I am a Suzuki student of violin, and one of his favorite quotes is, "Practice only on the days that you eat." I try to live by that.

Hi Sarah, practice, practice, practice. I too failed my first driving test 69 years ago. You will do fine the next time. I now am pulling a small travel trailer for the first time ever, and learning to back it up. It's practice, practice for me too!

You could have had to take the driving test on a day with snow and ice like I did, especially given where you are from.

Let's turn that anticipation and nervousness into a positive. What made producers like Rearden successful is that they not only assessed current competition, but they were constantly reinventing themselves and their products so as to be ahead of any upstart competition coming from out of nowhere. If you want modern day examples of this, look at Tiger Woods in the early 2000s or at Steve Jobs of Apple and Pixar. Or perhaps take a lesson from Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots: "You don't practice until you get it right. You practice until you can't get it wrong."

I passed the driving test on my first try, by going through a red light... This was years ago in NYC, well known for failing more than 50% of the victims. As it happened, I was first to take the test at 8 am. The instructor got into car, with a coffee cup in his hand and proceeded to doze off. Shortly, I came to a very pink light and had to make a split-second decision - do I stop and end up with a coffee-soaked instructor, or do I make smooth sailing through a pink light? Evidently, I made the correct choice.

Exactly; not knowing what to anticipate made me all the more nervous.

Very well reasoned.

I too have issues in the physical realm; although my brain is agile and quick, my body is not.

I wish my instructor would have offered Valium! I might've taken it! :D

My teachers and I had a pretty big laugh about it- it was devastating three days ago and absolutely hilarious now. I'll be prepared for the next test!

I like your thinking on that.

Very important to remember, and I am so proud a government employee enjoyed that conversation!

That is an amazing story. It makes my embarrassment a little smaller!

Roman wagons used a width based on two horses side by side. Later wagons had to keep to that same width because the ruts in the roads were already there. Then both the first train cars, and the first automobiles, were built on old wagon chassis.

The South's problem with railroads was not the gauges, it was that most railroads were short lines from a farm area out to a port, to ship cotton overseas. Most of the South didn't have a connected network. That was only one of many reasons they didn't win, though.

This topic is a pet peeve of mine, one I rant about in other forums. The problem is urban planning as a whole.

The planning community are big believers in the myth that the effects of population growth are negative. Thus, (the planners of) every state, region, county, and city want to avoid building any more infrastructure (not only roads but water supplies, power lines, etc.) than they can possibly help, all in the hope that the increased population (which will certainly occur over the next years and decades) will move somewhere else. (And indeed they actively work to reduce the capacities of existing roads.) Of course that hope is futile, because every state, region, county, and city does it.

And for transportation and housing in particular they want to create deliberate shortages, both to force tomorrow's residents to use public transportation rather than drive most places, but also to drive up the price of existing housing by creating an artificial shortage. They do this because planning agencies are controlled by existing homeowners in each city and county, and raising the price benefits those people at the expense of (1) owners of unbuilt land and (2) everyone who needs or wants to move into that area, whether they intend to own or rent their home. In effect they are a cartel. Of course as homeowners they are already rich, so they don't ever expect to be affected by those shortages themselves.

This is why I don't buy Oldguycarl's comment "That which governs best, governs close." Local authorities support the cartel because they don't want people to be able to easily drive through or past their towns, only into them.

Indeed, most environmental groups are fronts for this cartel. By turning into parks and "open space districts" all that unbuilt land belonging to other people, they can preserve the nice views from their homes and keep additional traffic (and minorities!) out of their nice neighborhoods, all while hypocritically pretending that those are unselfish, charitable, and laudable actions which are helping to "save the earth." This is why the Sierra Club has the same demographics as Marin County.

So the next time your rent goes up, or you get stuck in traffic, remember that it isn't an accident. The environmental movement did it to you deliberately.

This is why libertarians would dismantle the planning system. In a free market, all roads would be privately owned and maintained -- local streets by their residents, and through streets and highways by toll authorities (easily implemented using EZ-Pass or similar systems). And the only limitation on what you can build on your property would be the common law of nuisances -- no zoning and no Urban Growth Boundaries. That's the way it needs to be.

