What did you have to do to get your licence?

[EL2794]

Hey all,

Just for an interesting read I thought I would ask you forum members what you had to do to gain your licence (The ability to drive by yourself). So that could be your P-plates in latter years, or a Police drive if are a bit older. I know it varies from state to state and woudl've been different 15 years ago, which is why I think it'd be an interesting read.

For myself I'm in SA, I gained my P1 licence (P-plates required) in 2010, and advanced to my P2 licence (no P-plates needed to be shown) in 2011, 12 months later. I now have to wait until I'm 19 to move to the Full Licence.

Cheers.

[flappist]

Drove the local Sgt down to the river to check his crab pot, reversed back up the hill and drove back to the cop shop.

Motorcycle was ride around the block and then check for blood.

He had been chasing us for years through the bush, he knew who could drive

[Simple6]

I had my L's for less than 12mths, only accrued just over 50hrs & and took a 15min drive around the suburb for my P's. That was NSW.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Simple6

I had my L's for less than 12mths, only accrued just over 50hrs & and took a 15min drive around the suburb for my P's. That was NSW.

Pretty much the same here as well.

[EL2794]

Originally Posted by Simple6

I had my L's for less than 12mths, only accrued just over 50hrs & and took a 15min drive around the suburb for my P's. That was NSW.

Sounds just like me, 6months on my L's, 50hours, 10 at night, then a 30 min drive with a different instructor.

Originally Posted by flappist

Drove the local Sgt down to the river to check his crab pot, reversed back up the hill and drove back to the cop shop.

Motorcycle was ride around the block and then check for blood.

He had been chasing us for years through the bush, he knew who could drive

Hahah thats pretty cool. In SA atleast, I reckon some new drivers have never driven before they go their licences they are that clueless...

[My poor XF]

Had my l's for a couple of years (no rush to get p's) had 2 lessons and a final drive to get my P's and then turned 19 to get full license.

Spent more time on my L plates driving everywhere than i did on my P's.

Adelaide (Well Barossa) in the early 2000's.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by flappist

Drove the local Sgt down to the river to check his crab pot, reversed back up the hill and drove back to the cop shop.

Motorcycle was ride around the block and then check for blood.

He had been chasing us for years through the bush, he knew who could drive

Know what you mean.
Drove around the block did a hill start using hand brake and presto ... here's you licence.

Bit different for my semi-trailer licence. Gave the desk sargeant $20 ... here's your licence. (NO ... I ain't tellin where).

[Cam]

Went for my licence in a small town, drove a very well known car on my L's for about 4 months (just up and back to the shops, all of 500m). Went to cop shop, he asked why i was there, i told him, he laughed and said "did you just drive here illegally to get your licence?" i nervously laughed, he said "here turn that on" and pointed to the machine that takes the licence photos..

Mind you, that town had hardly any signs, no road markings, nowhere to reverse park, no round abouts and no traffic lights...

Then lost my license 2 weeks later overtaking a road train..

[vanman_75]

Did two tests with the local sarge refusing to give me a licence ( same as flappistbut mine held a grudge , mainly cause he could never catch me ) boss called the station and told them to give it to me ...I didn't have to move they just filled it out with ticks in the carpark lol

[Feathers]

Getting my car licence was pretty standard for 2000. Few lessons with an instructor, a few laps of the local industrial estate on weekends with Dad.

Got failed on my first attempt at Five Dock RTA because I didn't use the handbrake in my 3 point turn. (You back towards a storm water canal, and my assessor suddenly reefed on the handbrake, scaring the hell out of me, so I stalled the car). Such a stupid reason to fail me.

For my bus licence, I did the "competency based assessment", where you go out with a certified instructor, and they can help you out, as well as sign off on getting the licence.

I'd had a total of 3 hours instruction with my Dad when I went with the assessor. It was a 9 hour test, around a prescribed area.
Didn't do a hill start, no 'bus stop' test, no long reverse.

Got signed off on Saturday arvo, Upgraded my licence on Monday, and had a full deck of obnoxious school kids on Tuesday morning.

The teacher on board was quite impressed that a young girl was driving a bus, until she asked how long I'd been doing it. "About 25 minutes" wasn't the answer she expected.

[FPV-HSV]

I get my ls in 4 months i am going there on my birthday when the doors open so whats the hours i would have to drive for my ls i heard its 12 months... can i do a few tests with a instructor and pass and get my ls i will pass strait away i all ready can drive v8 au fairlane ghia ftw but in industrial area with dad.

