The State of Nevada has changed the requirements to get a driver’s license. They have removed the part of the driving test that asks the driver to parallel park. Seems that this is the part of the test most failed by the prospective driver. So, naturally, why not just remove it?
According to a story over on parknews.biz, the Nevada DMV says that they are doing this to help reduce wait times in their offices, since failing the test requires applicants to return and take the test again, thus clogging up the system. That makes perfect sense to me.
We could change the rules on a lot of tests to cut down on paperwork and retaking the test. If a surgeon had a problem with say, implant a heart valve, just don’t ask him or her to do it on a test. Then all those pesky retakes would be absolved.
How about the test for lawyers. All those questions about the constitution. Why even ask? Who needs to know about such legal niceties as ex post facto and testifying against oneself? Think how quickly one could sail through the test without those questions.
Our PEOs are tasked with writing tickets for those who amongst other things, are improperly parked. So I didn’t park within 18 inches of the curb. So what. No one ever told me I had to do so. There was nothing on the driving test about parking. So therefore we might as well remove that law from the books and just let people park wherever and however they want. So it’s a parallel space, why not just pull in and let your rear end stick out in the traffic lanes.
The driving test authorizes someone to manipulate two tons of steel down the street. To drive it up to seventy miles and hour, to weave in and out of traffic. Why shouldn’t one be required to be able to park it properly? Hell they might flunk the test and have to take it again, thus causing all those problems for the DMV.
I actually bumped into another car and broke a headlight when I took my first drivers test. I was parallel parking. The tester told me that they stopped the test whenever there was an accident. But I could come back another day and try again. That I should practice a bit on my parking. So I futzed around in the high school parking lot parallel parking until I got it right, then went back, aced the test and got my license. I’m a better driver for it.
With all the accidents, finder benders and worse, I’m not sure we shouldn’t make the test harder rather than easier. Maybe this lowering of requirements is best tested in Nevada. After all that’s where you go to “roll the dice.”
JVH
One Response
I spent hours with my three kids teaching and practicing to parallel park. Great one on one time – lots of laughs – ok mostly me laughing. Garbage cans, cones with broomstick handles before we tried between real cars. Fun times. They were the best parallel parkers around when they got their licenses. Only problem was they could not find the mall 10 minutes away because they sat in the back seat looking at their phones all those years.