Teaching your foreign spouse to drive

[evoria 19]

For us driving was far easier than actually getting the license. Getting the license part was horrible, the Motor Vehicle process was a mess. It seemed like we had to go back through the immigration process. His legality in this country had to be verified many times. We spent endless hours in the MVA, he had to take a drunk and sober course, the written and the road test. Each time he had to present his green card, our apartment lease, bank statements with his name, his country driver's license. Once these documents had been taken by one assigned, specific attendant they were submitted to the USCIS and we waited for hours for their approval. Someone says it is not like that in every state, but I guess since 9/11 and the massive number of illegals it has pushed the government to this. Good luck everyone.

[SAT 9,609]

Haha so I have However the taxi's in South Africa are minibuses carrying 20+ people at a time

Have you been to NYC? Ever heard of a "Dollar Van"? It's crazy here...

And in NY, you can report a Taxi driver to the TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) for being out of uniform, if he's not wearing a turban... (Sorry, I had to. lol)

[oohpartiv 484]

my husband has a license in his own country, but driving in ecuador is so terrifyingly different than in the states i'm afraid i'll have to reteach him everything he learned here if he used the signs and horn as people do here, he'd piss off a lot of people really fast and probably get his license suspended for reckless driving. i think it'll be easier to teach him, though, since he has experience and knows the actual mechanics of driving - it's just a matter of teaching him that there ARE laws that exist, and we have to follow them.

[Holly2234 66]

Im the foreign spouse and i am just about to start learning. I got my permit in early December and i had to do a written multiple choice test to get it. I had to get 70% correct to pass. I got 90% and when they were doing the corrections, i asked her to explain one of the answers to me that i got wrong for future reference and the lady at the DMV said she didnt even know! It cost me $80 and that includes two tries at the driving test. I have to pay $10 for a further two if i fail them both.

I am doing a 5 hour course tonight and tomorrow night which is a requirement here (New York. State, not City). I am yet to be let in anybodies car though which has been very disappointing and frustrating so i am about to pay $60 an hour for professional lessons.

[Cathi 5,849]

Luckily my husband passed the written and road tests first try here. He had his license in Jordan before coming here, and I swear if you can drive in that country you can drive anywhere. He did take the road test with my teenage son's car though, as my car is a manual transmission and he wanted nothing to do with it. For an entire month after he got his license here he still insisted I drive, even though he claimed to know how to drive a 5 speed. Then one morning he wanted to go to the mall, I was under the weather and in no mood to get out of bed, I finally said to him "just go without me!!!" he has been driving my car ever since.

[TBoneTX 47,494]

my husband has a license in his own country, but driving in ecuador is so terrifyingly different than in the states i'm afraid i'll have to reteach him everything he learned here if he used the signs and horn as people do here, he'd piss off a lot of people really fast and probably get his license suspended for reckless driving. i think it'll be easier to teach him, though, since he has experience and knows the actual mechanics of driving - it's just a matter of teaching him that there ARE laws that exist, and we have to follow them.

You're making me miss Guayaquil rather poignantly, sigh man...

[oohpartiv 484]

You're making me miss Guayaquil rather poignantly, sigh man...

you get kind of used to holding your breath and praying for your life everytime you step into a car! it'll be strange to go home and not get the "i'm going to die" sensation when we go for a trip to town

[SBB 74]

My wife passed her written test on the first try. After a couple months of practice she managed to pass the road test on the first try as well, which astounded both of us as the local DPS office is notorious for being very strict with all the foreign students in the area. Most of my international grad student friends took four or five times to pass (one guy in my department managed to rear-end a cop car during his road test). I think the trick was teaching her the little tricks and details about what the proctor is looking for (exaggerate it when you turn your head to look left and right at a turn, make sure your wheels are facing the correct direction when you pull over to the side of the road and use your turn indicators when pulling away, etc.) She also got her license before Texas changed the laws to require adult driver's ed.

[Moomin 292]

I passed written and driving test the first time. It was a walk in the park, at least compared to the written test in my home country. I knew I had one mistake on the written test though, and also which one.

The only difficulties I had was 10 lane highways and then that it's allowed to turn right on red when there's no sign saying you can't. Ohh, and then the whole miles vs. kilometres. " But sweetheart, I'm only going 70 kilometres pr. hour.. Ohh.. it's miles *slaps own face, hits brake pedal a bit*".

My husband had to be in the car(or any person w/ a valid driver's license) the first months. I already had my share of offroading on enduros and quads and cars so didn't have to become comfortable behind the wheels first. I'd say that's enemy # 1 when learning how to drive - that there's too much to pay attention to all at the same time. Take it slow and have patience with each other. It's a foreign language PLUS it's a whole new experience. Might be overwhelming for some. I gained more confidence when my husband started leaning back and just relaxing.

