Driver’s License Testers Share The Most Unforgettable Road Test Mishaps
You can likely remember the excitement of taking the driving test to get your driver’s license- after years of waiting, and months of practice, finally you’d have the freedom to cruise around in your parents’ pea-green Toyota, or mustard-yellow Chevy. It’s one of those milestones of becoming an adult, and developing a sense of independence that can’t be compared to many other accomplishments in your young adult life. For some however, the test can also bring about a little anxiety…
This can lead some to making pretty silly mistakes under the pressure of the person leading the test, and the fear of the open road. Whether it’s completely neglecting to follow instructions, or following them a little too literally, some people just melt down when it comes time to prove themselves behind the wheel. Here are some of the most memorable mishaps that driver’s license testers have witnessed at the hands of student drivers during their road tests…
Hit The Building
I was getting ready to start a test with a woman. She was bringing her car around from farther away in the parking lot so that we could begin in front of the DMV. I guess she managed to mix up the accelerator and the brake, because as she was approaching, she sped up and drove right through the front of the license center.
I was told later that she was even more upset when they wouldn’t let her reschedule her test for the following day since they obviously canceled her test for that day. It wasn’t long after that they installed a bunch of bollards in front to protect the building. I was amazed at how marked up they had gotten in just the first few months. Reddit user: PembrokePercy
Missed The Exit
I was administering a test with one girl, and we were driving on the interstate. I told her where to exit, but she missed the off-ramp. I commented that she missed it, but said it wasn’t a big deal as we could just take the next exit. I’m not sure what the girl’s thought process was, but she would not settle for the next exit.
This girl pulled into the grass on the side of the road and tried to go against the traffic to go back to their missed exit. I had to use my break on the passenger side while I screamed to tell her to stop. I don’t know what the heck was going through her mind in that moment. Reddit user: _NotSarah
Texting Mom
I was giving a test to a guy one time. In the last leg of the test, we ran into some construction. This was a rural area with a two lane highway through mountains. So, they had to just completely close one lane and alternate traffic every hour between who could come up the mountain and who could go down.
So we’re basically parked, sitting in traffic. The guy taking the test pulls out his phone to text his mom that he’s going to be late and she’ll need to wait to pick him up. I look over at him and tell him that even though we’re parked, it’s still technically illegal to use your phone as long as the engine is running and you’re on the road. Reddit user: wierddude88
Three Red Lights
I was testing an older gentleman one time. During the beginning of the test, it seemed like he was doing alright. But then, he just drove right through three stop signs. I immediately told him to pull over and informed him that the test was over and he had not passed, then told him to drive back to the DMV.
On our way back, I asked him why he ran through all of those stop signs. The gentleman explained that he didn’t want the license but his family was pressuring him to get it, so he made sure no one was coming, and then ran the signs on purpose to make sure he would fail. Poor guy. Reddit user: CoCa_Coa
Not A One-Way Street
The kids make a lot of minor mistakes, and yes, some do make scary mistakes. However, it’s the adults that scare me most. Especially the seniors who are up for re-exam. Probably the worst test I’ve ever been on was this man in his 90’s. I instructed him to turn onto a street “when it is safe to do so”, and he turned instantly, narrowly missing a pedestrian.
Not only that, but he was driving on the wrong side of the road. He came head to head with another car who pulled over to let him go. He was laughing about it, because he was under the impression that it was a one-way road. When I got back to the office with him, he was astounded when I told him it was NOT a one way street. Reddit user: nightfallbear
Go Straight
I was on a test with a young woman one day and was coming to a four-way stop sign in a small rural town where we live. I told her to go straight. So she did, without stopping at the stop sign. She just drove right through without even batting an eye. I basically just told her right away that she had failed, and that she could just drive back.
When I said this, she was quite confused why. I told her that she had just run a stop sign, to which she responded that I told her to. I had to be very clear that I never told her to run a stop sign, I simply told her to go straight, assuming she would know that when there’s a stop sign, you stop! Reddit user: Podsy93
Windshield Wipers
My best story was this kid who took his test while it was raining. He started driving without the windshield wipers on. I figured he was nervous, so I tried to give him a break by saying, “It’s raining pretty hard, huh.” The kid was white knuckled on the steering wheel and just said, “Yeah,” but continued as he was.
Again, trying to give the kid a break, I said, “Don’t you think you should do something about that?” The kid said, “Yeah.” Apparently he didn’t know where the wiper controls were, so he rolled down the driver’s side window and stuck his head out. At that point I stopped the test and failed him. Reddit user: tacknosaddle
Wrong Side Of The Road
I did a test with a girl who started driving on the wrong side of the road shortly into the test. I freaked out and took the wheel to get out of the way before we were smashed to death. I then told her to drive back to the DMV as she had failed the test.
