I loved driver’s ed. What’s not to love, right? Every kid dreams of one day getting behind the wheel and experiencing 4 wheels of freedom. I took drivers ed my sophomore year of high school and I was paired with a guy named Wayne. Wayne was a senior.

While I was taking the class so that I could learn how to drive, Wayne was taking the class so that he could get a reduced rate on his insurance. He’d already been driving for a couple of years and didn’t need near the instruction of myself, or anyone else in the class really. This worked out in my favor.

On some days in drivers ed we studied state laws, sat through lectures, watched odd and slightly gruesome safety videos, or took tests. On other days we got behind the wheel and drove around town.

Of course, my favorite days were the ones when I got to drive, but I really liked the entire class. I did really well on the tests. As far as I can recall, I only ever missed one test question the entire duration of the class. I still remember the question because I felt silly for missing it.

The question was, what do you do when you come to a blinking red light. It was a multiple choice question and I circled the answer that said that you should wait for the light to turn green, and then proceed. Of course, the light will never turn green in that situation and the correct answer is to treat it like a stop sign. It was a simple case of me overlooking the word “blinking.”

When I was 15 ½ I took the written test to get my permit. I did great, although I did miss a question. This time the question had to do with bicyclists. I didn’t know that they were supposed to ride in the same direction of traffic. Read More...