The Slice: Road test memories

Readers told about their driver’s license road tests.

“No, I did not pass the road test portion of my driving exam the first time,” wrote Nadine Joubert. “Nor the second, nor the third. Years later I tried again when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I told the examiner there was a good possibility when I went into labor I might have to drive myself to the hospital, depending on my husband’s work schedule. Not true, but I passed.”

Davenport’s Mike Nelson passed the first time. “And in 16 hours I had my first wreck. I would have thought they had ‘Stop for red lights’ on that test, but I must have missed it.”

No one was hurt.

Ken Gonser shared this. “It was on my birthday in January 1952 when I went to get my unrestricted driver’s license at the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office. I had a license since I was 14 (daylight only) and at 16 I could get a regular license. It was a cold snowy day and we got in my 1939 Plymouth coupe and started up Government Way.

“After three blocks my tester padded his shirt pocket and said he forgot his cigarettes. He told me to make a U-turn and go back to the office. My test was complete and I passed. Times have sure changed.”

The weather could not have been more different when Teri Karnitz took her exam. “I did pass my first road test on a VERY hot day in midsummer, 1973, at age 16. The test was done in my brother’s ’67 Chevy station wagon that had no air conditioning. It was so hot that the instructor wanted to get the test done in the shortest amount of time possible. It took all of 10 minutes, and he didn’t even make me parallel park.”

Dave DeRoshia took his test “eons ago” during what today they would call a snow event.

“No problem until the brusque, clipboard-holding, uniformed examiner said ‘Park on this hill.’ I pulled in, wheels to the curb, parking brake engaged, and immediately slid down the icy slope. Two slides later I was told I failed the test – no exemption for weather. Several days later I passed, using dry pavement to park on that steep hill.”

Today’s Slice question: How often can things be explained by saying “This is the West”?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. They usually get between 400 and 500 trick-or-treaters at Chris “Queen of Halloween” Sheppard’s ultra-decorated home in Spokane Valley.