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
- Nurses Share Their "I Can't Believe I Have To Explain This" Stories ... ›
- People Describe The Most Annoying Things Drivers Do On The Road - George Takei ›
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
