I'm a Legal Driver!
By the time we reach our university years, all every student wants is their independence. We want to drive freely and legally without any fear of being pulled over by an officer, but before we can, there’s the task every young person dreads: the driving test. But worry not; after reading this acing that driver’s will be next on your to-do list.
Assuming you already have your learner’s, the next step is to book your test. While many choose to do their test in Grahamstown, Humansdorp or Uitenhage due to a shorter waiting list, booking in PE gives you the advantage of being able to practice the route as many times as you want. The next step is to book driving lessons with a local driving instructor. Prices are roughly R150/hour. The recommended number of lessons is 10, although depending on your skill level you may need anything between five and 15. It took me eight lessons to wrap my head around K53 and another two lessons, just for good luck.
On the day of the test, the first thing to do is to ensure your vehicle is road worthy. Many learners opt to use the instructor’s car to avoid any unexpected mishaps. But, if you decide to use your own it’s important to check that the headlights, tail lights, the brake lights and the tread on your tyres.
The next step before your test is to breathe! To be honest, a driver’s test is worse than singing on stage so your anxiety will probably be through the roof. The best way to beat it: take a Rescue tablet before the test, think positively and just breathe.
And now for the test. Most students feel that the worst part of the test is the parking. Although I aced my parking, my left leg started twitching violently while I was driving out of a parking bay. Clutch control with a twitching leg seems impossible, but I managed anyway. Again, the Rescue will help with that!
And then comes the incline. Oh boy, that’s an easy pass/easy fail situation. In my case, the incline was the last thing I did before I left the yard. The trick here is to concentrate on balancing your clutch, resting your foot on the accelerator harder than usual, to ensure that the car moves immediately up the incline.
After acing that yard test, I felt some sort of freedom I had never felt before. Part three of the test is the road test, and if you’ve done the route enough times you’ll find it’s a piece of cake. All you do is obey road signs, check mirrors when necessary (which is pretty much every second in K53…), be careful not to run people over (this will result in an instant fail, in case that wasn’t clear…) and to check your speed! Be careful not to go beyond 60km/hour in residential areas, and 40km/hour down Durban Road.
And there you have it, you’re a licenced driver! After that road test, I don’t think I’ll swing my head side-to-side that much in my life ever again (thanks a lot, K53!). On the plus side, I could never be followed home because I check my mirrors all the time. Force of habit.
