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Posted

While were talking about people that maybe should not drive I had a experience at a local gas station that left me almost speechless... I was putting gas in our truck and a lady pulled in across from my pump to fuel up too...she gets out and opens the gas door and starts to pump gas in. She stands there for a minute and looks at me very seriously and says...I smell gas? I am thinking in my head..Oh really??? but did not say anything due to I was afraid of what her next statement could be while I was trying not to laugh.

Posted (edited)

To be honest, I have quite a few friends who have no business whatsoever driving a car, but passing a drivers test is easy as pie here so they get unleashed onto the general public who have no hope of defending themselves.

I have found the opposite. I lived in New Jersey and back when I got my license in 1975, it was pretty lax and easy. You were given a little book to study the traffic laws, once you read it you could take the written test. No requirement of drivers ed at all. On your 17th birthday you went to motor vehicle, and they gave you a permit with a date to take the license road test, 4-6 weeks in the future, depending on their schedule and backlog. I passed the road test first time so I was out there with the general public with about 5 weeks part time experience. And we got some of that experience driving around with our 17 year old friends. And once we were licensed there were no restrictions on when or where we could drive, or who we could have in the car with us. So we were driving around with 6 friends in the car, great distractions!

When my daughters got their licenses in NJ in the 80s-90s, it was quite different. They got their permits at 16 1/2, so they had 6 full months of practice driving. They had to have Drivers Ed in high school, and pass the written test. Then they needed 20 hours of behind the wheel training from an accredited driving school before their permit was valid for practice with a licensed driver over 25. Once they got their license they were restricted to having no more than one passenger under 25 in the car, and they weren't allowed to drive after midnight til 6 am. The license plate of a driver under 20 has a little red rectangle on it so cops know there's a youthful driver.

Back in my day, I knew people who got killed in accidents. In my daughter's era, we didn't know any. Big difference.

Edited by Tom Geiger
Posted (edited)

I was putting gas in our truck and a lady pulled in across from my pump to fuel up too...she gets out and opens the gas door and starts to pump gas in. She stands there for a minute and looks at me very seriously and says...I smell gas? I am thinking in my head..Oh really??? but did not say anything due to I was afraid of what her next statement could be while I was trying not to laugh.

Maybe you read my post about self service vs full service gas stations? I find it funny that 48 states consider any driver qualified to pump gas without any training. Especially since OSHA and most industry requires hazardous materials handling training for many chemicals less dangerous than gasoline!

Edited by Tom Geiger
Posted

While were talking about people that maybe should not drive I had a experience at a local gas station that left me almost speechless... I was putting gas in our truck and a lady pulled in across from my pump to fuel up too...she gets out and opens the gas door and starts to pump gas in. She stands there for a minute and looks at me very seriously and says...I smell gas? I am thinking in my head..Oh really??? but did not say anything due to I was afraid of what her next statement could be while I was trying not to laugh.

At one time I was working at two different HTU franchises that the couple have been working for were involved in and had opened at one store then was going to close at the other do to staffing issues there but needed to top off my Jeep on the way. I stopped at one of the Thorntons between the two locations between the stores to fill it and after I started pumping I noticed a woman in an Explorer get out of the truck on her phone, leaving her door open, walking back to start filling it, then we both notice the garbage can by here looked to have smoke coming out of it?!, so she gets back in her vehicle while it's still filling and on her phone and starts staring at me at the next island over then at the smoldering can and back several times. About then the pump at the Jeep clicks off so I put the nozzle back on the pump, pull a 1/2 drank gallon of water out of the Jeep walk over and pour it in the can with my non-dominant hand, put the now empty gallon back in the Jeep and go to pay and tell them that they had a can fire. They thanked me for putting it out and said that it has happened before..........who puts burning materials in a garbage can at a gas pump? Seriously!

Posted

I have found the opposite. I lived in New Jersey and back when I got my license in 1975, it was pretty lax and easy. You were given a little book to study the traffic laws, once you read it you could take the written test. No requirement of drivers ed at all. On your 17th birthday you went to motor vehicle, and they gave you a permit with a date to take the license road test, 4-6 weeks in the future, depending on their schedule and backlog. I passed the road test first time so I was out there with the general public with about 5 weeks part time experience. And we got some of that experience driving around with our 17 year old friends. And once we were licensed there were no restrictions on when or where we could drive, or who we could have in the car with us. So we were driving around with 6 friends in the car, great distractions!

When my daughters got their licenses in NJ in the 80s-90s, it was quite different. They got their permits at 16 1/2, so they had 6 full months of practice driving. They had to have Drivers Ed in high school, and pass the written test. Then they needed 20 hours of behind the wheel training from an accredited driving school before their permit was valid for practice with a licensed driver over 25. Once they got their license they were restricted to having no more than one passenger under 25 in the car, and they weren't allowed to drive after midnight til 6 am. The license plate of a driver under 20 has a little red rectangle on it so cops know there's a youthful driver.

Back in my day, I knew people who got killed in accidents. In my daughter's era, we didn't know any. Big difference.

Those are very good points Tom, and I agree, there are a lot of new steps you have to go through to get a drivers license. The thing that I feel is missing though is the actual physical coordination it takes to drive a car safely. There is only one drivers test that allows you to use any car you want to here in CA, aside from the training you get with an instructor, and many just take it in a small car of some sort that practically drives itself. My point is that if we introduced a little bit of challenge into the driving test, then maybe we would keep some of the people who have no business driving a car off the streets. I will admit though, a lot of us teen agers are really good at overestimating our abilities and paying the price for it. Unfortunately, no amount of tests or restrictions can teach someone that it is a terrible idea to speed down the freeway at 100+ when there are a lot of cars around. The only restriction I really hated was the law where we were not allowed to have any friends in the car until we were 17. Not that any of us ever followed it, but it was pretty annoying to even have to worry about it. I understand the point of the law, but to a kid it just drives you crazy! :lol:

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

This is what happens when Bat Girl drives !

No way. Robin took it out with his pal Aquaboy and was texting Super Girl while driving. She texted back a selfie of her in the middle of a costume change and he lost it.

  • 3 months later...

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