Since You Are Here...

August 15, 2019

I finally found the courage to pen my driver's licence journey, I was skeptical about posting it, but anyway here it goes.

I finally have a driver's licence y'all! Congratulations to me, whoop whoop. I’m officially part of the club. A family of million drivers already behind the wheel. So long story short getting a driver’s license is one romanticized nightmare. After a long journey of procrastinating I finally decided to embark on the driver’s license road to stardom. I had never been behind the steering wheel, all I was accustomed to was the passenger’s seat (mother’s seat hahaha). So, this meant starting from ground 0 because I knew nothing (in John Snow’s voice) wink, wink!

Finding an instructor was easy, I had a few names on my list. Through a friend, I was connected to Mr ‘Pooh bear’. You think the name is weird, huh? Well, it wasn't his real name I coined the name. But can you blame me, he had a protruding belly and I couldn’t help myself likenin' him to a Pooh bear. Sounds like it was all fun? Noo, it wasn’t all glitz and glamour like people behind the wheel make it seem. It requires consistency, alertness, and patience. Just like any other environment, you deal with different characters and opinions so patience was a requirement rather than a choice.

I learned a lot, from the theories of motion, what makes the car move like it does and the best part that I was in control of every action of the car. Interesting right? It was a learning experience for me, especially from the wise words of Mr. Pooh bear. His favorite words were, “Your mood affects your driving, if you are moody stay off the road and if you are over-excited stay off the road.” When he first said them, I laughed saying what is this old man on about. But it its so true, I learned the hard way. Having to do two hour-long lessons every day, in the morning and after work, exhaustion and bad vibes would take a toll on my driving.

The D day was whole experience on its own. Rewind… The previous day Mr. Pooh Bear did a number on me, he scheduled another lesson despite the fact that I had one with him. This altercation had me handed over to another instructor with different teaching skills. It was horrible, had me thinking I should just quit. But by God’s grace or the universe acting in my favor I aced all the two parts of the VID test.

The sweat, tears (just a little bit) and mixed ball of experiences with Mr. Pooh Bear paid off!

Here is the sequence of how I did it:

Obtain a new traffic road manual book (each book has a serial number that is used as a unique identifier). Yeah, it needs your pocket's dedication too… But no worries, I only bought the book for 10RTGS dollars. That was then, I'm not sure how much it is now due to the price hikes.
Take a manual road theory exam in which you need to score above 22 of 25 questions correct. So wrong answers had to be only 3. Sounds impossible right? If not, you go back to the end of the line. Brutal but necessary I think!.
Document a minimum of 30 lessons “on the road” driving. This was documented by me and Mr. Pooh bear. The process was for me to get acquainted with driving and prepare for the road test which is done in two parts. The first routine of getting in drums, parallel parking, 3 point turn and hill-start. The second part of the test was town driving. A chance for balling behind the wheel.
Schedule an exam date assuming Mr. Pooh bear have cleared me ready for the driving test.
Take the practical driving test which is a guided exam of the practical portion of either the driving route or the obstacle course. The purpose of the pre-test is to demonstrate you have sufficient skills to be able to receive a formal exam date.
A big “If” you pass, go to VID office to collect your license is the quickest and easiest method. It took me all of 10 minutes. I was shocked there were that efficient if you know what I mean being a government office and all.
Done! My first license proof was a blue color paper which stands to certify me fit as a driver.