Hi Everyone,
We took and passed our US driving tests yesterday, and i thought someone might be interested in what we did;
We called the centre on Monday, and got appointments for Tuesday, at the Haines city centre.
Its a smaller centre and much less busy than the one in Orlando.
Firstly we drove early to the centre, it is a little difficult to find, set back off the main road. Then when we found it, we had a drive round Haines city, just to see what the roads were like.
It is a small compact kind of city where the centre is, lots of side roads, stop signs, unmarked crossroads, rail crossing and awkward junctions. its well worth a drive round to familiarise yourself.
Very close to the centre is a long street with a dead end, when we found this we practised our 3 point turn and reversing etc.
Then in the car park of the centre we found the parking bay which had cones round it, so we drove in to practice the parking manouvre.
So the we parked up and went in.
Inside we took seats and waited to be called.
We had appointments for the rules and signs test at 9.45 and 10.00
We were there for 9.15, and got called up more or less straight away,
first thing you do is look into this machine which is on the counter, to check your vision. It looks like a big pair of binoculars, and you see lines of letters inside just like a regular eye test. You are asked to read one line about halfway down, if you do this ok, then your done.
Next you sit at a touch screen terminal which then proceeds to give you 20 road rules questions, which are multiple choice A,B,C,D type.
You simply choose the correct letter and then touch enter.
The thing to note here, is if you get one wrong it tells you immediately, it took me to number 11 before i realised this. So if it doesn't tell you anything you know its right.
You have to get 15 out of 20 to pass, i got 1 wrong.
When the road rules is complete, the test then moves onto the road signs test, again its 15 of 20 to pass. When completed you move back to the waiting line.
Things to remember, you really need to read the driver handbook at least once to have a chance with the rules, the signs are more or less straight forward, you would be unlucky to fail here.
The handbook can be found here:
http://www.lowestpricetrafficschool.com/handbooks/
You are then called back to the counter, the rest of your details are taken, you have to show insurance is on the car along with valid tag etc, we used a rental, so just showed the agreement and this was fine.
So then you sit and wait to be called for the test. we had times of 11.10 & 11.30 It was 12.15 before i was called.
The examiner takes you outside, has you get in the car and switch the ignition on, but not start the car. Then you operate the turn signals stop lights and horn etc to show the car is ok. The examiner then gets in and briefs you on what you will have to do, you then sign to say you understand what you are about to do.
Next buckle up and pull out of the parking spot, the first instruction is to drive to the parking bay which has the cones round it, you are told to drive in to the bay, suddenly the cones make it look really small in the bay, pull in and make sure you don't hit anything and as far as possible you are centrally positioned both length ways and side ways.
Once completed we were off onto the roads, the first thing to watch, the carpark has a STOP sign, so STOP, then proceeded as directed roud a couple of streets and the told as i turned right onto a hill going away from me, i should pull up at the curb as if i was parking the car to leave it there. What they want is for you to show that you know how to turn the wheels into the curb so that if it rolls away, it should roll into the curb and not across the other lane. we both did this, me downhill, Kay uphill, so revise and know which way to turn.
Next we drove to the long dead end road we had been practising in earlier, and i was asked to do a 3 point turn. Its easy, no handbrake to worry about, just make sure you indicate before you do the first turn
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