We had a friend that when he took his drivers test failed because he
ran a stop sign. Being good friends we never brought it up or mocked
him about that, except for constantly. He retook and passed but it
left a little bit of terror in my own mind about failing my test
after missing my test and then having to reschedule ad be mocked to
boot. When it was my turn to go driving the instructor told me that
he knew I was a really good driver already and that we would just go
for a ride up the canyon then to a little big city nearby and then
home and he would call it good. We drove up and then down a canyon
near the high school for the first two hours of the required four
hours and then headed up to the biggest city for miles. We drove
around town and then I had to park which went fine. I was twenty
minutes from finishing my test and going to get my driver's license
that very day so started to daydream about what I would do that night
to show off my new power and privilege. We were on a wooded side
street that had no traffic so I really let my mind wander and my
drivers ed teacher started saying 'stop sign' over and over which I
heard but didn't register. He said it maybe five times and then hit
his own back-up brakes to stop us in time. When I felt the front of the car sag downward with the force of the breaking I snapped out of my daze and woke up to a terrible realization - I had not run the stop
sign but would have it he had not saved me. I was terrified that
right then and there he was going to fail me and this would all have
been for naught. But all he said was, 'You have to pay more
attention, lets go home.' He was filling out paperwork on the drive
back home and when we got there he handed me the finished certificate
of completion. I never teased anyone about failing a test again
because but for the grace of coach-drivers-ed go there I.