So what does she do? She takes a left turn into oncoming traffic just a moment after she had almost killed us once. She was banned from taking a driving test at our department because of that. I really hope that that girl never gets a license. If she does, good luck to you all. Reddit user: elunstad
Axe
I had one guy who was absolutely crazy. He was in his mid twenties and failed the test for some reason I don’t remember. At this point in time, I shared with him that he had failed, which he clearly did not want to hear. After being told this, he proceeded to get out of the car and grab an axe out of the trunk.
I obviously freaked out and started trying to reason with him so he wouldn’t kill me. Eventually I managed to calm him down, and someone came to pick him up so I did not have to drive back with him. After that guy, we now have a policy of only sharing the results of the test inside the licensing building rather than in the car. Reddit user: Hi0nLife
Still In Reverse
I was on a test with one guy. He had just done the part of the test where you backup one hundred feet. He had done it well and when he stopped, before he could switch the gear into park, I started asking him some questions. I then proceeded to give him directions to leave the area and drive back to the parking lot where the parallel parking test would be done.
He had forgotten that he never switched gears, and pressed the gas. The car went flying in reverse for about twenty feet before he slammed on the brakes. I let him off on that one because I had distracted him by asking him questions. I just said, “As far as I’m concerned, that never happened,” and we continued with the test. Reddit user: bagforthebadger
Couldn’t See The Speedometer
An 80-year-old woman was once taking the test with me to renew her license. I kept having to tell her to speed up as she was driving at a dangerously slow speed. I told her several times and then eventually told her exactly what the speed limit was, so that she could get to that speed and then maintain it.
After a short moment, she informed me that she couldn’t see the speedometer so she didn’t know how fast she was going. You heard me right, she could not see a foot in front of her. I immediately made her pull over and she did not receive a renewal. Thank god. I don’t understand how we didn’t crash before that happened. Reddit user: iforgetredditpsswrds
Double Hit
When one of my testers parallel parked, he hit the cone behind him. It was just a really tiny tap, so I thought I would overlook it. I said, “It’s fine. This should be an automatic fail but I think that’s a bit too harsh.” So I told him to continue. The next step was driving forward to park evenly between the two cones.
He drove forward and hit the other cone in front of him, right after hitting the one behind him. That, I could not overlook. Unfortunately, he failed the test at that point. He was super embarrassed, so I tried to reassure him and tell him that he just needed to practice a little more. Reddit user: [Redacted]
McDonald’s Drive-Through
I’ve dealt with some pretty crazy test-takers, but this one was probably the most absurd. On our test route, we were passing a McDonald’s. This guy pulled into the drive-through at McDonald’s, ordered some food, and then realized that he left his wallet in his other car (we were in a car that the license center provides for the test).
Before I could even start to tell him to leave, he asked me to pay for his food, and said he’d offer me half of his fries in return. I failed him on the spot, and told him to get out of the car. I didn’t trust that kid at all, so I drove us back to the center. Thank god I didn’t have to deal with him again when he came back to retake the test. Reddit user: OFFICIAL_tacoman
Train Tracks
I did testing for a few years and once had a girl stop on railroad tracks. There was a train coming. It was coming slowly, but it takes trains a long time to stop. It blasted the horn right into the passenger’s side of the car, which practically blew my ears out. This just made her freeze up even more.
She was completely frozen and would not budge, so I had to reach my foot over to her side to hit the accelerator. In Canada, you can do your driver’s test in any car you choose, so I did not have any controls from where I was sitting like other test cars. I thought that might have been my last day. Reddit user: echothree33
California Roll
I had one know-it-all kid do the “California Roll” through three consecutive stop signs as he was exiting the courthouse parking lot at the beginning of the test. Obviously, I stopped the test before it even started and failed him on the spot. He was so confused why I had failed him, and he argued that it wasn’t a fair decision.
I told him that he had clearly run through three stop signs, which is an automatic failure, to which he responded, “I thought the test hadn’t started yet.” I guess he was under the impression that until it’s officially started, you can break as many rules as you want. Honestly, it’s like these people are getting dumber and dumber. Reddit user: HawkingTomorToday
Broken Arm
While I was still doing testing, I had a broken arm at one point and was wearing a brace on my right arm. One person taking the test took a left turn way too hard and caused me to hit my arm against the door. I tried to act professional, so I didn’t swear in front of the kid, but wow that hurt.
