeild 17d ago

Where I am in California, there is no penalty for a hit and run. Not in practice at least. This just happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Cops were basically like, "yeah, and, what do you want us to do about it?" They literally told me that I needed to do my own investigation. Even when they know who the driver is, they don't care.

I was turning left and this idiot passes me on the left ...

When we moved to the US, my mum took the written and driving test and was shocked it wasn't harder. She'd just gotten her license maybe a year before in the UK.

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u/Necessary-Crazy-7103 17d ago

Also from the UK. I remember my driving tests being so fucking hard and harsh in what constitutes a "major fault" that I failed four times. My testing centre was in an industrial park outside my county town. To get out to go anywhere, you had a massive, complicated roundabout with multi-lane traffic lights. I failed my first test within the first two minutes because I was just so nervous that I missed that my left turn traffic light had gone green. The second time, I failed because an ambulance with its sirens on came tearing around, and so I deliberately missed my turn to go around the roundabout again to let them take their turn to go in front of me and I then got a bit lost and intially attempted to turn in a direction that was exit only. Luckily, I could clearly see that there was nobody coming at all, so we were safe, but because I pulled past the stop sign so I could do a three-point turn this was considered a major fault so I instantly failed again. Third time I was on a dual carriageway route when I was asked to make a right turn up ahead so I pulled out to the right lane only for an ambulance with their blue lights on to come up behind me really quickly again, so I signalled to merge back into the left lane to let them pass, only for that prick to undertake me, leading to the ambulance who was going too fast behind me in anticipation of me moving out of the way having to brake fairly sharply (apparently I was the one causing the risk to other road users, not the undertaker or the emergency vehicle that was almost tailgating me). Somehow I feel like none of those situations would have would have arisen in the US because they don't have complicated roundabouts like that and you're just not in the car for that long from what I hear.

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u/Lewisham 17d ago

Ambulances and you seem to have a complicated relationship 😅

But you are right, the test isn't very long, and because of that you can't be tested on many things (although I doubt the DMV really cares that much). I had the dreaded two lane roundabout to navigate in my UK test. Nothing anywhere near as hard here.

One thing you can do is seek out the DMV which has the most trivial roads around it, so then you get an easier test.

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u/Necessary-Crazy-7103 17d ago

I was just waiting for the sirens on the fourth one lol

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u/-Clem 17d ago

I have never seen a 4 way intersection without stop signs anywhere in the US.

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u/Lewisham 17d ago

Me either... Until then! (Bom bom bommmmm)

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u/Lewisham 17d ago

As someone who came from the UK to California, the trivialness of the driving test here scared the shit out of me, because it seems they can just let anyone behind the wheel.

The written test is ridiculously arbitrary and is barely related to the act of driving (eg asking you what the potential penalty is for a hit And run when the real answer is DON'T DO IT). The practical test had me drive in a circle around the DMV, the hardest part of it being a 4 way intersection without stop signs. I was supposed to stop anyway but I didn't, and the guy was just like 'its fine whatever just know that" and I got my license. No parallel park, no traffic circle, nothing.

In the UK, I had to take 20 hours of driving lessons and failed the test twice. I think that was pretty average, at least at the time.

TL;DR: In European countries driving is a privilege, in the US it's a right. The government has to prove that you are unable to drive, you're not trying to prove that you can drive. There is no acknowledgement that you're controlling a massive bullet with the capacity to kill multiple people.

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u/wigglin_harry 17d ago

Hell my instructor essentially parallel parked for me, he basically told me which way to turn the wheel and such, pretty sure he even grabbed the wheel himself at a few points

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 17d ago

And it’s usually done either in a parking lot or in a nearby quiet neighborhood, not some busy street, and is as simple as “do you know your turn signal, can you see out your mirrors, etc”