What year did you graduate high school? And did you learn to drive in high school?

[bertha katzenengel]

I graduated in 1981 and I learned to drive in high school.

How about you?

If you did not learn to drive in high school, how did you learn?

This came to me this morning as I changed lanes. I heard the teacher, clear as day, say "signal, mirror, blind spot." :)

[bluethruandthru]

1. I graduated in 76

and I learned to drive in high school too. I've often wondered why so many people who took driver's ed..and apparently passed...have forgotten that their cars have turn signals! :)

[av8rdave]

53. I also graduated in 76...and learned to drive in HS, but not until senior year

I moved to Maryland for my senior year of high school, and they offered driver's ed in school. Does any state/school do that any more?

[bluethruandthru]

71. As far as I know

driver's ed is all done through private companies now. None in school. Just one more thing parents have to pay for!

[terrya]

2. I graduated in 1974 and I learned to drive in high school.

We learned to drive using these big ol' Pontiac Bonnevilles. I did pretty well.

One thing I wished...the Pontiacs had automatic transmissions. I wish they had used cars with manuals...I still can't drive a manual transmission. :-(

[Rhythm]

6. I didn't learn to drive a standard until i was 22 or so

The wasband and i were borrowing a friend's car for a long trip, and i had to learn so that i could share driving duties. It took me all of 20 minutes to get the hang of it, and i ended up driving for most of the trip.

I prefer standards now, but when we get another car, it'll most likely be an automatic, because Oktoberain prefers that.

[KitchenWitch]

46. "wasband"

I love that term.

[Rhythm]

48. I stole it from an online friend in Montana

She has a couple of guys to whom she is formerly married, and calls one "the creep" and the other "the wasband" in order to make her writing clearer... i thought it was cute, so i stole it.

[alphafemale]

3. 1982. That was a great time to be a teenager wasn't it?

:hi:

Concerts were still affordable. The music was great. The clothes and the styles were a blast.

And..oh yeah,...I took Drivers Ed in High School.

It was mostly a waste of time, but at that time in OH, as I recall, it was mandatory that you take the class...or wait until you were 18 as opposed to 16 to get your license.

I'd say I learned more about driving from my brother-in-law.

[MissMillie]

7. I graduated same year

I don't think any MA schools offered driver's ed back then. If you paid to take instruction from professional driving schools, you got a break on your insurance (which, of course, was (and still is) high for inexperienced drivers).

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. Graduated in 1976, License in 1974 at age 16. n/t

[LeftyFingerPop]

11. Oooops...more information....

Sorry, I just quickly read the OP.

I took Driver's ED, but I really learned to drive on a 1965 Chevy Impala, standard shift, 3 speed on the tree.

I passed my test on the first try by borrowing my girlfriend's father's car, which was a big old automatic Buick...I wanted to take the test on an automatic to increase my chances of passing, even though I could drive standard shift well. :hi:

[hellbound-liberal]

22. Another 76 grad here.

I learned to drive in high school, became great at parallel parking and then couldn't do it in three tries when I went for my license. I thought I had failed when he told me to drive back to the office but I ended up passing. Now I can parallel park a school bus!:hi:

[LeftyFingerPop]

27. I'm the opposite...

Good parker then, not so good now.

Good year that was, 1976! :toast: :hi:

[Rhythm]

5. Graduated in 1984

At age 15 (early 1982), I was in a private, church-run school during the time when most people took "driver's ed", so i had to take it during evening sessions offered at a local public high school.

After we had done the 'driving practice' portion of our class (3 hours total of on-road practice in urban, suburban, and interstate highway situations... YIKES!), we got a certificate from the class that automatically granted us a "learner's permit" from the DMV, which permitted further practice as long as a licensed parent or guardian was in the front seat with the "learner".

Both my mom and dad let me practice a lot... driving back and forth to the grocery store, to school, or to the mall, and had me practice as many skills as they thought would be useful for the test.

I got my license on my 16th birthday... passed on the first try!

[LeftinOH]

8. 1983..yes driver's ed class was offered at school

[ulysses]

9. 1987, and yes. n/t

[Lady Effingbroke]

10. 1988....didn't learn to drive in high school.

