Today I try once more to get that fine card, that signifier of responsibility and adulthood, that ticket into the polluting class, the driver's license. The test takes place around 11:15, in a few scant hours. Beep your horn for me.

While asking other people about their driving test experiences, I did not run into a single licensed driver who passed his or her ride-along exam the first time through. Even my father failed his first time! Leonard speculated that the DMV does not allow first-timers to pass, but what purpose would that serve? Such a policy would only incur more expense for the DMV, with only a slight uptick in the quality of new drivers. I'd rather believe that DMV examiners make people nervous, that first-timers are already nervous, and that practice helps an examinee remember the obscure test items (e.g., hand signals). To me, that's a model with explanatory power. And it doesn't require supposing a conspiracy among thousands of constantly disgruntled government employees.