Drivers Ed.

Rustyt1953

Rustyt1953

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1969, taught by Mr. Maitland who was 3 minutes from retirement and had the "thousand yard stare".

One week from road time, he makes us watch "Signal 30" and "Wheels of Tragedy". (Think "Clockwork Orange")

He then takes 3 students at a time and slaps them into a '68 Buick Lesabre 400 with dual brakes and steering wheels.

The car was donated by Schott Buick. (Yep, "smoke 'em if ya got 'em Marge)

I don't think any of us broke 15 mph as anything beyond that felt like "ludicrous speed".

What was yours like?
 
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I took driver's ed in 1955. As I recall, we used 1955 stick shift Chevys - three on the tree. First, they showed us a rather graphic movie of what happens to folks in auto accidents (this was pre-mandatory seat belts). Really grisly, but sobering. Next, we tested our reaction times by reacting to a buzzer and then hitting the "brake" in a test booth. I remember I was pretty good.

The course was taught by an Army master sergeant who was a combat veteran of Korea, and who was the commandant of cadets for our high school ROTC battalion. As a cadet, when he spoke, I listened. I remember vividly my first exposure to driving in downtown Phoenix traffic - I was scared spitless, particularly with that graphic movie in mind.

We were fairly well equipped at my high school; I also took an auto shop class so I could work with more understanding on my hot rod '50 Chevy.

A good friend of mine (who is also coincidentally the official Arizona State Historian) was raised in Ash Fork, Arizona. He says that they were so cheap at his high school that they had to teach driver's ed and sex ed in the same car...

John
 
Us country boys didn't have any driving classes.
We generally started by learning to shift the gears in our Dad's pickup.
Then we moved up to start the truck and move it over there.
Then when I was about 10-11 I actually got to drive!
Then I wanted to drive everytime that truck cranked up.
By the time I got to be 15 years old and its time to go get a license, I already had driven several thousand miles.
 
What driving classes, not so in 1949? We were taught by whoever to do something like this...."hold the wheel in your left while you do this and this and this with your right hand, while you are doing that and that and that with your left foot". "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, now go and let me know how you make out"
 
I remember the Ohio State Patrol films that showed all the accidents - and in 1973 they didn't edit out the blood and gore. I got queasy but at least I held it in - one guy ran out the side door to the courtyard and ralphed up his lunch.

Drivers' ed car was a 1973 Pontiac Bonneville, or maybe a Catalina, four door. Whichever it was, the thing was enormous. You could probably put a Mini Cooper in the trunk.

Only the local guys here will understand this, but driver's ed for me was on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle - narrow, winding streets, blind corners, steep hills, the works. I'll say one thing, though. By the time we were done I could parallel park that sucker just about anyplace. Later on in life when I had a 1974 Continental that was literally longer than my garage, people at work couldn't believe I could park it where I did on Seattle streets. I miss that car - super comfortable freeway cruiser. Don't miss 12 MPG, though.
 
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1971, Campbell High School...we had simulators to practice on, with three on the tree. First time I actually drove, my instructor informed me I was too close to a parked Batmobile...old Pontiac. Got to do an emergency brake test in the school parking lot...hit 30 and slammed them on, little drift there. When I finally got my license, my first drive with my step-father was one block to go to my cousin's house...wow...then shortly after had my first fender bender, scraped an old, beat up Mustang door...I gave them my info, and the driver informed me I wasn't going to get her info because it was "my" fault...quick call to the Police to make a report, and was informed that, although I was at fault, the driver of the car I hit had officially left the scene...hit and run. When they called, demanding a big payout, my step-father informed them to go ahead since they were guilty of hit and run...never heard back from them after that.
 
I took Driver's Ed in the late sixties. At my school, It was traditionally taught by the football coaches. Consequently, we were all "mullets", & held in pretty low esteem. I'm thinking we drove LTD'S. I saw the obligatory death film; gory as hell & if it wasn't titled "Bloody Mess On The Highway", it should have been...
 