I, too, failed my first drive test (at 16) and had to wait 2 years to try again (mom couldn't afford to send me twice). Since then...I've made plenty of errors, in 40+ years of driving, so don't feel too bad you failed your first test.

I believe that the Feds were right in taking on the interstate transportation system, as it ensured standardization and we probably wouldn't have as good a system as we have now. Saying that, I firmly believe that the Feds have absolutely NO right in using those same highway funds to hold states hostage. The states should pay into the system and that should be that.

Toll roads are great, but have been abused by greedy politicians where funds are improperly diverted. Also, once a toll road has been "paid for", it should be funded by standard transportation taxes (like gas tax) and the tolls eliminated.

Railroad subsidies are something different, entirely. Once the railroads were built, any government financing should have stopped and the companies allowed to pay for themselves. If they were not economically viable, they should go down the tubes as any legitimate business concern would.

That is my current opinion...subject to change after I've eaten lunch, had a drink, etc.

Take what blarman and johnpe and several others advise to heart: Get back on the horse and ride it again. I failed my first two tries; On my third try, I looked so nervous that the examiner took a Valium out of his desk drawer and offered it to me. I was offended enough by this to overcome my nervousness and I did just fine. Ha!

I generally 'test well' but certain tests for physical abilities seem to bypass that and I have trouble. Persist!

Jan

This seems to be only "sort of" true. There was a discussion in the Grauniad about five years ago, where it was revealed that, "The standard gauge, of course, is the distance between the neck and ankles of a damsel in distress."

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandq...

If the roads were private, there would be drivers licenses too I suspect. There is UBER now, and autonomous cars in the future that will make the whole issue moot.

You DON'T NEED a drivers license because you are not driving.
http://www.lawfulpath.com/ref/DLbrief...

Don't worry Sarah. On my first driving test at age 16, I did something really stupid. I was instructed to turn left at the next signal light. I moved into the left turn lane perfectly, and I was the only car in the lane, (small town). Then I noticed that I could not see the signal light right next to me so I backed up! I did not know you had to look across the street at that signal light! Pretty stupid, huh? My tester just laughed and explained it to me.

Sarah, give yourself a good talk and tell yourself you just need to be calm. I was lucky, my HS had driver's training, and our instructor was a former race driver and VERY demanding. The testing agent was a pussy cat compared to him.
Beware of road and be glad they are funded. Some parts of Calif. have plowed up and discontinued hundreds of miles of rural roads, in the name of UN Agenda 21 and their goofy rewilding ideas.

first, don't let the re-take of the driving test wait too
long ... get right back up on that horse and make a
good life-story of it. . no one was hurt, and "the iron
is still hot." . strike again!
transportation should give rise to consortia of all kinds,
between individuals and businesses, avoiding the
government at all costs. . they just screw things up,
slow things down and increase costs!! -- j
.

One fascinating historical note is that the standard rail bed width is based on the width of Roman chariot roadways. There were enough of the Roman roads still in existence when steam trains were first produced, and the roads were used for rail beds.

Consider yourself fortunate that you failed.
2. Learn from experience.
3. Take driving lessons from a person who is not a friend or family. You will need about one hour per year of age.
4. When driving do not worry about the role of government, concentrate on the task,
When walking walk,....
5. Consider what mental state you should be in to prevent a crash when sunlight hits your eyes, and not hitting jay-walkers even if it is their fault.
6. Consider how to control fear and anger when provoked by a driver who runs a stop sign and is coming towards you.

Good logical thinking and opinions benefit from maturity, for maturity you have to be alive.

Of equal importance to whether teenagers are safe enough drivers is the driving ability of octegenarians. I am generally for small government, but the driver's license process of a written test, six months of apprenticing under someone who is experienced, and then taking a practical test on an unknown landscape is a reasonable process. I use the same approach with regard to students' use of the multiuser equipment I train them on.