That would be my daughter, who expresses a lack of concern that a girl she's known since they were in preschool together just got her driver's license -- and at the same time is keenly aware that a) in Pennsylvania, you have to have held a learner's permit for six months before you can get a license, and b) the six months is up in September. Unfortunately for her, we're keenly aware that PennDOT recommends that the learner have accumulated about fifty hours of driving practice prior to taking the test, and she's at, oh, about fourteen hours.
This is why, despite serious reservations, I let her drive home from color guard practice last night -- she did okay -- and why I'm thinking about letting her drive in to practice this morning, in the fog. Like any parent, I don't want to do this. But when I think of the possibility that she might get her licence without ever having driven in any adverse weather -- well, it becomes a little easier. The other kid was actually able to have the experience of driving in snow and heavy rain, which my daughter hasn't had, yet, and driving on a busy highway - mine has driven on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which is actually pretty placid, and on a local state highway, which is just a little more turbulent. I'm thinking that we need to go onto a busier highway -- and that I'll need to get a quick hit of tranquilizer before. I actually have taken a tranquilizer for stress just once, when I was working and under a lot of pressure. I was dismayed to find that the initial reaction was to feel even more jittery. I complained to the doctor, and she said, laughing, Well, sure, the FIRST one will do that. She was startled to find that I'd pitched the rest.
So maybe, before she drives in adverse weather, I'll just get drunk.
8 comments:
I do not think kids should be on any busy freeways or beltways until they have hundred of hours in experience under their belts. Freeway driving these days is like race car driving and it takes a lot of confidence to deal with all the scary incompetents behind the wheel. All other types of driving are good experience.
I'm not talking anything like the 405 or the Capital Beltway in DC. Those, I''m not anxious to do. The road I have in mind is a two or three lane road with constant but (usually) not dense traffic. It's the main road to the other side of the river.
I learned most of my driving at night, in generally cold and very foggy conditions! (Riding a motorcycle in the fog can still make me a little nervous...)
Interestingly, and stupidly, Britain does not allow learners to drive on the motorway (the freeways); so you get your license, and the very first time you're on a motorway, with no one to guide you, you're going faster than you've ever done before, and all the other drivers are hell bent on ensuring that you have a very short driving career! "Out of the way, loser!" "Leave the highway to those who know!" and so on. :-)
Carolyn Ann
Survival of the fastest?
LOL! Living in the city, that last idea ain't half bad?
Seriously, we have a 20 year old who still isn't driving for the most part. He took drivers ed and went to driving school then waited until he turned 18 to get his license but still didn't drive. fine with us - we have the 405. And it is survival of the fastest!
Ellsworth AFB - spent a lot of time out there. I'm from a AF family, I grew up shopping grocery shopping at the commissary with my mom, felt kind of weird when I turned 18 and no longer had a military minor ID.
...and I felt weird when I left the base for the last time, with no idea what I was going to do with myself. But I guess it turned out all right.
I actually liked being in South Dakota, for the most part. Though if I never see another engine block heater, it'll be okay with me.
seems like it did. I hear that a lot {lately} from military personnel who are discharged or retire.
I love South Dakota...in the Summer. Which is why it's a great place to visit...I hate winters in the Midwest, too cold for me.
I didn't exactly want to leave. But I screwed up in a very visible way, and though I could have stayed on, pinned on the captain's bars, all that, I thought "Is this how I want to spend the rest of my life?" I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew it wasn't that. Funny thing, though -- I think the AF screwed up in convincing me of that. I don't think I would have been great, but I think I would have been someone worth having. Ah, well. Big companies are like that.
I took my wife to South Dakota to see where I'd been. Outside of the Rapid City library, they'd erected a status of a woman in pioneer garb. She asked who it was. I said that it was the original Prarie Home Companion, and she laughed.
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