My classroom part was with Mr.Hart,very level headed. My driving part Mr.Reavis retired Marine DI who still treated everyone like a recruit. Drove two days a week and one day was with a gal,he had her crying everytime she got behind the wheel,not fun. We had a 73 Buick Skylark for our Driver Ed car.
 
Lewis and Clark High School, Spokane, WA, summer of 1977. Can't recall the teacher's name, we just called him "Lightbulb" due to the unusual shape of his bald head. We had the simulators but the computers weren't hooked up, so when we were instructed to "secure your car in the second parking space", we would floor the gas, then slam it into park and shove the e-brake to the floor.

We had one kid in our 3-student driving group that was relatively new to driving. During our downtown drive, he was instructed to turn left at the next light. Unfortunately, he did not see the "walk" sign illuminated or the pedestrians crossing in the crosswalk. The instructor slammed on his brake, sending the car on a sideways skid past the scattering pedestrians....
 
I graduated from high school in 1955. There was no driver's ed, but we were made to view a lot of super-gory accident photos. Including one guy who had been cut in half, leaving the upper half looking up at the camera.

I don't think it made the slightest difference in how the kids who saw it drove. Hell, everybody knows that when you're sixteen you're immortal.
 
A neighbor kept a Jeep on a farm over in Wisconsin. When I was 12 or 13 he showed me how to use the clutch to shift and turned me loose in a field. I had a ball. You couldn't get me out of it for the rest of the afternoon.

When I was 15, my pops took me out in his 1949 Fleetwood. That car was a whale. We also practiced some in the family wagon, a 1954 Ford Country Sedan. After I got my license, the Fleetwood is where I got my sex education. It had big wide bench seats and broadcloth upholstery.
 
Right here in Hurst, Tx. 1961 Chevy fordor three speed. He was a coach and a very good guy. Saw him about two years ago. After over fifty years.Talked to him a second. He remembered my mother calling him about my driving. That made me feel good. Remembered his name Mr. Stimmel. Hate it when CRS hits!
 
The classes were ok......

The driving was not so good because he let the people with experience do the most driving so he could relax and chew tobacco, spitting into a cup.

We were compelled to watch "Highways of Agony" in school. :eek:Not just driving students. Pulling the older couple that looked like burned Lincoln Logs out of the car stuck with me the most. That and the teenager that reflexively kept repeating, "I want my Mommy." in a little girl voice until the end.

I don't care how lousy it was, I wouldn't trade the class it for anything.
 
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9 years old in my dad's '59 Ford pick-em-up with three on the tree. At 15 we used a volkswagen for stick shift, don't remember the automatic model car.
CHP magazine had a picture of a guy that stepped in front of a car on the freeway. The woman driving was in shock and drove with the guy stuck in her windshield until she found a CHP station. Brutal images and descriptions that I'll never forget.
 
For me driver's ed was in either 1999 or 2000 Coach Smith was our drivers ed teacher, the car was an Oldsmobile Alero, we usually drove out to a house that was being built outside town and stopped at the little small town gas station on our way back to the school. I started driving on back roads and out in hay Fields around age ten.
 
THE PILGRIM said:
Us country boys didn't have any driving classes.
We generally started by learning to shift the gears in our Dad's pickup.
Then we moved up to start the truck and move it over there.
Then when I was about 10-11 I actually got to drive!
Then I wanted to drive everytime that truck cranked up.
By the time I got to be 15 years old and its time to go get a license, I already had driven several thousand miles.
Click to expand...

Ain’t that the truth. The first thing I learned to drive was a Minneapolis Moline tractor at about the age of ten. The second was my dad’s Army surplus Willis Jeep at about the same age. Never had a formal driving lesson in my life.

Here I am behind the wheel of the MM at the age of six. Took a few more years before Dad taught me to operate it.

 
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