He was super apologetic, which I did not want to hear as I was just in so much pain. But other than that sharp turn, he drove perfectly fine, so I passed him. To be quite honest, I mostly passed him because I didn’t want to have to deal with him again, which I would have if he had to schedule another test in the future. Reddit user: bloodychainsaw
Grinding Gears
While taking a license test, one guy ground his gears when shifting, then proceeded to let go of the steering wheel while the car was still moving. I immediately had to grab the steering wheel and steer for about five seconds or so. He had just totally checked out and it almost seemed like he didn’t remember what happened.
He eventually composed himself and took over the wheel again. It took me a while to catch my breath. I really do put my life at risk doing this job. Anyway, we both survived that little mishap. And no, he did not get his license that day. Reddit user: DB2V2
Can’t Parallel Park
I had one guy who was pretty funny. When we started the test, he was driving well. Shortly into it, he said he wanted to be perfectly honest with me, and said that he could not parallel park to save his life but he was okay with that, because he was never going to try to parallel park.
He said he was happy to park two blocks away and walk every time. I kinda laughed about it and wasn’t sure exactly what he was getting at. It came time to do the parallel parking test, which he obviously still had to do. And he was right, he could not do it. I decided to just take his word on never attempting to parallel park, and I passed him. Reddit user: Daeyel1
Two Crashes In One Day
The craziest day I ever had as a driving tester started with a dude who somehow managed to lose control of the car at less than 15 mph. He jumped the curb, and smashed into the guardrail. Needless to say, he was not issued a license that day. If I’m not mistaken, I believe he also totaled his mom’s car in the process.
Later that same day, I had a girl who was getting ready to start the test. Before the test, the examiner will stand in front of the car while the tester is inside locating various parts of the car. I’m standing there, and this girl just drives right up on to the curb and hits my legs. Apparently, that was not a good day to go into work. I had two crashes in one day. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt too badly. Reddit user: badly_behaved
Driving Course Fails
Where I work, we test on a course so there really isn’t that much room for insane mess ups. I go over everything before the exam just to refresh the tester’s memory because of nerves. I walk through the whole test and the second we go out the door, it usually pretty much all disappears.
I had one kid back into a car when we were leaving the spot to start the test. He didn’t understand why he failed because the car “wasn’t on the course.” Our parking section has cones to simulate cars. I’ve had kids plow over the cones, run them over, back over them, and continue on thinking they are doing well. Absolutely absurd. Reddit user: freshstart93
Parking On The Highway
I was doing a test with a guy and we were driving on the highway. We were behind a slow truck so I asked the guy to pass him. The student signaled, merged into the left lane, and gently accelerated. Everything was going well, when suddenly the student exclaims, “Oh I’m sorry. I forgot to shift the gear into ‘pass.’”
I thought, what the heck is the “pass” gear? But before I could ask what he was talking about, it was already too late. The student reached for the automatic gear shifter and threw it towards “P.” That’s right, this kid parked the car while going 65 mph. That was one of the scariest days of my life. That car definitely didn’t enjoy it either. Reddit user: jef22314
Multiple Attempts
I had one guy who tested with me three times in a row. The first time he took the test, he informed me that he had never parallel parked before because he lived in the suburbs. He tried it for the first time during the test and was about three feet from the curb. That didn’t go over so well. I failed him, and he rescheduled with me soon after.
The second time, he backed into the space perfectly. I told him he did a good job, then told him to just pull forward a bit. Clearly, he was a bit over-excited, and forgot to put the gear in reverse. He backed up over the cones. The third time it was pouring rain. He drove well, but was going a bit fast in the rain. I passed him anyway though. I felt like he had proven himself after three visits. Reddit user: workharder101
Multitasking
It seems like every week, I almost die from the sheer stupidity of these teenagers. Most of them involve the kids not knowing their left from their right, which is kind of understandable if you’ve never driven before, and you’re super nervous. But the scariest situations are when kids try to multitask during the test, despite being nervous going into it.
Some kids will change the radio stations or even grab their phones from their pockets. I’ve even had some kids attempt to text while they’re driving, right in front of me. At this point, I make a clear rule in the beginning of all tests that drivers have to hand me their phone, and only I can mess with the radio. Reddit user: the_beard_guy
Asleep At The Wheel
I have seen some crazy things through my years as a driver’s license tester, but this one was next level. I was testing one guy, and he was driving pretty well during the majority of the driving test. I was pretty sure he was gonna pass. We’re nearing the end of the test, and this guy just falls asleep at the wheel.
