Just because someone has a license doesn't mean they should. Instructors do the best the can -at least I pray they are- but they can only do so much. Eventually most of us will be handed that card and Lord have Mercy for the rest of us!
Redditor u/bunn-pris wanted driving instructors to share some stories about what we should be prepared for on the road by asking.... Driving instructors of reddit, what is the worst thing a student has attempted to do or has done during a lesson?
Don't floor it!
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I was in the car for observation hours, the Kid driving didn't understand that flooring the gas then slamming the breaks isn't a good Idea at every intersection. KnaveyJonesLocker
Grandpa Knew.
Obligatory not me but my grandfather taught driver's ed at his high school. He had one student who did not possess the necessary mental faculties to drive. The kid's father was enraged and resolved to teach the kids himself, the first lesson ended with the car in the living room and the father realized my grandfather was right. gath_centar
Turn of the Key.
I had an instructor with ice water in his veins. I know, because I did stuff that would have any mere mortal panicking and yelling at me for doing 85 on the freeway and then drifting half off the road while staring at the speedometer in shock.
But as bad as I was, he shared stories of much worse.
He said one girl was trying to back out of a parking space (diagonal street parking) with her left foot on the brake. She kept pushing harder on the accelerator...but harder on the brake at the same time. Eventually the engine overcame the rear brakes (drum brakes, in those days), but the front (disc) brakes held firm.
So the rear wheels started spinning. The girl panicked and locked her knees, flooring the accelerator. The engine revved to full speed and the rear wheels belched smoke, which quickly surrounded the car. Then, knees still locked, she took her hands off the steering wheel, put them over her eyes, and screamed.
"What did you do then?" I asked him, agog.
"Oh," he said calmly, "I just reached over and turned off the key."
Ice in his veins, I tell you. He was born to teach teenagers how to drive. AGuyNamedEddie
I Must Merge!
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Only somewhat related, but this is what my driving instructor did during my first lesson.
We were making our way through the basics and were cut off by some lady. I'm pretty chill, so I didn't think much of it, but this dude starts flipping out. He grabs the wheel while in the passenger's seat and tells me to step on the gas (he can brake from his side). Me, being 16 and also an idiot, complies. He gives me instructions for the gas while he steers and ends up boxing her in, not letting her merge over.
Then starts to throw empty cans of sprite, coffee cups and anything else he could find at her car. It was buck wild. He eventually ran out of things to throw I guess and we just went off and did our own thing. As a dumb kid, I thought it was hilarious, but as an adult I realize just how dangerous and stupid what he did was. Driving lessons were always a wild ride with him. Great guy if he liked you, but definitely a little off the wall. QueensAnat
Too Much Anxiety.
Not a driving instructor, but when I was taking drivers education my car was filled with me two of my friends and another kid no one knew but was taking the class. The kid obviously had some anxiety issues and would often shutdown and start panicking if he was startled or put in a stressful situation. We had multiple close calls but by far the scariest experience was when we were on the highway.
The kid was driving and our instructor asked him to get out of the left lane when it was safe because he was going 40 mph and the speed of traffic around us was 75 mph. Another driver behind us decided that he was tired of our car moving so slowly and decided to honk his horn and pass us. This was enough to set the kid off and he started having a breakdown. The instructor tried to calm him down and again told him to switch lanes. The kid immediately tried to switch lanes without looking. There was a car right in his blind spot that the driving instructor thankfully saw.
When he began to change lanes the car honked and the instructor had to grab the wheel and press on his passenger brake. This was enough to send the kid into hysterics. We were stopped in between two lanes and the kid was crying. Unfortunately the drivers ed cars don't include a passenger gas pedal and we were in an incredibly dangerous situation I was genuinely scared for my life. Yelling at the kid was obviously doing nothing but making him more hysterical. We had to switch drivers in the middle of the highway and the kid never showed up to another lesson. m_tate80
CRASH.
So I have a sister who is a few years older than me and was a pretty horrible student, I always had teachers who would assume I would be horrible until they go to know me based on my sister.
Anyways drivers ed was offered in our high school, and during their lesson the teacher asked my sister (with a car full of other students) to pull into the teachers personal driveway so he could pickup some things. My sister managed to crash into his garage and break some brick on the side of the garage as well (hit gas instead of break is her excuse).
My teacher was terrified when I started the class, he made me so nervous when driving. At the end of the the semester is said I was the best student of the group and would be the least likely to crash. I think I was the first of the group to later crash! (lol, slide in a wet road taking a sharp corner a few weeks later). MindStalker
That's a Penalty!
I don't know if it's true or not but there's an old joke in the UK for the shortest driving test when someone turned up and honked his horn to tell them he was there. Then examiner promptly walked up to his car and said he failed as beeping your horn without good reason (e.g. you're trying to get to hospital because your wife is pregnant) is a penalty.
The second shortest was a driver reversing out of the carpark and hit the curb. aegroti
Slam the Brakes!
I technically ran a red during my driving test. It wasn't my fault though. J was going 30 and the light went yellow. I judged I'd make it through the light just fine, the instructor got scared (wasn't paying as good attention as me) and slammed on the breaks. We stopped dead in the middle of the intersection and I just looked at her like wtf. She took her foot off her break and we kept going. She kept saying "I've never had a student run a red might, I cant pass you" I explained to her that I would have made it through the yellow had she not slammed on the breaks and it was technically her fault and her misjudgment.
I passed that test :) CallMeLucipher
Frozen.
Racing driver instructor here. I had a client freeze up at over 100 mph coming into a corner. He just gently squeezed the brakes and that was it. As we shot towards the corner I continued to tell him to brake harder but got no response. Luckily I had a pedal on my side of the car which I jumped on once I realized he was afk. I was forced to reach across to navigate the car between the cones marking the edge of the corner as I brought us to a halt. Once we stopped he had the audacity to look across at me and ask what happened! watez
Meooow....
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(I did it as a summer job for a family friend's driving school, not something I ever hope to do again). A student attempted to run over a cat she could have easily avoided (cat was fine, just very scared). When asked why she said she thought it was okay and in fact encouraged. Further questions revealed some other very serious issues and she was dropped from the class. MissyTurtle