In fact, many people think I still haven't learned! :crazy:

[Mr_leftyclimber]

58. 1988 and no

I attended a small private school, so no drivers ed was offered. I attended a small private drivers education school instead, Think: a couple of old camaros and other various examples of the best the early 70's could offer. I still laugh when I think about drivers ed. I was a farm kid, so I had been drivng pickups on the road, pulling 3 hay wagons since age 12, so i didn't really take the whole drivers ed thing very seriously, It was just something I had to do. The instructors at the school knew that a lot of the kids that they were teaching had been driving for a long time, so instead of actually teaching us anything they would just have us drive them around on errands, and once to his girlfriends house, where I got my final hour of driving instruction, sitting in the car waiting for him to "pick up his laundry".

[tekisui]

12. '98, yes.

[Inchworm]

13. '86 and I learned to drive in a field

Was way before high school.

:hi:

[madinmaryland]

14. 1979 and yes about the driving.

Got my license the summer before my junior year in HS.

[AggieGal]

15. 1993 and Yes

By the time I came along, it was no longer offered during school hours for credit. It was an after school program.

I was really bad. I asked my instructor once if she was the examiner would she pass me. She said no.

The only way I made it through class, the part where you "drive" along with a video, was to find the broken machine. I always got a 100, even when free spinning the wheel.

Here I am with the car I used for my driving test. Bad idea as I barely passed. This thing is huge when trying to parallel park!

[Jokerman]

61. Did it have those dents before you took the test?

I have to say that it really cracked me up when you talk being bad at parallel parking and then show a picture of a car with dents in the front and back. :)

Our instructor told a kid in my drivers ed class that he would do anything he could to make sure the kid NEVER got a driver's license. Poor kid went straight into a panic attack the moment he got behind the wheel.

The real irony was that the kid's dad owned a very successful chevy dealership and the rest of the family drove corvettes.

[nuxvomica]

16. Licensed in 1972 and graduated in 1973

After five failed driving tests, I finally learned the trick is to bring some sugar cubes for the horses. ;)

[Maine-ah]

17. 1993/no

they have the program through the school now, but they didn't when I was there. My father taught me, and then I just went to the DMV and took the written test, then drivers test and I passed with no problem.

[southpaw]

18. Graduated in 1984

Took Driver Ed, but I had already learned to drive.

When I was 13 or 14, my mother would take me to a road that dead-ended at the gates of an automobile seat factory. The road was about 2 miles long, and there was no traffic on it except at shift changes.

I learned to drive in a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 (automatic). Once I got the hang of that, we switched to a 1974 Pinto Squire station wagon... 4 speed manual. I've driven a lot of stick shift vehicles since, but that little Pinto was the hardest to drive of any; no power steering, a really stiff clutch and a shifter that really preferred not to move from one gear to another.

By the time I was in driver ed, I was just learning minutiae.

[YankeyMCC]

19. 86 and

my Dad taught me to drive but I did go through the driver school in High School to get the insurance discount.

[SacredCow]

20. 1989, and no...

My family had a small farm, and I learned to drive on their land. Started with tractors, then moved on to trucks. This was all when I was about 10 or 11. By the time I was in high school, they had sold off all of the land and I was a city dweller.

[Blue_Tires]

21. 1995

driver's ed was mandatory at my school...i also took it the summer before that year at a different school

[bigwillq]

23. 1996

I got my license when I was 16 (in 1994).

[MrCoffee]

24. 1994 and no

I learned to drive when I was 12.

[greendog]

25. '77 and yes. n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

26. graduated in 1969 but, learned to drive when I was 10

a friends family owned a produce farm in Davie Florida. One of her chores: everyday after school, drive the pickup truck around the fields hauling produce to the washing and packing stations.....it was mad fun for us and that's how I learned to drive.

[WinkyDink]

28. 1967. No, though it was available. Age 23, by husband. On a 240-Z. :)

[DarkTirade]

29. Class of '00, and while I learned to drive in school, I never actually got my license

until I was 18.

[LanternWaste]

30. Graduated in the Orwellian year of '84 - Learned to drive two...

Graduated in the Orwellian year of '84 - learned to drive two years earlier (off-campus drivers ed).

