ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT DRIVING I LEARNED DURING THE EXAM

.los angeles.california.usa. 

Disclaimer: This is not intended to dissuade future drivers to not go to driving school.

For the record, I failed my actual driving exam 3 times. So if you guys fail at something the first time, go lang nang go! Makukuha nyo rin yun!

I started driving back in Manila when I was about 15 or 16. I was taught how to drive a vehicle using an old school stick-shift Torana (no powerwheel & all!), and an owner (those custom-made jeeps ubiquitous in the suburbs & provinces). I got my license without having read any Driver’s Manual/Handbook (do we even have any?). I do not remember having done the actual test like what is done here. I vaguely remember being asked to move a vehicle a few feet forward, copying a cheat sheet for my written test and my daddy handing someone some bills. So yes, that was the reason why I was a very loose driver back home. (LTO, you guys need to overhaul your system, mehn!)

I’ve had a few brushes with the MMDA , including beating the red light where I pulled off a Judy Ann tear jerker to an enforcer to no avail. My license was still confiscated coz mali naman talaga ako haha! And some that I have went away with: “Bakit hindi nyo hinuli yung nauna sakin, mali din sya ha. Dahil ba mas mukha akong may pera?” | “Boss, Philippine Allstars po kami, Philippine team sa hip hop. May rehearsal po kami for a show” (Sorry, but this has worked, and most of us have used this haha! Some even have asked for an autograph or a shirt!) | “Wala namang ganyang sign dati. Hindi ba pwede warningan nyo na lang muna ang mga motorista imbes na nanghuhuli kayo agad? Saka bakit ba apat-apat kayo dyan sa harap ko??” | “Bossing, first time ko dito. Taga-Marikina pako.” | and the ever prevalent among all excuses, “Tito ko si [place politician's name here, even if from a remote area in Mindanao].” (Well, I didn’t have the guts to use that last one. The closest I did was calling Spidey & asking him to talk to the enforcer.)

And my lack of knowledge has also gotten me in a few vehicular accidents. Like the time that I jostled with a huge truck while turning right from Greenmeadows to Ortigas Ave. on my way to class at Powerdance. I did not know that trucks (& buses) have more blind spots than small vehicles (I told the manong pa naman, ang laki-laki ng salamin mo hindi mo ako nakita!). And I should have known that big vehicles make huge turns, so mali na makipag-gitgitan sa kanila. But because I didn’t know anything, I had told the truck driver (having assumed that I was right, and he was the cause of the accident), “Ok I won’t ask you for money so let’s not exchange contacts anymore coz I’m already late for class.” (That time, believe me, I’d rather not be late for Pro-Jazz by any means!). And the funnier thing was, there was an MMDA enforcer trying to issue us tickets for “obstruction of traffic.” I had told him off, “Kasalanan ba namin may aksidente?” Oh mehn, how juvenile!

There was a time too (this time I knew I was right, even the police said so), a long long time ago, going home from Shangri-la, as I was about to turn right from St. Francis St. to Shaw Blvd., there was this SUV on my left that was also trying to turn to the same direction. Commonsense calls that he should give way to me as I have already blocked his space. Eh si gago, dumiretso pa rin. Ayun, we had caused a hella traffic along Shaw. Police officers of Mandaluyong had brought us to the station. I was with no one, so it was me vs them that was comprised of a family of about 5 and a driver. But that was fine coz I knew they were wrong. I was asking them to pay for the damage on my car. I was waiting for them with my mataray-look which I couldn’t hold for any much longer coz I wanted to cry already for being outnumbered, even though the police has got my back (Hahaha!). Then this freakin’ driver handed a mobile phone to the police & said, “Kausapin daw kayo.” I was like WHAT THE HECK, when I heard the police saying to someone on the phone, “Ah ganun po ba? Opo… Sige po… Oo nga po.” (Turned out he was talking to a Congressman) …And so being naive that I was, I didn’t know what had happened next anymore. All I remembered was just signing something on a “blotter.” Then going home with a damaged car and a damaged hope on humanity. Looking back, all I can do is SMH (shake my head). Ang pinoy nga naman, kung makakalusot, lulusot. I am guilty of this too. BUT with major mishaps or strains, or sa mga kalokohan o mga katiwalian, if it is really CLEAR that we did something wrong, we should all man up! Driving is only partof this grand scheme of things. Pano pa ang kabuuan. Tsk tsk tsk. (Yes, I’m banging my own head too. But at least, I will get my deserved lashings herein the US if I really do something bad. There’s no more room for red tape/power play. Which is good.)

Anyway, so I guess I was meant to fail my exam. When I came here, I had the mentality of “I got this!” since I got 11 years of continued driving in the worst traffic of Manila under my belt. I did go to a driving school here in LA but only for 2 hours, and I wasn’t also practicing that much coz people were busy (you need to have a CA licensed driver with you at all times). Those were not enough to break my bad driving habits… And so what happened, my every driving test was like my driving school. Doon na ako natututo hahah! I learned that I should not slow down when changing lanes; that I should wait inside the left-turn lanes when waiting to turn left with the wheels facing forward (tinutok ko kasi sa kalye, you know, how we do in Manila); and a lot more minor ones that accounted to failures.

When I failed the first time, grabe, it was like my whole world froze & melted at the same time before my very eyes. I got kinda depressed. Coz it’s also one thing here in LA; you have to be able to drive to go places. It is hard to commute around here. And I was thinking, how would I be able to start my life right away without being able to drive?? So I gave myself a day to mope around thinking there’s always a 2nd try… and 3rd.. On my 4th try, I was like so used to it that I didn’t expect anything anymore. I just prayed that I be given a test officer who will give me a fair chance. (Coz honestly, 2 of my failures were a bit sketchy. I did not make any major errors. They just said I was inconsistent with that looking-over-the-shoulder thing.)

Anyway, when the testing officer told me, “You passed, but you had few minor… *@^@%!&#*#… and that *#&@^@$… and @&#^#…” I couldn’t hear the rest of what she was saying. I was stuck on her first 2 words. After about 2 minutes of her talking, I asked, “I passed?” Hahaha! Coz I really couldn’t believe it! It was just like what my ate Jona said, the feeling was akin to winning a lottery!

And so now, here in LA, I’m mobile.

I’ve been driving around for more than a month and I say SOBRA SARAP mag-drive especially if you and the people around you follow the rules. Well, that is why there are rules. Coz if every one of us follow our own (just like what’s more often happening in Manila), then there’d be chaos… gitgitan, singitan, hindi marunong magbigayan (a true reflection of its people). Ah just thinking about it makes my head hurt. I wonder how I could’ve survived driving there.

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