I'm having a blast on the snowy roads because the conditions are different than in home country. It's perfect conditions for more experience, IMO. When the wheather improves a bit, I'm heading down to pass the MC written test.

[EminTX 131]

She also got her license before Texas changed the laws to require adult driver's ed.

FYI--There is no such requirement whatsoever in Texas.

[SBB 74]

FYI--There is no such requirement whatsoever in Texas.

As of three years ago there is for those under 25. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/adult-drivers-ed-law-in-effect-today/nRqwq/

[Owen_London 65]

As of three years ago there is for those under 25. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/adult-drivers-ed-law-in-effect-today/nRqwq/

Yes, I did a 6-hour class with one of the Houston driving schools back in October. I'm older than 25, but it seemed like a good way of passing the written test, rather than learning from the book at home and then going into the DMV. With hindsight, I would probably have passed the written test at the DMV just from common sense, and the class was designed more to teach you to pass the test than to teach you the knowledge required to be safe on the road, but it was still useful. You can also do an online class, which is probably cheaper and easier.

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Yes, I did a 6-hour class with one of the Houston driving schools back in October. I'm older than 25, but it seemed like a good way of passing the written test, rather than learning from the book at home and then going into the DMV. With hindsight, I would probably have passed the written test at the DMV just from common sense, and the class was designed more to teach you to pass the test than to teach you the knowledge required to be safe on the road, but it was still useful. You can also do an online class, which is probably cheaper and easier.

One more thing I just recall that had its difficulty is that in some of the questions it asks for distances and those are measured in feet/inches, while most people outside the US is more used to meters.

[Owen_London 65]

One more thing I just recall that had its difficulty is that in some of the questions it asks for distances and those are measured in feet/inches, while most people outside the US is more used to meters.

True. It is hard to remember, but less so if you do the written test at a driving school where they pretty much tell you the answers to each of the difficult questions that are going to be asked.

I was also figuring that I could get the answers to questions like that wrong and still get 70% or more.

[Caryh 5,206]

My wife took the written test twice to pass it. She missed the first time, by one question, and if she had remembered our state capitol city, she would have passed. Actually having to take it again was a good thing. She had read the manual, but it made a lot more sense after she took the test the first time and she started asking a lot more questions. She did drive back in her home country, but there you just pay some money, take a pee test and get your license. No one knows any rules, in her country, and I'm not sure if they really have any. All her driving was low speed, overly congested traffic, dodging people and vehicles. It was rare even to reach 30 MPH on any road, no one stopped at stop signs, they just slowed down. I think there were two traffic lights in the city she was from, and they were always off. They stationed traffic police to direct people instead of turning the lights on.

So learning to drive behind the wheel was a complete different experience. First I have a large SUV, that I discovered later that she couldn't even put her feet on the floor but did reach the pedals, with the seat all the way forward. My wife is rather tiny to. But we started with driving her around on local roads, trying to teach her to not drive like she did back home but follow the rules here. She alternated between not knowing what to do, and ignoring the rules. Not stopping at stop signs, she did slow down though, complete confusion over the right away at traffic lights, all these little things you know growing up here, just didn't make sense to her. Then highway speeds, wow talk about trying to get her to give the vehicle a bit of gas, was tough. We worked her up slowly, first getting to 30 MPH, then 45 MPH, next 50 MPH, then tried the freeway. When she gets nervous driving, she hits the brakes, which was not a good thing on the freeway! We did finally get her moving on it though, although much slower than the rest of the traffic. It terrified her. I'm glad it was lazy Sunday with little traffic.

She continued to improve, but seemed to have real issues remembering to follow the rules. So I signed her up for driving lessons. She had kept insisting they cost too much, but it made both our lives so much easier. To this day my wife uses phrases the instructor taught her. She wanted to along for all the lessons, so I sat in back and enjoyed the ride. Those lessons were really a godsend. The instructor gave instructions on parallel parking and reverse 90 degree parking that I never knew, I just do it. Her rolling through stop signs habit ended when the instructor simply said "Stop means Stop". I think she listened to him better than she ever listened to me to. But he was very good at breaking the bad habits I couldn't seem to help her break. She passed behind the wheel test with flying colors. Then it was back to me teaching her how to handle higher speed driving and freeways. Her confidence level had really jumped after getting her license, so it went easier. She hates the big semi trucks, and always keeps to the slowest traffic lane, but she drives safe. Now if I could only teach her how to read a map

Teaching her to drive in snow was another experience. But she picked it up like a champ.