Being the only sophomore in HS with a car (even a car as crappy as mine was) gave me particular advantages in the social hierarchy of teen land. :)

[SoxFan]

31. 1985

Took the classroom portion through my high school, the road course through a private instructor.

It was kind of a weird situation, since I actually went to high school just over the state line. The Mass. classroom portion transferred to NH, but the road course didn't, for some reason.

[Crabby Appleton]

32. Graduated in MCMLXVII

took drivers ed in HS.

[bertha katzenengel]

35. LOL feeling old, Crabby?

dig the roman numerals . . . :hi:

[Crabby Appleton]

43. Math got so much easier when they finally invented arabic numerals!1!

[BarenakedLady]

33. 1987 and yes.

[flvegan]

34. 1989 and yes.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. '89. Parents made me take driver's ed, but I don't have a license

[Beer Snob-50]

37. 1977 and yes

i still remember sgt slicer yelling at me during the on road lessons and the gruesome movie at the end of the classroom lessons.

[trof]

38. 1959. Grandpa taught me.

[montanto]

39. Graduated in 1980, but learned to drive before I was 10.

[plcdude]

40. 1965

and yes

[bikebloke]

41. 1973

We had some classroom driver's ed in gym class, during the winter. I learned from my father on an empty shopping center parking lot on Sundays. I didn't get licensed until after high school, since my father felt threatened by my maturing (another story).

[tinymontgomery]

42. Graduated in 1975

Had a driving class during the school day and then after school road time.

[sakabatou]

44. Graduated '06

Learned to drive, but used my bike instead.

[KitchenWitch]

45. My class graduated in 1982

I had my 30 hours of "classroom" as an elective in High School. I did my 6 hours of "Behind the Wheel" through community education.

[LeftyMom]

47. 1998, and no. I learned to drive when I was 25 via private lessons.

[Reverend_Smitty]

49. Graduated in 2002 and yes

I had driver's ed in school my Sophomore year so I had my permit a month after I turned 16 but in NJ I had to wait until I was 17 to get my full license. That would have been March 01...I also wasn't subject to the new graduated license laws which has all sorts of restrictions until you turn 18.

I feel like I was part of the last gasp of teenage cruising where we'd all pile into someones car and just drive...anywhere...it didn't matter because gas was a buck a gallon. The summer of 02 was magical for me, just for that reason. I think we can all agree that George Bush and his buddies effectively killed that right of passage.

[petronius]

50. 1989, in southern CA, and drivers ed was a class in HS (nt)

[ceile]

51. 1994 and yes.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

52. '64, and "somewhat"

I got driving lessons from my father when I was in 7th grade. But took driver class in high school which got me a driver license. Most of the class already knew how to drive.

[libnnc]

54. '89 yes

The drivers ed car was a tan '81 Celebrity...horrible car

oh and our DE teacher was a creep. Interestingly, most of his students were hot cheerleaders (as a band geek, I was an exception).

He used to make students drive him home in the middle of the day so he could "check his mail" :eyes:

Rumors flew and I'm positive they were true.

[Jokerman]

55. Learned to drive on the farm at age 10. Graduated in 1980.

I still took drivers ed in high school but that was a breeze after years of driving farm equipment and a 10-ton grain truck.

[China_cat]

56. 1962...Never learned to drive

[Fox Mulder]

57. 2000, and yes.

[bif]

59. '73 and yes.

[Zuiderelle]

60. 1980, and I learned to drive in Junior High.

[SarahB]

62. 1990 and yes

[bluesbassman]

63. Graduated in 76. My football coach was the Drivers Ed teacher.

If did something wrong, he'd make me stop, get out and do up-downs.:mad:

[Faygo Kid]

64. 1969, yes (1967), learned to navigate the back seat, 1968.

Ah yes. Learned many things back then, Grasshopper.

[Critters2]

65. '77 and driver's ed was required. nt

[fizzgig]

66. 1999

my school district didn't offer driver's ed, but my parents paid so i could take the class and they could get the insurance discount

[ghostsofgiants]

67. 2003, and nope, never learned to drive in high school.

