DSA Says: No Manners, No License
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Now that I've passed the Britishness Test, I've moved on to my UK Driving License. Passed the Theory no problem. But the practical? Thank God for AA's Driving School. How else would I learn to be so polite to other drivers?
I know, I didn't think politeness had anything to do with it either. After all, pedestrians have no rights in this city even when the Highway Code says they do.
But now that I'm behind the wheel (legally), I've figured out what's going on. In order to become a licensed driver, you need to know how to not inconvenience your equal - the driver behind you.
Two things demonstrate this like nothing else I've ever heard of in my 20-year (admittedly American) driving life:
Are you kidding? With the car in gear? My left leg gets a workout paralleled only by visits to the gym. And dazzle. How is it I've never been dazzled by anything except by jewels and fireworks?
As far as I can tell (and am fine with being told I'm wrong), both of those are concerned with keeping the driver behind you happy and nothing else. Now, they're established parts of the driving standards, and no one dare say they're pointless or admit that the only people who use their parking brakes are taxi drivers and people on hills.
But like shuffling the wheel on turns, I will comply - not only for my test on the 18th, but for the rest of my life (honest, examiner!).
But now that I'm behind the wheel (legally), I've figured out what's going on. In order to become a licensed driver, you need to know how to not inconvenience your equal - the driver behind you.
Two things demonstrate this like nothing else I've ever heard of in my 20-year (admittedly American) driving life:
- Sit at a light with the car in gear
- Use your hand brake so as to not dazzle the driver behind you
Are you kidding? With the car in gear? My left leg gets a workout paralleled only by visits to the gym. And dazzle. How is it I've never been dazzled by anything except by jewels and fireworks?
As far as I can tell (and am fine with being told I'm wrong), both of those are concerned with keeping the driver behind you happy and nothing else. Now, they're established parts of the driving standards, and no one dare say they're pointless or admit that the only people who use their parking brakes are taxi drivers and people on hills.
But like shuffling the wheel on turns, I will comply - not only for my test on the 18th, but for the rest of my life (honest, examiner!).
Here Is The Writer : Sarah Western Balzer
Sarah Western Balzer is the managing director of HITC Life and is always on the lookout for reader-writers, so if you'd like to be one, make yourself known (sarah.western@hereisthecity.com). Sarah moved to London six years ago from New York but is originally from Florida, and still suntans like it's 1989. She is so grateful to the banker who introduced her to Here Is The City that she married him, and they live in Wapping with their son.
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