I don’t understand teens today. Many of the ones I know are in no hurry to get their driver’s licenses. I don’t understand. From the time I turned double digits (10) and proudly, but erroneously, called myself a “teenager,” I dreamed of getting my license and driving. I could hardly wait! How old were you when you first learned to drive?
Farm life
Growing up on a farm meant learning to drive at an early age. I was 10 or 11 years old when Dad first trusted me to drive the John Deere “B” tractor. My job? Back the tractor straight back so that it would engage the “pully rope” that lifted hay bales into the hayloft. When Dad yelled, “Whoa!” I stopped the tractor and pulled straight forward to my starting position once again.
You may think that my tractor experience wasn’t really driving, but to me it certainly was! You might also think that such a job would become tedious or boring, but not for me! I loved driving—even if was simply back and forward countless times.
Driving a car
In Iowa, way back when, you could get a driver-learner’s permit at age 14. That allowed two years of driving practice with a licensed driver along with time to memorize the Iowa Drivers’ Handbook. My problem? An older sister who was not quite 16 years old. We squabbled over who would drive to church, to town, to anywhere! She usually won the battles.
Parallel parking
It wasn’t all bad having an older sister, however. Measuring out the distance (as noted in the Iowa Drivers’ Handbook), she discovered our perfect practice space for parallel parking: in between our large propane tank and the yard light pole. (Looking back, I can see definite flaws in this plan, but I digress.)
We practiced and practiced. I concluded early on that I would walk miles rather than parallel park. But we helped one another, shared tips and clues, had fun, and finally sort of mastered parallel parking.
Drivers’ license
On my 16th birthday, I passed the written test and the driving test to get my driver’s license. It was one of the best days of my life! My family often teases me still: “She’s not happy unless she’s going somewhere.” It’s true! Maybe that’s why I love RVing.
How about you?
How old were you when you first learned to drive? (For clarification’s sake, let’s say drive a “real” vehicle, like a car or truck.)
Driving grain trucks (10 wheelers) @ 13. On the farm, you had to do what you had to do.
Back in ‘my’ day (60s), my high school in Chicago taught driving. It was associated with gym class. There was an “indoor driving” class that taught laws and had a simulator (rough as it was) for learning how to shift a “three on the tree”. Then there was an outdoor range with up and down parking areas, and parallel parking areas as well. Four way stops, and the ‘whole shebang’. I’m pretty sure there is none of this going on now.
Oh the first time behind the wheel at 14 driving a Land Rover. By the end of summer I had mastered driving anything standard. Those were the great years.
High School driving course. Manual transmission a plus.
Dad taught me to drive at 14 to drive my mom to her doctor’s appointments. Doctor didn’t want my mom driving due to her arthritis. Being in the Navy, he wasn’t always able to get off to drive my mom to her appointments. Yeah, I could parallel park too!
In Alberta, Canada, you can still get a learner’s permit at 14, and a driver’s license at 16. I did.
In my family, the youngest licensed driver was normally designated to taxi the younger kids to their events. When I turned 16 and got my license, that was pretty cool. But 3 years later when my next younger brother turned 16, I was leaning on him pretty hard to get his license and take over taxi duties!
We had the same taxi duty situation! I was #4 of 9 so there was a lot of it. Next one after me was 5 years younger!
58 years old and I’m still learning how to drive. I drive a city cab.
I worked in a used car lot washing and detailing cars when I was 14. Had to move the cars around the lot and line them up. There were times where a car needed to go to the main dealership about two miles away. The lot manager told me to take the cars to the shop.
Yes, I was only 14 and no license. When I turned 16 and got my learners permit, I went to take my drivers test the next day. The officer giving the test asked me if I thought I knew how to drive and took me out on the course. He was amazed at how well I did. I explained about working at the lot for two years. He smiled and signed the papers.
Of course that was back in the late 60’s.
I learned to drive our family motorhome before a car!! My 15th birthday was the same day school was out and family were leaving for 10 week camping trip. Stopped off at Fla DMV on the way out of town to get my learners permit. After passing test my Dad handed me the keys and said I might as well start big. Drove almost 150 stressful miles,but have never looked back from there!!
I first learned to drive on our Case tractor. I got my license as soon as I could… Age 16.
And yes, parallel parking was part of the test. I think that it should be a mandatory part of the test in order to get a driver license. Being able to parallel park a vehicle demonstrates a skill that is vital to correctly handle said vehicle. I see a lot of people driving that clearly don’t have that skill.
I’ll bet that the majority of drivers today couldn’t pass the test if they had to parallel park their vehicle. Of course you can buy a car that will do it for you….
When it came time to get my license, my mother took me to the local police station For my road test. we had to wait at least one week between temporary permit and regular license. I passed and the examinator said you sure learned how to drive well in a week. Couldn’t tell him I’d been driving for almost 4 years. Since I was 12
I learned to drive farm tractors and farm trucks at the ripe age of 14…long before I ever had any drivers license. City slickers ought to try it.
I grew up in New Mexico and when I was a kid you could get your license at 15. But you also had to wait to get your learner’s permit until you were 15. But me, and most of my friends, were driving around illegally at 14, for practice.
