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Driving tests in the United States are administered by the state government, so they can vary greatly from one state to another.
In Maine we have—had, maybe, since it's been years since I took my test—a scoring system on the written exam only. You could get a few questions wrong, but still pass.
The driving test was all or nothing.
Any mistakes and you failed—except for parallel parking where you got two tries to "safely" park. But if you forgot to check your mirrors, use any of the signals or look over your shoulder on either try, you failed.
Practically everyone I knew failed their first test and most failed multiple times. I suspect it was a very big money maker for the state.
Since failing was so common, examiners could hide their power trips. Our part of the state only had driving exams available a few days each week or each month, depending on where you lived, as no examiners were assigned full time in our very rural area.
The only examiner who came to our area for years was a man who failed everyone on their first try and failed all females 3 or more times.
Most of my friends and relatives tried to get their license as soon as they were able—15 to get a learners permit and 16 to get a license at that time in Maine. I wasn't interested in driving, so I waited until I was 26 before decing to get my license.
By the time I took my test, enough complaints had been filed that they started sending a second examiner—a woman—to our area.
If you had no errors, she'd pass you.
But you never knew who you were getting until the day of the test. I lucked out and got her and passed on my first try. My older sister got him and he failed her 4 times before letting her pass on her 5th try.
The reasons he failed her were dubious at best.
Reddit user Augustmars asked:
"Why did you fail your first driving test?"
A Vital Skill, You May Never Use
"Everyone told me I didn't need to know how to parallel park to pass the test. They were wrong. I barely tapped the cone and got a fail."
"My grandpa showed me how to parallel park the next day and I aced the test the next time I went. I've only needed to parallel park 7 times in my 30 years of driving."
~ EerieArizona
"I got my license in 1998. I have not parallel parked since."
"My mom has not parallel parked since the 1960s."
"She told me she parallel parked twice in her life—in driver's ed and on her road test."
~ crazycatlady331
"Where I took my test you could opt to not attempt the parallel parking bit at no penalty... but if you attempted it and hit the cone you failed the entire test."
"It made no sense to me, and the examiner didn't even ask me if I wanted to try it."
~ T800_123
Design Flaw
"Legitimately hit a wall."
"I did perfectly the entire thing. So much so that the examiner allowed me to just pull into the parking spot at the end instead of backing in."
"I pulled in an inch too far and tapped the wall. The examiner was not mad…just disappointed and gave me an auto fail."
"To this day I blame the pointed front end of the bumper on the Pontiac Sunfire I was driving."
~ WackHeisenBauer
🎵 They See Me Rolling, Through Red Lights...🎶
"I turned right on a red light, but didn’t stop 'enough'."
~ jonquest
"English isn’t my first language and can be hard for me, but if you didn't stop enough, doesn't that mean you..... didn't stop?"
~ garage-door-hijinx
"In the United States, it is very common to do a 'soft' or 'rolling' stop—some places call it a California stop—at STOP signs where you just slow down to look both ways, then continue on if it's clear. Same when turning right at red lights."
"You are of course supposed to stop fully in both cases."
"Also, when stopping fully, you are supposed to stop for at least 3 seconds before continuing.."
~ jofkk
"California stop...illegal in the other 49 states."
~ Complete-Instance-18
"STOP = Slow, Take a look, if it's Okay, then Proceed"
~ making-flippy-floppy
Safety? We Don't Need No Stinking Safety!
"My examiner wanted me to stop at the sign which sat back away from an intersection which was obscured by bushes, then cross the 4 way intersection without being able to see oncoming traffic which didn't have a STOP sign."
"She failed me because I stopped at the sign like she told me, then pulled up to where I could see and stopped again to look for oncoming traffic before entering the intersection."
~ Additional_Cry_1904
Going On A Power Trip
"This happened to my brother."
"The examiner had just finished a test prior to him and the kid was crying getting out of the car."
"The examiner insulted my mother, then during the drive grabbed the wheel from my brother and caused him to hit a curb."
"Then failed him."
"My brother passed just fine the second time."
~ Soapboi2223
This Feels Targeted
"Examiner: 'Stop ahead'."
"Me: 'Um okay' and I stop at the STOP sign."
"Examiner: 'How can you expect to pass if you won't listen to me?'."
"Me: 'Um, I stopped at the sign'."
"Examiner: 'I didn't tell you to stop at the sign, I told you to stop ahead'."
"Me: 'Um, the stop sign was like 20ft ahead of us. What am I supposed to think?'."
"Then telling me to turn at the next street when we were already within the solid white lines of the intersection, so I assumed she meant the road immediately next."
"It didn't go well from there."
"I should have know I was in for it, when the kid in front of me returned and screamed at the top of his lungs what a f*cking @#!$%& she was when they walking into the waiting area from outside."
"I'd have to agree."
