[BeantownThinker]

I learnt driving through a driving school. The main reason being getting a license through them is much easier than trying on your own.

While the actual driving classes were normal, it was the actual test for getting the DL that was amusing.

A bunch of us from the driving school were taken to Koramangala RTO office for the test. For people who are not familiar with this office, the actual RTO office is on the 3rd floor. We were waiting by the side of the road for the inspector to appear and start our test. Our instructor who had gone to get the inspector comes out and asks all of us to get in the car, with me driving. Once all are in he says, pointing to the 3rd floor, "See, the inspector is standing on the 3rd floor and is going to observe you drive". All of us were craning our necks outside to see the inspector and all we could see was an empty balcony on the 3rd floor.

Ok, so I start driving and at half-way the driving school instructor asks me to stop the car and asks another candidate to take over and complete the second half.

That was the end of our driving test!!! And about a month later I got my DL.

[SnakemanJohny]

Age : Around fifteen

Tutor : Army drivers Narayanan And Samuel, both Keralites.

Car : "Willys"/Mahindra Jeep

Location : A helipad in Bhutan, beside the Torsha river

Driving License obtained by remote from Jalpaiguri (North Bengal), without even going there, forget about appearing for a test !

Bike license obtained nearly ten years later in Orissa.

[pdma]

Age : 18
Tutor : Father
Car : Premier Padmini
Location in India : Visakhapatnam.

The first lessons were on the lovely beach road stretch (this is were you will find most of the aspiring driving talent in the city). We used to start as early as 6 AM on the beach road and then move to the Andhra University Campus which had very good roads and almost deserted at these times of the day.Good that I came across this thread I was able to recall those old days and got yelled at many times by my teacher for all the valid reasons. I still remember when my heart used to heavily pound when ever I stalled the car when going upwards on the huge slops of this city and it was the most scariest thing for me to pull the car from there on without rolling back. Thankfully the car had the hand gear and a single seat at the front and my Dad used you stretch from the other end to pull me out of the situation if there was any traffic behind else I was left alone to experiment, with great difficulty and after abusing the clutch to the maximum I used to pull forward.I still pity that clutch, great days .

cheers,
pdma.

[JoseVijay]

Age : 17
Tutor : Self
Car : Marutho Omni
Location: Outskirts of Vijayawada

[anky]

Age : 18
Car : Fiat with hand gears
How : Driving school 1 month .
Location : Streets of Mumbai .

[virgopal]

1.Age: 24
1.Scooter: Driving School in Bangalore. 1979
2.Car: Fiat . Driving School in Bangalore
3.Location: Streets and backstreets of Bangalore

[luvDriving]

Age : 22

Tutor : best friend who also owns a garage

Car : Premier Padmini (steering gear shift lever)

Location : An empty society road nearby

Driving License obtained by giving regular test after obtaining a learner's licence.

[abhi7992]

Age: 16
Tutor: Self
Car: Maruti 800

I learned to drive by looking at my dad, Started driving at an early age though used to drive in my society and late at night when roads were empty.
As far as driving test is concerned it was a complete joke.I took my test in a Maruti 800 and drove it for about 20 metres.

[Aditya]

Multiple choice poll added.

[nggk5mr]

Age : 19 (car), 16 (bike)
Tutor : Driving institute in Chennai (Car), Father's younger brother (bike)
Car : Ambassador with steering gear shift lever & Maruti 800.
Location in India : Chennai.

Went through written test & proper driving test. Drove for 100mts. Was asked to show various hand signs. Cleared all the questions from the Inspector. Was happy when moved the car without stalling.

[motomaverick]

- Age:
16 (Cycle), 25 (Motorcycle), and 22 & 29 (Car)

- Tutor:
Cycle: Family friend; Motorcycle: Friend (on my new bike); Car : Initial learnt at a driving school on a Amby & then re-learnt at 29 on a Santro

- Car:
Motorcycle: Unicorn; Car: Amby & Santro

- Location in India:
Guwahati & Bangalore

[D4D]

Age: 18, next day after I turned 18 ! For both car and motorcycle

Tutor: Local driving school, but taught more by my parents. Dad went back to US and now with mom (who's been driving ever since I was born. Her bragging rights: M800, Toyota Qualis, Mitsubishi Galant(USA), Toyota LC 78(RSA), Hyundai Getz, Toyota Innova)

Car I learnt in: Driving school: Hyundai Eon. From mom: Getz and Innova after I was deemed fit by dad (50 km after getting DL)

Test Experience: Car: Started from left, took a U-turn and then did a left reverse. Did it without a sweat. Motorcycle: Just drove ~200 mts as an inspector watched from behind.

[vijit.gangwar]

Age 10
Tutor Dad
Car FIAT 1100D
Location Asansol, West Bengal

It has been 31 years. Got my DL exactly at age 18.

[Gannu_1]

Age : 18

Tutor : Dad, mum and the driving school trainer for a couple of days.

Car : ’99 Maruti Zen (our car back in 2005; took the DL test in this car), an old Jeep and an Ambassador with a steering column gear lever, both of which were from the trainer’s school and he insisted on practicing driving on both of these vehicles before taking the test. Just for experience sakes.

Location : Ayyanthole ground, Thrissur

Experience : Drove to the ground in our Zen and the tutor was already there with the papers. Waited for my turn. The RTO officer asked me to drive the H pattern without touching the poles. Did that successfully and the another officer sat as the co-passenger while I drove one complete circle on the Swaraj round and dropped him back at the ground. I recall Mr. Babu John was in charge of the authority at that time. Took the 2-wheeler’s test on the RTO tuned Bajaj M80 () next when mum arrived on the spot and asked the officer to not issue the license for that. He had signed on the license booklet by then but struck it and countersigned it. I don't have a license for 2-wheelers thus.

[vb-saan]

Age: 18
Tutor:
Car: Ambassador, Resmi Driving School, Poonkunnam, Thrissur
Motorbike/Scooter: Friend's Vespa Select, Yezdi Classic

Experience: Got rejected in the first learners' test because (1) it was a week after I turned 18, and (2) Asked about the signs for left and right turn and my answer was to use indicators; the official obviously didn't see the joke. Actual driving test was good, and cleared in the first attempt.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Location : Ayyanthole ground, Thrissur

Oh wow, same location for me, but different year

And on the ground, I had to only the 8 with the scooter. For car, it was a drive from the ground to Detroit of Thrissur - Puzhakal paadam