Freedom of Driving
- navakallc
- Jan 26
- 3 min read
Learning to drive is a rite of passage for people my age, especially in the United States. Driving is a completely different experience here, the process being unique to the system. You can start driving at the age of 15, which completely blows my mind. It gives you freedom, exhilaration, and most of all, it’s fun!
It first starts by you turning 15 and getting your permit. A permit is when you can start driving with an adult with a license always in the car with you. That’s how you can first start practicing driving before getting the license when you turn 16. There are mandatory classes that you have to go through as you are first learning to drive. There are centers by the police department around the state where you have theory and practical classes. The classes can be taken in person or online, where they teach you all the rules of the road and how to drive.
Some of those lessons also contain anecdotes and videos of car accidents due to drinking and driving or driving illegally. It’s to establish and imprint in our brain the risk of those actions and to prevent us from trying something similar when we start driving ourselves. It’s an interesting experience, taking notes in class about ways to drive and road signs. Luckily, I had a head start in knowing the information, as my parents and I would always discuss them in the car, them knowing how excited I was to get my license. I’m also a really observant person, and hence noticed the smallest ways in which my parents drove.
Along with the lessons, our course also included 5 drives, where they would go over all the basics from starting to drive on the road, all the way to the freeway. They strongly encouraged us to practice a lot between each of the drives so that we would have the most experience and be confident. There is a portal to schedule all those drives, where we can choose the timings and date based on the amount of available slots on the virtual calendar on the website. It’s an interesting experience to drive with an instructor sitting next to you, as we cruise through the streets of my city, stopping at traffic lights and learning to park. Grateful for the practice my mom and I had done before my first session, it went quite smoothly, and I was able to go on roads with speeds of 40 miles per hour.
The one I was most nervous for was definitely the freeway one. The freeway, or highway has speeds of about 60 or 70 miles per hour, and is even more chaotic with multiple cars on the road. Luckily, I was able to book a session at 10am on a weekend, when the traffic isn’t crazy and is a good time to learn to maintain a high speed for a long time. It was exhilarating, taking the turn onto the freeway, speeding up fast from a 40mph road to one that goes 60. I was cool and calm, eyes laser focused onto the cars in front. My instructor made me change lanes at that speed at least 5 times, and while the first two were very nerve racking, I got used to it. The moment we took an exit outside of the freeway and onto a road I was familiar with, I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god I had pulled this off unscathed.
It's a completely different experience to drive, one I cannot put into words, and one that makes me feel free. I’ve always loved car rides, ever since I was a little kid. My parents would take me out late at night, when the roads of Mumbai were surprisingly quiet and the city calm. Listening to music and staring at the picture perfect views floating by me outside the window I had my face pressed keenly against were my favorite memories. Even now, I look out smiling every time I’m in a car, and this time, I’m the one doing the driving.