Monday, July 13, 2009
Driving Lesson Number 1
So well, here i was never having driven a car in the USA. I told Terry so and she decided to teach me from the very beginning. I used to make notes after every lesson so that i would review them before the next lesson and i am putting down my notes here!
Deciding on a driving school
Now that i had my learners license on hand, i decided to go look for a driving school. After looking at the reviews and the school that was nearby, i decided on Desi Driving School, Richardson. http://www.desidrivingschool.com/
I called them up to make an appointment for driving lessons. They charge a fee of 80$ for a 2 hour lesson which is a steep fee. However, i wanted to learn driving well and i knew for sure that i could never learn driving under Nishanth. I remember the time i took the car out with Nishanth instructing me and i never touched it again! In India, i learnt to drive my scooty and it was more of a on-the-job experience which resulted in a few accidents that could have been avoided had i learnt well. I was therefore determined to drive better. Furthermore, i didnt want to crash our 2009 Honda Fit.
I was assigned Terry as my driving instructor and for me she was just the right instructor. She instructed me in a way that i could understand and had the patience to teach well. I would recommend whoever chooses Desi Driving School to take lessons with her. She is booked to the brim and it normally takes two weeks to get an appointment with her and so its always best if you book many appointments at one time. Once she wasnt in town and i was assigned another instructor whose name i dont recall and it was a nightmare. All i wanted to do was get back home!
I called them up to make an appointment for driving lessons. They charge a fee of 80$ for a 2 hour lesson which is a steep fee. However, i wanted to learn driving well and i knew for sure that i could never learn driving under Nishanth. I remember the time i took the car out with Nishanth instructing me and i never touched it again! In India, i learnt to drive my scooty and it was more of a on-the-job experience which resulted in a few accidents that could have been avoided had i learnt well. I was therefore determined to drive better. Furthermore, i didnt want to crash our 2009 Honda Fit.
I was assigned Terry as my driving instructor and for me she was just the right instructor. She instructed me in a way that i could understand and had the patience to teach well. I would recommend whoever chooses Desi Driving School to take lessons with her. She is booked to the brim and it normally takes two weeks to get an appointment with her and so its always best if you book many appointments at one time. Once she wasnt in town and i was assigned another instructor whose name i dont recall and it was a nightmare. All i wanted to do was get back home!
Instruction Permit
Nishanth had to go to Finland for 2 months and for the first time in two years i needed to get around Dallas myself. And hence i signed up for Driving Lessons and have decided to blog about my experience driving.
Since, i reside in Texas i visited the following website for more information on the driving test procedures. http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/
The first step in front of me was to give the written test. This test contains rules
I went down to the Plano office to give the test.
Address
2109 West Parker Road Ste 224
Plano, TX 75023-7739
General Information
972-867-4221
At the office, they asked me for my identification. I had taken the following:
1) A Fee Receipt
2) A letter from the registrar stating i was a student
3) My passport which had my F1 visa
4) I-94
5) I-20
6) Social Security Card
Getting the letter from the registrar took 3 - 4 days. I studied from the Texas Drivers Handbook
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/ftp/forms/DLhandbook.pdf for one day before taking up the test and searched online for sample questions.
Upon arrival at the TX DPS office,i was asked to fill a form which contained details such as Name, Nationality and Address. Thereafter, i was asked to take the vision test which consists of reading the 4th line. I read through quickly and made a mistake the first time and was asked to read the second time. Once i took the vision test, i was assigned a computer where i had to take up the written test. In order to pass the written test, i needed to score 70% on the test.
The questions were directly from the handbook and in many cases were intuitive. There were questions on road signs, lane change, right of way, stop signs, speed limits, school buses, time taken to stop. There are many sample questions on the internet and going through these questions helped. Nishanth had a few sample questions from the time he gave the test and i found that many of those questions were repeated.
There is an option to skip a question and get back to it at the end. One therefore could always come back to questions one was not sure of later. The moment one scored 70%, the test would stop regardless of the "skipped" questions and then you would be asked for your finger prints and a photo was taken. One is given a temporary license and actual drivers license comes in the post. I got mine within three weeks.
Since one has to option of opting for learners license (24$) valid for 6 years with a photo or an instruction permit (6$) valid for one year, i opted for the learners license. That way i had 6 years to give my road test and a photo ID. The following restrictions were placed P, A, B . "A" was for corrective lenses, "B" stated that i needed to drive with a license holder 21 years and above and P stated that i was a temporary visitor and had a duration of one year validity for F visa holders.
Since, i reside in Texas i visited the following website for more information on the driving test procedures. http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/
The first step in front of me was to give the written test. This test contains rules
I went down to the Plano office to give the test.
Address
2109 West Parker Road Ste 224
Plano, TX 75023-7739
General Information
972-867-4221
At the office, they asked me for my identification. I had taken the following:
1) A Fee Receipt
2) A letter from the registrar stating i was a student
3) My passport which had my F1 visa
4) I-94
5) I-20
6) Social Security Card
Getting the letter from the registrar took 3 - 4 days. I studied from the Texas Drivers Handbook
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/ftp/forms/DLhandbook.pdf for one day before taking up the test and searched online for sample questions.
Upon arrival at the TX DPS office,i was asked to fill a form which contained details such as Name, Nationality and Address. Thereafter, i was asked to take the vision test which consists of reading the 4th line. I read through quickly and made a mistake the first time and was asked to read the second time. Once i took the vision test, i was assigned a computer where i had to take up the written test. In order to pass the written test, i needed to score 70% on the test.
The questions were directly from the handbook and in many cases were intuitive. There were questions on road signs, lane change, right of way, stop signs, speed limits, school buses, time taken to stop. There are many sample questions on the internet and going through these questions helped. Nishanth had a few sample questions from the time he gave the test and i found that many of those questions were repeated.
There is an option to skip a question and get back to it at the end. One therefore could always come back to questions one was not sure of later. The moment one scored 70%, the test would stop regardless of the "skipped" questions and then you would be asked for your finger prints and a photo was taken. One is given a temporary license and actual drivers license comes in the post. I got mine within three weeks.
Since one has to option of opting for learners license (24$) valid for 6 years with a photo or an instruction permit (6$) valid for one year, i opted for the learners license. That way i had 6 years to give my road test and a photo ID. The following restrictions were placed P, A, B . "A" was for corrective lenses, "B" stated that i needed to drive with a license holder 21 years and above and P stated that i was a temporary visitor and had a duration of one year validity for F visa holders.
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