I quickly reached for the steering wheel, and jolted him to wake him up, which he did. I told him to pull over. We switched seats and I drove us back to the DMV. Obviously, he didn’t pass in the end. When we got back, I asked him what happened, and all he said was that he was tired. Reddit user: Onechrisn
Roundabout
I was doing a driving test with one guy, and we were driving through an area with roundabouts. He drove up to a roundabout intersection and stopped at the stop sign. I told him to go straight. Obviously, what I meant was to go around the roundabout, and turn at the second possible exit. But somehow this did not quite register for him.
The guy really went straight. He drove over the roundabout and continued on. I had to stop myself from cracking up honestly. I don’t understand how he could think that that was what I wanted him to do. He failed right away, and we drove back to the DMV. Reddit user: nevereatyellowsnow
Incoming
One girl was driving on the highway during the test, and a semi truck pulled in front of her. She did not feel comfortable passing it so she decided to stay behind it. He was going like 40 mph in a 50 mph zone. Technically, she should have passed the truck in order to pass the test, so I was already thinking she’d fail.
Eventually, she moved next to the driver of the semi, I guess trying to finally pass them. Right then, they decided to move over as well and started drifting into our lane. The girl started to panic, then decided the best option was to just slow down so the truck could come over and pass. She got down to 20 mph on the highway with others going 70 mph. She didn’t pass. Reddit user: thisisjustreddit4me
Optional Stop Signs
I remember the dumbest girl that I ever tested. She was driving fairly normally at first. But once we got to a stop sign, she just drove right through it. She then went on to run a few more stops signs after that. I immediately told her that she had failed, and we drove right back to the DMV.
Somehow, she wasn’t sure what she had done wrong. I told her that she had run several stop signs, and she replied that she thought that the stop signs that had a white border were optional. Turns out some kids at school tried to convince her of this. And sadly, it worked. She had to take the test again, luckily not with me. Reddit user: K_M-A-Y_
Squirrel
I was driving with a girl and there was a squirrel in the middle of the street. As she kept driving closer to it, it wasn’t moving, and it seemed like it wasn’t going to. The girl started to freak out. I tried to get her to calm down, and I told her to just hit the squirrel.
She really took this to heart. As she approached the squirrel, it eventually did run onto the sidewalk away from the danger. The girl drove up onto the sidewalk after it in an attempt to hit it. I guess she thought she needed to follow my instructions very literally in order to pass. She did follow instructions, but she did not pass. Reddit user: [Redacted]
A Smelly Situation
I used to be a tester. Best story I have was with this one guy who was super nervous during the test. At one point while he was driving, I guess his nerves really got the best of him, and he let out a huge fart. I didn’t laugh or joke or anything. I kept acting normal and continued with the test.
He was trying desperately to roll down the windows to let out the terrible smell. In his anxiety, he accidentally kept pressing the lock and unlock buttons instead of the window, so I eventually pressed the correct buttons to roll down the windows. When we got back, he got out of the car, and immediately started running and crying. Turns out it wasn’t just a fart. Reddit user: [Redacted]
Locked Out
I was administering a test for this one guy. He was using his own car from home for the test. At one part, I told him to put the car in park, leave the car running, and swap seats with me so that I could drive back to the DMV. So we got out of the car and shut the doors.
He immediately realized that he locked all of the doors with the car running. Fast forward to us trying to break into the car with a hanger. Once we finally got in, I drove us back to the DMV. I then told him to get a spare key for the car and come back when he has it. Reddit user: __piff
Don’t Stop At The Stop Sign
When I did driving tests a long time ago, I used to mess with the testers, and try to make them screw up. I don’t know why I did it, but it was fun. I would have them drive to a road that nobody else drives on, and then I would have them start driving down this empty road.
I would say, “You don’t have to stop at this stop sign. There’s no one around.” Of course, they would then drive right through the stop sign, and I would immediately fail them. They’d say that I told them to, and I’d say that it’s illegal to drive through a stop sign. These kids are so gullible. Reddit user: submechano
Backing Up
I was with one kid doing the test. We got to the part of the test where I told him to put the car in reverse, and back up in a straight line as safely as possible. He was really nervous, but he put the car in reverse, and hit the pedal. He was backing up at probably 20 mph, and started off pretty straight.
But that did not last. At some point, he must have drifted his arm over while not looking at the wheel. We ended up in the middle of the road. I pulled the steering wheel back over to the side of the road before the cars started coming. He did not pass that test and I was mortified. Lucky for him, he came back a month later, and did the back up perfectly. Thank god. Reddit user: [Redacted]
Lefts And Rights
I administered tests a very long time ago, so the rules were much more loose than they are these days. I had one girl whose actual driving skills were very solid. Her issue was directions. We went through the whole test, and I didn’t say a word so as to let her focus. When we finally finished, she drove back to the center.