[nstg8a]

walked into qld transport, filled out the forms, paid the money, walked out with my open license.

no test, no nothing.

[Fireblade]

2x4hr lessons on how to ride a motorcycle and be damned they gave me my license lol

[hawker]

I got both my motorbike and car licence in Darwin. I got my motorbike L before my car.

I had to do a 2 day course, which was basically riding dirt bikes around a small track. After that, a mini test and bing bang, here are your L's. After that I did a test, where I rode around Darwin city for about half an hour and done.

For car, did a weekend course at school, did the written test. As part of this you get 8 free lessons, paid for by the NT Government. Used my 8 hours, did a few more here or there, then just went for the test. Again drove around Casuarina for about twenty minutes and done. 100%.

Since I had my motorbike P's for about 6 months before getting my car P's I was only on my car P's for 6 months. Seems this has changed now, but that's what MVA (Darwin version of RTA) told me at the time.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Years of driving with dad on country roads up north without a license, industrial estates, screaming matches with mum for not changing gear 2000rpm below where any normal person would and a sole professional driving lesson later I passed on my first go in 2007.

6 months on my L's and I was in there as soon as I could!

VK commodore with the ol' black 202 carby was the fastest thing in the world back then! To me at least...

[XR Martin]

[Werd.]

Originally Posted by 351v8fords

I get my ls in 4 months i am going there on my birthday when the doors open so whats the hours i would have to drive for my ls i heard its 12 months... can i do a few tests with a instructor and pass and get my ls i will pass strait away i all ready can drive v8 au fairlane ghia ftw but in industrial area with dad.

120 hours on Ls, license must be held for a year. And no you can't drive, an industrial area is different to the real world, but good luck with your test, it's done on a computer, 40 questions.
^ NSW.

[graham7773]

Never held a car licence. Closest I came was a NSW learners in 1958. Got my HR truck licence at Ipswich QLD after a half hour test where the Seargent threw the book at me (questions about road rules) while putting me through the wringer with various driving skill tests like reversing in to a space with 6 inches (150mm) clearance each side of an 8 foot wide(2.4m) truck using only my mirrors, which did not fit in. Only the tray would fit. No looking out the window to see where I was going. And anyone who lives in or near Ipswich would probably know the hill test hill. Possibly the only 30 degree incline hill in Queensland. 1st gear all the way down. Have had that licence for 40 years

[Trevor 57]

My father was the local policeman in a small country town, he organised his co-worker to take me for my licence (P's, yes back in 1975 they were around then, we were the first)

He did it on a Sunday, the day before I was legally alowed to as it would mean I didn't miss a day's work and they posted dated everything. But I couldn't drive to the next day, my old man made sure of that.

I did 4 rights turns, with a detour into a wrecking yard to look closely at a car that 3 people had died in during the week, fresh blood and all the smells that go with it, all these years later and I still remember it.

When I returned to the police station my dad had all the receipts written out. Was never told I passed, just got handed the receipt, which acted like a licence until your real (paper) licence got sent to you in the mail.

A couple of years later I did my semi licence with im, basically the same but I had to reverse it a short distance, my paper licence was sent away for an 'endorsement' to be added to my licence, which consisted of a rubber-ink stamp mark.

[Legit290]

one time at band camp.....

[Ibo]

be 16th birthday, get L's.

Have my L's for 12 months, 100 hours.

Take driving test, was about 25 mins. Get P1

Have P1 for 12 months, take online hazzard perception test. Get P2

need to hold p2 for 2 years then you automatically roll over to open licence.


QLD, from 2008-current.

[Jack960]

120 hours of logged driving and then the 30 min test in which I had to 3 point turn and parallel park. Now I'm in p's for 4 years. F U Victoria

[EgoFalcon]

L's - 120 Hours (General Knowledge Multiple Choice Test)
Red P's - 1 Year (with a driving test)
Green P's - 2 Years (Hazard Perception Test)
Full License - Mixture of general knowledge & Hazard Perception test (most complex test of all)

NSW

In the end, it was well worth it!

XR6 Turbo baby!

[2011G6E]

It was thirty years ago...1982.

I had to wait until my 17th birthday...guys back then used to either take sickies or leave work early to get to the police station as quickly as humanly possible to apply for their learners. It was agony if you had to wait until the next day...or, worse, if your birthday fell on a weekend and you had to wait until monday!!!