~ ihaveway2manyhobbies
I Know My Rights
"Ugh! During my test I was so nervous that I was being super careful."
"I was at a red light waiting to turn right and just waiting for it to turn green."
"But the examiner was like 'what do you do when you're turning right on a red light with no one coming?'."
"Like, I don’t technically HAVE to turn, lady! Right?"
~ wavydavysonfiree
"I turned left on a red light...I was 16 and nervous."
~ NewsboyHank
What The Blink‽
"Was told to make a turn, so I put my blinker on."
"But there was a big box truck blocking my lane, but as I went around it, my blinker clicked off when I turned the wheel."
"Put it back on when I got back in my lane."
"Failing points were for not putting my blinker on when she said to turn."
"I swear they have a fail quota."
~ Gwen_The_Destroyer
Stop! But Not Here
"I was at a 'stop' sign. I was instructed to proceed across the intersecting road—which had no stop, but a single car approaching more than a block away."
"The officer barked at me to stop as I was in the middle of the road and I immediately stopped."
"When the approaching car slowed to a stop, I was reprimanded for stopping in the middle of the intersection and summarily failed."
"I think the officers just enjoy flustering 16-year-olds."
~ LurkmasterP
Turned Out To Be A Failing Score
"The one I distinctly remember was entering a turn lane with four cars already in it."
He took points off for entering the turn lane before the little gap in the paint. The gap was almost completely covered by cars already turning."
"People always seem to not to know what I am referring to, but I guarantee every driver does this."
"The thing is...I am pretty sure it's not even illegal."
"So I'm talking a multi lane configuration where there is a common turn lane in the middle. So clearly, it's legal to cross into the turn lane before it becomes a dedicated left turn lane at the intersection, as long as you're not just driving for several hundred yards in the turn lane."
"The alternative is...what? Block traffic going straight because you don't want to queue behind the cars turning left?"
"It's been over 20 years now, and you can tell it still bugs me."
~ Foxhound199
Fight, Fight, Fight!
"I got into an argument mid exam with the officer. We were about 50 feet from a stop sign and she issued a command to stop the car."
"I stopped gently at the stop sign. She told me to put the car in park and berated me for not stopping immediately."
"I told her if she wanted me to jam on the brakes and stop immediately, she should have been more specific or issued the command before I was 50 feet from the stop sign when I was already braking."
"We went back and forth a bit then continued the exam, but it was unrecoverable as she issued a score of failing by a single point. I went back the required 30 days later and passed easily with a different officer."
"No idea if we were both having bad days or that was her MO everyday."
~ Iamcubsman
Free Mind Games With Every Exam
"I listened to their instructions."
~ IcyBowl2910
"That's funny because my dad told me that when he took his test in the 1970s, it would be with a cop in the car."
"He told my dad 'don't worry about the stop sign, just drive on past', but my dad stopped. The cop looked at him and said, 'you don't know how many people have failed right here'."
~ UsernameChallenged
"In high school, a friend who had the same birthday as me, went to her road test and failed for a very similar reason as the examiner told her to just pull out in the beginning."
"So she failed in the first moments of her test for listening to their instructions."
~ 1CUpboat
The Dreaded Parallel Parking
"I was so worried about parallel parking. They had a special area with no other vehicles to evaluate it."
"So sure I would blow it, but I did it flawlessly! I was feeling so good when I was about to put my signal on to leave, and the instructor said, 'No, no, use a hand signal'."
"So I roll down the window and follow all the steps. Pull out smoothly, and he says 'You didn't use your blinker'."
"Parallel parking was all or none, so he took all the points."
~ Foxhound199
Thanks, Sis
"Mom was to take me to the test. I had passed the written part with ease. So Mom gets my sister—who was 12 at the time—in the back seat and off we go."
"We get there and when it was my turn, mom pulls up into the spot. The testing guy comes over, checks mom's license, checks my permit—which you get so you can practice with an adult in the car—and then tells everyone to get out of the car."
"My little sister goes 'no'. Mom tells her to get out of the car. Debbie repeats 'no'."
"The tester immediately fails me at that moment."
~ Reddiit
New DMV Drive-Thru
"I had a friend in high school who was so nervous that he drove his car halfway through the DMV wall."
"For some reason they didn’t let him pass."
~ Yugan-Dali
"He was doing so well, but he really hit a wall."
~ bonos_bovine_muse
I also haven't parallel parked since my driving test in the late 1990s. The "city" I took my test in didn’t even have any parallel parking spaces.
But what's considered a city in states with low populations—like Maine where our largest city is only about 66,500 people—are classified as small towns in heavily populated states like California, Texas, Florida or New York.
Needing to parallel park in most areas of the country isn't a vital skill so I never do it at home and won't do it when I'm traveling. The time it would take me is certain to annoy big city drivers.
So, how did you fare on your driving test?