First car I “drove” was a 1940 Ford with a push button starter. It belonged to my sister’s BF, which is why he let me drive it. 3 on the tree, black, 4 door with baby moons. At 14, I learned to drive my sister’s 1963 VW Beetle. 4 speed manual. Fast forward, all 3 of our sons learned to drive a manual transmission and their 1st vehicle was a manual. We’re a family of automatics now, but you never know when you’ll need to shift a manual tranny!
Stay safe and shift, shift, shift, Joe
Move a vehicle? I could do it when I was about 13 and parked off the road with 2-track trails. But on a designated road of any kind? 16.
Dad tried to teach me when I was 13, but with the manual steering in the 61 Ford, I could not straighten the car out fast enough and drove into the Utility Trailer parked next to the driveway. That was my first and last driving lesson until I got formal Drivers training when I was 15.
Around 12 yo. Learned in a Chevy 3/4 ton pickup with a 4 sp manual stick and no power steering…no anything, really…not even a radio. When I was 17 I bought it from my Dad and promptly installed an 8-track player!!! 😁
Was driving minibikes & a small motorcycle, a Honda 90, before that. Being out in the country was great. Lots of crushed rock country roads and no law enforcement.
Not many younger people know how to drive a stick now, and I suspect a time will come when most people won’t drive at all…just ride as the vehicle drives. What fun is that?
Grew up on a grain farm in Manitoba, so learned to drive the 1950 Ford grain truck when I could finally reach the pedals, about 10-12 years old. My brothers Mustang when I was 13!
Very similar story but in S. Saskatchewan when I was about 11 or 12. Old Ford named the Blue Goose with 3 on the tree. Me and cousins all learned the same way in the same truck on the same dirt ‘almost’ road in the same field.
Third grade, grandmother’s Valiant.
I was 16. Dad taught me to drive our stick shift (4 on the floor) ’64 VW “Bug”. Passed Driver’s Ed in high school but got nervous and blew my first state road test but passed the second time a week later.
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 I was about age 10. My first vehicle was a 1947 Case tricycle-configured farm tractor (
). I suspect, but can’t recall, that I moved it short distances under vigilant supervision until I was some older. I typically drive with my left thumb on the top of the steering wheel (rather than wrapped beneath it) because I hit a short, narrow stump with the front wheels. The abrupt twisting of the steering wheel almost broke that thumb.🤔😯🙁
Thanks again, have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I was 8 when Grandpa taught me how to drive a 4-speed dune buggy. He said I had to know how to get help in an emergency.
Growing up on a farm, I learned to drive a Ford tractor. (My brother drove the John Deere.) When I was 14, my father signed for me to get a driver license — not to please me, mind you — so I could drive the pickup and take my mother to the laundry, grocery store, etc., to he wouldn’t have to.
Driver’s license at 14, after taking driver’s ed, and still enjoy driving after 64 years!
Moved cars around in the driveway at 15 (maybe 14) got my license as soon as I could at 16. Took drivers ed to get my “adult” license at 17 and also to learn to drive shift. After college I owned 2 seater sports cars for 18 years. I taught both my boys to drive shift in my ’73 Corvette! Even let the oldest take it to school several times. I miss the shift these days, but 4 WD and EV do not come with “standard” transmissions.
16, learning to drive on my parents brand new 65 Mustang. My mom and dad were retired and mom had just gotten her license so that my dad didn’t have to drive to grocery store.
I had a very “controlling” first husband and wasn’t allowed to drive. I finally went to a driving school at 27, got my lic. then bought a car! It took me that long to start standing up for myself.
Good for you, Marie! Better late then never (regarding driving and especially standing up for yourself). Way to go!👍 Have a good night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
13 or 14 driving my dads 1.5 ton truck through the pasture while he loaded his bee hives. Never got out of 1st gear! Didn’t drive a stick on the street until I was in college…had an emergency and took my boyfriend’s car without even thinking about the fact I didn’t know how to change gears, went up and down hills with no problem!
I did a double take, as my first REAL driving experience was age 14 on a John Deere B, even though I had already been behind the wheel of the pickup. It was just across the river from Iowa, in South Dakota on my uncle’s farm. The B was the first REAL experience because it was a B with mounted 4 row cultivator and I knew for every corn plant I took out of the ground I was taking income from the farm. It was a nervous 40 acres. BTW, the only speeding ticket I ever got was in Iowa. My uncle said that IOWA meant, “I Otta Went Around”. Sorry Gail, I couldn’t help it. I like Iowa, went to college in Iowa. And I never ‘Went Around” always straight across from Ill, to SD on RT 6.
My cohort of teenagers over 40 years ago couldn’t wait to get their licenses. Not so today, it seems. For one thing, electronics have substituted the need for transportation to interact with peers. Owning/operating a car today is much more expensive. When I was a kid, a beater could be had for less than a thousand dollars and maintained with shade-tree skills most teenagers possessed. Today, few kids have those skills, and cars today are an order of magnitude more complex requiring specialized skills, tools and expensive parts to repair. There are also far more consumer options competing for the teenage dollar, and minimum wage laws have largely killed starter jobs for teenagers.
I drove Dad’s stick shift pickup to load hay quite young. Of course everyone had a permit at 15 and license at 16. I’m 75 and still drive a stick.