When we got there, I told her, “Well you did everything perfectly, but every time I told you to go right, you went left, and when I told you to go left, you went right.” I passed her anyway, as I assumed she wouldn’t really need to know the names of the directions in order to go the way she wanted to go. Reddit user: CumulativeHazard
Headlights
I had one woman who didn’t even make it out of the parking lot. In fact, she didn’t even get to start driving at all. In the beginning of the test, I stand outside of the car and have the tester locate certain controls, and turn them on and off. This is to show that they know where they are, and if you fail this part, you fail the whole test.
I asked the woman to turn on the headlights. Her immediate response was, “Aren’t they automatic?” They were most definitely not. I suddenly had the realization that if this girl had practiced her driving at all during the dark, she was probably driving with her headlights off. Bless her heart. Reddit user: Powdrtostman
Self-Steering Car
One person who was taking the test with me just drove straight into a ditch on the side of the road shortly after the test started. When I asked why she did that, she responded by saying that she thought the car would steer itself. I said, “What are you talking about? You have to steer the wheel to make it turn.”
She explained that she knew that, but she thought that once you were going straight, it would just keep going straight. I did not pass her that day. But a month later, she came back and tested with another person. She ended up getting her license, so watch out for that one. Reddit user: dhippojuggler
Jesus Take The Wheel
I had a girl get into a terrible wreck on the interstate during her driving test. It was one of the scariest days of my life. She had a semi truck merge into her lane, which was obviously not really her fault. But she then proceeded to shout “Jesus take the wheel!”, and just straight up let go of the steering wheel.
I quickly grabbed onto the steering wheel for dear life. I yanked the wheel to the side, and we ended up rolling the car into a field. Everyone was okay–thank god. Luckily, the police came to pick us up. I did not want to drive back to the DMV with that one. Oh, and yes, you guessed it. She most definitely failed that day. Reddit user: Dierad53
Turn The Car On
One day it was pouring down rain and this lady was taking her test. I was standing outside of the car, under the overhang, to check all of the lights and turn signals. After that, I got into the car and told her to back up out of the spot and then start driving. She was trying to shift into reverse, but the gear wasn’t budging.
The girl started freaking out, trying so hard to shift the gear, saying that it was working perfectly fine on her way to the DMV. I then proceeded to say, “Did you turn it on?” Turned out she only had it turned into accessory mode for the lights, and never turned the car on. She was super embarrassed, but she only missed two points, and got her license that day. Reddit user: RyanVeny
Accelerator
I was testing this one teenager. It was the beginning of the test, where I stood in front of the car and asked him to identify all of the different functions and such. One of the questions was, “Where is your accelerator?” He had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. He said, “My what?”, so I just said the same thing again.
Turned out, he had just never heard the gas pump referred to as the accelerator. When I told him what I was talking about, he looked pretty flabbergasted. But I thought it was an honest mistake, and not that big of a deal. We continued with the test and he wound up passing anyway. Reddit user: stlchick0430
Blinking Red Light
I was testing this one kid years ago. He was driving just fine, until he had to stop at a blinking red traffic light. The kid had clearly never read this part of manual or at least had forgotten what the heck to do at a blinking red traffic light. I get it, as they’re not that common, but he still should have known.
He just idled there. He stopped at the light for a solid 60 seconds with not a car in sight. Eventually, I just said, “Let’s go back.” He failed the test right there according to the rubric and he kind of knew he did something stupid. At least it was an easily fixable mistake for the next test. Reddit user: gulagjammin
Wrong Side Of The Road
One of the tests I sat in was with a young lady who was on her second or third try. We made it to the end of the parking lot, and we were ready to turn left. She took the turn way too sharp and early, and ended up driving on the wrong side of the road for about 40 meters.
Eventually, I got her back on the correct side of the road. By some stroke of luck, at the time, there was no oncoming traffic. I kinda freaked out and asked her what she was thinking when that happened. Turned out she was from Australia and still mixed up the sides of the road sometimes. Reddit user: zero_fox_actual
Cell Phone
I once had a tester that got a phone call during the driving test. I assumed she would just leave it to ring, as she should, but she immediately answered it. It was her mom, and she just started chatting with her, talking about how she’s doing great on the test so far. I don’t understand why her mom didn’t stop her.
Eventually, she hung up the phone, and I immediately told her to drive back to the DMV. She responded by asking if she passed. When I told her that it was illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving, she told me that she promised she wouldn’t do that when she “actually” drives. Are you kidding me? Reddit user: ElBrando18