[RoyGBiv]

68. 1987, yes ...

Blood on the Highway.

Classic!!!!

[tismyself]

69. 1979

Went through driver's ed in school, but learned how to drive much earlier than that in a 1961 Studebaker.

[Mutley]

70. Graduated in 1998 and licensed in 1996 at age 16.

[reyd reid reed]

72. '78

and yes, I took driver's ed during my junior year.

[Texasgal]

73. 1985

I remember most " hand over hand"... :rofl:

[otherlander]

74. '08, yes.

[Digit]

75. Graduated in 1970, no behind the wheel drivers ed, obtained license in 1967 in No Va

I had a boyfriend who was from Scotland attending college at George Washington U, and he taught me how to drive. I was a freshman in high school.

I have had only one accident when I slipped on a patch of ice in a shady spot and bumped a parked car. I left a note and GEICO ate me alive.

The police were very strict in No Va, and I was pulled over all the time for not looking old enough to drive.

I am now living in NC and people down here do NOT stop for stop signs....AT ALL!
They tried to get me the other day and I let him know I definitely DID stop, he just didn't see me because a truck was parked too close to the stop sign. I ventured out farther after I had stopped to see if there were any kids on bikes or anything, and stopped again. I looked right at the officer and kept going. He was hiding next to the truck. I told him the truck was parked illegally and obstructed the view of motorists. He then said okay and let me go on my way. I notice that they are no longer allowing trucks to park there....

[OmahaBlueDog]

76. Class of 1983

Learned to drive during summer driving school (offered at the high school) in the summer of '81.

[JTG of the PRB]

77. 2001, and I learned DURING high school, but not IN high school.

I got my learner's permit in 1999, but I fell through some stupid loophole and had to do a ton of logged driving hours, and it took my until February 2001 to actually get my license. I learned to drive by being terrified the first time my dad took me to an empty parking lot to drive around in, then empty roads, then I took the driving classes. I also had to log 60 some-odd hours of driving in order to "prove" that I knew how to drive.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

78. My dear bertha!

I graduated HS in 1961, and I learned to drive during those years...

Regular class of driver education...

:hi:

[csziggy]

79. Graduated in 1970; took Driver's Ed as a summer school course

I rode my horse to the class, left him tied to a tree outside the school building while we practiced driving. WE swore he was laughing at us when we were learning how to change tires. :rofl:

[MikeH]

80. I graduated from high school in 1968, and first learned to drive in high school

I took driver education in high school, and got my first license from the state of Illinois in the summer of 1967 at age 16.

However it took a while longer than that for me to *really* learn to drive.

My family had a stick shift during the time I was in high school, and I never quite mastered the clutch and the stick shift.

Also our family moved a couple of times after I graduated from high school, and I was in college away from where my parents lived for a couple of years. I took another driver's ed class at the local high school in 1970, after I had moved with my family to San Diego, California, and got my California license in 1971. By then my family had a car with automatic transmission, and I had a much easier time driving.

I finally got my very first car of my own right at the time of my 27th birthday in late 1977. It was then that I had really started to drive.

[TroglodyteScholar]

81. I graduated in 1998

I drove in highschool, but judging by my driving record as a teen, I suppose I didn't really LEARN to drive until the latter part of my college years....

[vixengrl]

82. 1990 and no.

I don't think any high school in the Philly school system teaches drivers' ed, and I am pretty confident the reason would be "liability". Because the kids have to drive somewhere, and the parking lot or a busy city street (where stands a noble school, home of virtue, learning's seat, owning honors rule--let's hear it for school songs everybody! Vikings RULE!)

Um, I learned to drive when my first husband taught me. I think a certain like-kind of stubbornness kind of subverted my dad's teaching me, and my first husband was one of my best friends (whih is why I married him) and a very patient individual, so when I did something wrong, he took the time to explain why I was doing it wrong and make me redo it, whereas my dad was like, "Oh, damn it, you did it again!" and I was like "Yeah I know I did it wrong again!"

So I was twenty-four when I was officially "drivers license ready"--although I had driven before. But mostly, living in the city, I was all about the SEPTA.