Patience, Safety and Side-splitting Laughter
It takes a lot of patience and practice to learn the rules of the road before qualifying for a driver’s license. It takes even more patience and practice (in the form of holding back laughter or fearful screams) to ride shotgun to these new drivers. Driver examiners hear and see some bizarre events throughout their career. If it weren’t for their knowledge and bravery, we may be riding down the road next to some of these would-be drivers. Instead, we continue to stay safe behind the wheel and get a few good laughs out of these examiners’ experiences.
I will never forget the time one of my examiners was conducting road tests in Valley City, North Dakota and nearly got arrested. As a rule, when the examiner starts the test, we say, “I’ll follow you to your vehicle.” In this instance, there was a car parked directly in front of the building and the applicant proceeded to get in it. The examiner followed suit. The examiner naturally assumed this was the applicant’s vehicle. Since the keys were in the ignition, neither the examiner nor the applicant had any reason to believe there was anything wrong. The applicant figured this was a “test vehicle” (which we don’t provide but he didn’t know that). Long story short, it was not the applicant’s vehicle or a test vehicle. When the owner of the vehicle showed up, the examiner and applicant were well on their way. The owner of the vehicle promptly reported it stolen. Upon returning from the road test, the Valley City police were waiting. After some lengthy explanation, no one was arrested. Oh yes, the applicant did pass the test!
—Syndi Worrel
North Dakota Department of Transportation, Drivers License & Traffic Safety
I was administering a road test for an individual who could not speak or communicate well in the English language. She did not pass the parallel parking portion of the test so I gave her instruction to park in a parking space, terminating the exam. She passed the parking space, deciding to park in a space in front of the business next door to our office. Instead of putting her foot on the brake, she stepped down on the accelerator causing the car to jump the curb driving through a plate glass store front and coming to a stop in the middle of the business. It was a miracle that the business was not open as it is a dance school for children. People immediately came running up to the car to help us out. While we were standing on the sidewalk waiting for the accident investigator, the applicant turned to me and very calmly asked, “I PASS?”
—Valorie Lewis
Texas Department of Public Safety, Driver License Division
A few years ago I was giving a woman a road test when all of a sudden she went through a stop sign. I pointed it out to her and she said “that stop sign did not say all way, so I did not stop all the way.” She continued to explain that when the stop sign said all way you had to stop all the way and when it didn’t say that you didn’t have to stop. I explained to her that it said all way meaning everyone had to stop and when it didn’t say all way it still meant you have to stop. She was so thankful for the explanation and stated no one had ever told her that before. She was actually reading all way as all the way.
—Laurie Sheridan
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Testing and Investigations