My name is Rebecca Wright, I'm in college and I can't drive. Most people my age have the ability and license to drive but I still have a learner's permit. Lots of people wait to get a license and the assumption is that they're scared of driving, which is common, but not my reason. I just haven't gotten around to it and that's okay.
I lived in Louisiana until 10th grade. In 10th grade, I could've gotten my permit but I moved to Pennsylvania where I had to wait another year. In 11th grade when I could have gotten a license in Pennsylvania, I was taking multiple AP classes and refused to study for the permit test and ended up waiting until right before my senior year of high school to get a permit. I lived in a small town in Pennsylvania and no one really drove anywhere because we could walk. Then I went to college in Mississippi and suddenly everything was far away and everyone had a license.
The summer after my freshman year of college, I was ready and eager to get my license. So, I got on line at four in the morning on a Wednesday to register for a drivers test multiple weeks before the test was scheduled to occur because it was so difficult to find an available time. The week before my driver's test, I practiced everyday and drove my mom everywhere she needed to go so I felt confident in my ability to drive. The day of the test, I didn't want to get my hopes up because people say everyone who goes to my test location fails because they get a mean guy nicknamed Santa. I drove to the testing sight with my dad. I was nervously babbling the entire way. When I got there, I saw a man who looks like Santa walk up to the car in front of me and I praised the Lord because I wouldn't be tested by Santa. But then Santa noticed one of the taillights was broken and said he couldn't administer the test to that car so he went to the next car in line: mine. I freaked out and started to babble again to Santa because my dad had to leave the car. I doubt Santa found it as adorable as my dad does.
We drove up a hill and I started feeling confident about my ability to drive until he said, "Parallel park between those cones." I'm pretty sure my face visibly dropped because I had been dreading this part all week and I hoped it would be at the end so Santa would see how safely I drove and maybe be a little more lenient. I started to parallel park and I immediately realized it wasn't going well but instead of starting over, I tried to fix it. I ended up hitting a cone with my back left wheel. If you know anything about driving, you know it's not easy to hit a cone with your back left wheel while parallel parking when the curb is on your right side. While Santa got out and fixed the cone, I gulped like in the movies. I didn't know that "the scared gulp" happened in real life but all I could think was please let me keep driving. Of course he didn't and my test was over and my hopeful little heart was crushed. He told me to drive down the hill and park so he could get my dad.
My dad drove me home and I tried not to burst into tears in the car just because my dad would have no idea what to do so I waited until I got home to my room. I told my friends that I didn't get my license because most of them knew I was taking the test that day. One of them said, "Did you hit a tree or something? How could you not pass?" So I guess it's a lot easier to get a license in the south. I decided I would try again in Pennsylvania before looking into how to get my license at school. I woke up Wednesday at four in the morning and looked for an open time slot. The place where everyone passes doesn't have an available time slot until January. That's literally seven months, people. I wasn't kidding when I said it's difficult. So that's why I don't have a license. I'm not scared, it just hasn't happened for me yet and I'm not embarrassed about it. No one should be. Driving is something that people should be comfortable with at their own pace. Better safe than sorry. There are other ways to get around. By not driving, people are saving the planet through carpool and buses while saving money on car insurance and maintenance.
