Submitted by Dreamer_4200 t3_10rgxeu in massachusetts
I practice daily, I can parallel park, hand signals have become a second nature to me.
I mean, I can't prove it to you, and I know there are some real shitty drivers in this state, but I swear, I’m a decent driver. Not perfect. But decent.
So, I walk into my driving test, finally ready to be done with the mess that is drivers ed. I won't argue whether the right to drive is a 'privilege’, but I’ve sunk 700$+ into the mandatory classes.
I failed.
It was for waiting at a blinking yellow light. (For context, it was one that did eventually turn green.)
I was told by an instructor in a lesson at the same school I took this test at, to wait (even if it was clear), to wait until it turned green to make the turn.
And I believed it. To be extra cautious I thought. Same reason on the test I wasn't going to turn right on red. Or not abruptly stop at yellow lights.
I looked it up, just to be sure. “Are you legally required to turn on a blinking yellow light?” Couldn't find anything.
My parents didn't know.
I had even had the same thing reaffirmed in my refresher lesson the week before, when I waited at that light multiple times and my instructor then never mentioned it.
He said nothing when I sat there, blinking light, not a car in sight, while I waited for a green.
And he said lots of stuff, about my steering, my pressure on the break, my lack of signaling in empty parking lots.
I tell the driving school head this, that I was misinformed by them and he just starts yelling at me. “An instructor would never say that!”
One did though.
I don't know what I’m gonna get out of this post. Maybe in three weeks I’ll pass, and never think about this stuff again. I'm pissed though.
pillbinge t1_j6vo898 wrote
That sucks, and I can certainly believe that you could be told that.
For the record, a blinking yellow light means to proceed cautiously. You shouldn't be speeding, but a car that isn't speeding should at least take their foot off the gas and just be aware. I don't see too many of those myself, which means you probably got a little unlucky.
Not sure how to approach it. I'd find the instructor again and ask them. If you can get it in writing, even better. My test decades back was a tough one, but I passed. Watched a kid fail within 1 minute. Didn't even make it around the block because he choked when taking a right. They made me parallel park and do a three-point turn out of it on a really narrow street in Cambridge. Passed it my first time. But I still realize that others would have probably been fucked.