Bay 12 Games Forum

'bout the same thing I hear, but, uh. Damning with faint praise and all that.

Wasn't where I took it. Was a written test, then (though I sorta' remember the written test might have happened some number of days before or somethin'?) a fairly short drive down the road, a left turn, shorter drive down dirt road, three point turn, then returning to the DMV office. Demonstration of ability to park and basic "Don't be stupid" stuff like putting on your seatbelt, using blinkers, etc. Practical part didn't even take twenty minutes, near as I can recall. Don't believe there was anything about maintenance at all... maybe a check to see if you knew how to check the oil? If there was, it wasn't much and wasn't particularly comprehensive.

I guess to be fair, it would have taken more than a 45 minute drive to reach traffic worth mention from there, and the only particular driving conditions in between are light traffic (which the drive to the dirt road covered), dirt road with little to no traffic (covered), and offroad, which they mostly don't give two shits if you kill yourself doing. Could have maybe made it to the interstate (though just getting there would probably have added a half hour or so, total, nevermind actually driving on it), but about all that would check in th'region the test was taken was if you can keep the car going straight when you're going 65.

Pretty sure the driving lessons (provided by the schools, among other options) in the area actually do do something like that more thorough test as part of their programs, though. It's just, as stated, they're not mandatory, and I never ended up taking them.

How in the world did you pass the driver's test?

Like everyone else that takes it

... more seriously, the mechanics of driving a vehicle are, like. Broadly speaking, not complicated. Kinda' at all? There's any dozen video games out there with a more complicated control scheme and greater mechanical complexity (at least so long as everything is functioning normally), insofar as the at-the-wheel stuff goes. And if you're paying even the most remote of attention when other people drive, a fair amount of best/good practices can sink in more or less by osmosis. The stuff the test checked was never a problem for me, even the very first time I got behind the wheel. If it'd been a manual transmission I might not have managed passing the test on the first attempt, heh, but it wasn't so I didn't.

Tsk. You missed an opportunity to make a jab at the UK there, m. Coulda' used pig instead of pooch

Eehh... depends on the person. Chance of being hit and whathaveyou's never really bothered me (unless I've got passengers, anyway), ferex, so other drivers making a poor showing of it is... not that scary, really. Definitely makes things more worrying, because it makes your decision making that much more vital, but not exactly high on the terror scale.

It's the thought of a moment's inattention, or just plain bad luck/poor maintenance/poor situation, being enough to kill or maim someone that's always got to me the worst. Actually had a pretty close call a week or two ago... did pretty much everything right, on my end, and still nearly sideswiped a motorcyclist riding double, just due to the vagrancies of positioning. They'd managed to get on the road and in my blind spot in the space between me checking the first time before changing lanes and checking again. Couldn't hear 'em, couldn't see 'em, hadn't been in a position where I could have seen them. But they were there, and I came pretty close to probably killing or crippling 'em (at least partially because neither the driver or the person riding behind them were wearing the helmet orthe protective gear -- jacket, riding pants, at the least -- they should have been, but still). It's shit like that that drives most of the still continuing dislike/fear of driving, for me.

... but yeah, don't really have a choice about letting those sorts of concerns stop you. Do the best you can and hope. Most people make it without hurting anyone (themselves or otherwise) particularly seriously, so probably you will, too.

Don't forget mechanical failure :3

If it helps any, it does get better with time. Mostly. If you do have serious fear/anxiety problems, though, I would personally recommend pretty strongly meditation techniques, particularly those focused on breath and muscle control. Despite shaking for probably six or seven hours after my first solo drive (which was a three hour, ~180 mile interstate trip. Also about the third time I had driven period), that was what let that be after the drive instead of during it.

In personal terror news, momentarily was under impression the sound the crickets are making outside was coming from my computer.  That... was a shot of adrenaline I really kinda' don't need at eleven at night.

Obama's... not that unpopular, really? I mean, he's certainly not popular, either, but there's definitely been presidents in the fairly recent past that have been more disliked, and more consistently disliked. For someone that did come into power during economic troubles, on the heels of the bush presidency (which I'm not sure if disaster is the right term for, but it's probably something close), and in the face of all the shit he's had to deal with besides, he kinda' seems to be doing pretty well on the popularity front.

Didn't stop Reagan.

For all the good it did 'im. Reagan was actually the last president to lose to obama on both max and min approval ratings, and 'is disapproval was only a point off of obama's highest to date. Average somehow managed to be higher, but *shrugs* _{though every one since ford has had lower bottom ends than obama's managing at the moment, apparently. Six of the last 13 topped out with higher disapproval ratings, too.}

I think it's less a problem with either branch of government, and more that they're in opposition. Executive wants to do X, legislative wants to do Y, neither side can do anything. Without a clear hierarchy it's a very inefficient system.

Eeehh... it's not even that they're in opposition, exactly. There's been times where they've actually wanted to do the same thing, but one or the other (generally congress) screwed things over just to stop obama (or the democrats/republicans depending on who's leading the attempt at whatever, etc., etc.) from getting something that looks like a win. There's some immature little shits holding political seats.*

Actually, on that note, just how powerful is an executive order? It doesn't seem that they're particularly effective.

Fairly? They have pretty free reign in deciding how governmental organizations carry out their legal duties, mostly. Their scope is more conceptually limited than actually, heh. Obama's have actually be pretty damn impactful on a number of issues, they just haven't really been getting much actual attention besides people screaming that the sky is falling for reasons usually unspecified.

*E: Well, either that or holding to Khanian theories of conflict resolution. "It is not enough that I must win," goes the tea party, "Everyone else must lose."