I had an appointment this morning at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), and i arrived well in time to find that the appointment implied having a lady point me (and all the others, whether they had made an appointment or not) to queue up in “line A”. That’s where i got a California Driver’s Examination – a different one than the previous one which i didn’t pass. Thirty-six multiple choice questions throughout which i had to demonstrate my knowledge of the California driver’s code. In the special designated examination area, hardly separated from the hall full of people doing their DMV business, i answered all the questions. After struggling over some (like the legal blood alcohol concentration when you’re under 21, euh, wait a minute, i thought drinking under 21 wasn’t allowed in the first place… i got it wrong, guessed 0.1% and it seems to be 0.5%), i returned to the line and eventually gave the sheet of paper to another lady who corrected it on the spot (oh, i got nervous at that point…)<\/p>\n
“You’ve passed.” Only two errors. “So when do you want an appointment for the behind-the-wheel driving test?” Very good question indeed. The thing is, there’s quite a stage in between for me, as i have never driven in my life. “Well, i’ll first need to learn how to drive.” “Sure,” she said without lifting her head from the stamps she was frantically putting on papers all over the place, “just call when you want to make an appointment.” She wasn’t really into her job as the guy was the other time – i could actually imagine him saying: “Oh just make that appointment and try, you might get lucky.” <\/p>\n
In any case, sometime mid-morning i found myself on Capitola Road, waiting for a bus to take me home, and with a driving instruction permit in my bag. Was hard to believe, alienating and exciting at once (is this actually me, on the road to driving…). Standing at the bus stop, i was thinking about the whole DMV experience. There had been far more people than last time, the DMV was crowded on a this Monday morning. And i got the impression of seeing quite a cross-section of the population around here, including the obligatory weird figures like the guy with some kind of Elvis Presley shirt, greasy grey hair tightly combed back, super heavy grey eye-brows and… two small american flags sticking out on each side of his heavy glasses. In the absence of many things public, like spaces and services and not to forget bureaucracy and waiting lines, i started thinking… but this it! This is the equivalent of a more or less central public service, much more than the Social Security office on Walnut Street. Yes, this is the closest it gets to la Maison Communale de Saint-Gilles around here. Starting to think of it: a driver’s license counts very much as the most wide-spread identification. And in the (rare, somewhat pathetic) case that you don’t have one, the DMV is also the instance that issues identity cards – you know, just like a driver’s licence but it doesn’t allow you to drive. And the DMV is also a central place where you can register to vote – you know, one of these citizenship things. And you have to wait in lines – that must mean it’s a communist, i mean state thing. Not to mention the financial accessibility of it – you can get the license for half of the amount of a monthy bus pass, and in case you fail the first behind-the-wheel driving test, it costs 5 bucks for every extry try). There i stood on the busy Capitola Road, alone at the bus stop, with a car or two slowing down and offering a ride (but i wanted to be in a bus so much), thinking about the incredible extent to which citizenship is tied up with motor vehicles in this place…<\/p>\n
Oh, let me share some of the things i learned while studying the local driver’s code with you: <\/p>\n
Do not<\/b> shoot firearms on a highway or at traffic signs.
\n(under “Additional Driving Rules – Things you must not do”, p. 33)<\/p>\n
Try chewing gum or singing along with the radio.
\n(under “Health and Safety – Alertness”, p. 76)<\/p>\n
And one of my exam questions. What interrupts a smooth flow of traffic?
\nAmong the three possible answers: c) Leaving your car at home and taking public transport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had an appointment this morning at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), and i arrived well in time to find that the appointment implied having a lady point me (and all the others, whether they had made an appointment or not) to queue up in “line A”. That’s where i got a California Driver’s … Continue reading “permit”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarah.constantvzw.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}