I was working on a farm at the time (it was normal for schools to just about empty at the end of year 10 & everyone go off to work...only those who were planning on university stayed until year 12 back then), and on my seventeenth birthday was driving a tractor along the side of a country road taking a bin of old tomatoes to the cattle paddock down the road, thinking of how fast dad could drive me into town after I finished work at a planned 4pm so I could get my licence. I heard a "whoop" of a siren beside me, and looked down to see an XE Falcon cop car with two coppers in it. I stopped the tractor and turned it off, and the copper leaned out the window and asked "Is that thing registered?", and my heart sunk. I said "No"...it had no working lights, unregistered, and the tyres were just about bald with no rubber cleats left. He asked "Do you have a licence for it?", and again I said "No" with a sick feeling in my guts. The copper said "How old are you?", and my heart sank again as I said "It's my 17th birthday today, sir". He leaned back in the car and talked to the other copper, visions of getting my licence winging away on the breeze. He leaned out again, said "Try to keep that thing off the road...and happy birthday", and they drove off.

Back then, you went into the cop shop, told him you wanted a learners (showing him your birth certificate to prove your age), and he would stick a card in an old typewriter and tap away with two fingers as you told him your name and adress. Then he would ask what class you wanted, and usually would just then add "I'll just tick off everything...make up your mind later". I think I paid $5 for it, and off I went. The most advice they would give you was "It might be an idea to have a couple of driving lessons with a school"...the whisper was that if you hadn't had at least a couple of lessons, you failed on the first licence test drive no matter what.

Six weeks later (usually the nanosecond the six weeks was up had you eagerly booking a test), you turned up again (I got two lessons with a driving school which was very good as mum and dad didn't reverse park at all), and went for a drive with the testing officer at the police station. I remember doing a reverse park, a hill start, and just driving around the streets a bit. Back to the station, another two-finger-typing session, and there's your licence sonny.
I think it was 12 months before it became an "Open" licence but that was only really important as it meant you could also ride a motor scooter of up to 50cc on your car licence...it made no difference to the car you drove. There was no second driving test to move to "open", and I believe it was really in name only that your first licence was "provisional".
I also seem to recall only having three points for the first year, and nine once you moved to open status. Apart from that, there were no restrictions on cars...bikes of course had the "250cc or under for the first twelve months" thing, which is why I started out on a little 125 Kawasaki before moving up to my 750 triple after a year.

Lots of memories...

[jcxr]

1966, in a mini 850. I had been an apprentice mechanic for 2 years, working on BMC cars, inc minis, MGA's and B's, wolsleys and austins. My job incuded road testing cars even before I had a licence. Asked one of our customers, who ran a driving school if he would arrange the testing etc. Rocked up at Essendon police station and did the test, cop asked how long i had been driving and I said only for a few lessons, to which he replied, " B/S", you drive better than your instructor. Went back to the station, and got handed the reciept, and the cop said, well done birthday-boy.

[FPV-HSV]

I may aswell get a V8 cause i might make the most of the 12 months Au is for sale..

[2011G6E]

The further you go back, the easier it was...

My late father turned up to get his licence on his 21st birthday back in 1936. He'd of course been driving on the cane farm outside Childers since he could reach the pedals. He drove into town, dropping his father off at a hardware store, and went to the police station to see about getting his licence. The copper took the details, and said "I suppose we'd better go for a drive then". They went outside and the cop looked around, seeing only my fathers 1926 Chev 4 tourer and no one in sight, and said "Who drove you here?", and my old man said sheepishly "Erm...dad did." The cop said "Hang on, I know you...I've seen you driving into town to get stuff for that farm on the hill...you cheeky little bugger...I suppose we should just go and write you out a licence then...come on inside."

[BPXR6T]

Originally Posted by flappist

Drove the local Sgt down to the river to check his crab pot, reversed back up the hill and drove back to the cop shop.

Motorcycle was ride around the block and then check for blood.

He had been chasing us for years through the bush, he knew who could drive

Real name Bo Duke?

[Powdered Toast Man]

Had my Ls for about a year, did heaps of driving lessons (best mates old man was a driving instructor).

Did the test and got my Ps first shot. Back then had to have your Ps for 3 years which I did and then got my full licence.

[TheSneakiness]

Pass the learners test

Did 6 lessons in an approved instructors car

Pass practical test (which included a reverse park in a cul-de-sac)

QLD circa 2002.