Taking Driving Lessons during the Covid Pandemic — My Experience
Hi guys, Howard here. As the story is published, it would’ve been slightly more than a year ago that I’ve started my journey of getting a driving license.
Driving has always been my lifelong goal. It has been in my bucket list since I was a kid. I used to ride my uncle’s car as a kid weekly to have breakfast and was intrigued by his driving. But the journey to getting my own license has not been an easy one. The more I heard stories of my friends driving their parent’s car before their legal age (albeit in a small compound), the more tempted I was to get my hands on the wheel.
Many people have their parents’ backing for funds to get their license, but I had to depend on my own financial means to get my own. Unlike many who jumped into the bandwagon when they reached 18 years old, I only started when I was a few months past my 20th birthday, and also with enough funds. Part of why I started later than many teens is due to my busy schedule studying in college and earning my own money, and I was also unfamiliar with how to get by enrolling myself for driving lessons.
Almost all the cars I see on the roads nowadays use some sort of automatic transmission. As Class 3 driving license (yes, the manual transmission one) has always been in my mind, I opted for that instead of the popular Class 3A driving license. The former allows for progression to Class 4 and 5 as most heavy vehicles still uses manual transmission, although most people would be contented with driving cars only.
I know I could choose between school and private, although many would say that private is cheaper. Eventually I still enrolled with Bukit Batok Driving Centre (not sponsored) for a Class 3 driving license as I don’t have much knowledge of private instructors, and also for a more comprehensive learning. I heard tales from several accounts that they can get their license within as short as 3 months, but I realised that it was only possible before Covid happened.
Because I only enrolled myself during the Covid pandemic, I had to adjust my expectations. A naive me would’ve thought that by enrolling myself after my second-year final exams by end-February, I should be able to complete the whole course by end of June and I could’ve drove to school to flex in front of my classmates.
But boy was I so wrong.
My heart shattered the first thing I saw the earliest available slots for practical lessons. The earliest ones only started in June when I thought I could start learning how to drive during the March vacation. But then again, I could just go through the theory lessons and practices with a breeze. I also must pass my basic theory first in order to get the learner’s license (provisional driving license) for my practical lessons. But it comes as a blessing in disguise as I could pass my basic theory in time for the practical lessons in June. I immediately went to study for final theory once I’ve passed my basic theory so that I can get the theory part done and dusted. As I was desperate to complete as many objectives as possible within the shortest time, I was even willing to spend more money on the peak period lessons.
During the practical lessons is when I could really get the feel of driving a car. But of course, there must always be an instructor supervising my driving as a learner. Instructors come in many types — got friendly ones, got neutral ones and got fierce ones. But their common goal is to ensure that the students learn the skill of safe driving well. But of course, I prefer the friendly ones, as it can boost my morale during the lessons and encourage me to learn better.
During my first practical lesson, I had trouble coordinating the clutch and gas pedals that I could feel my left leg trembling in fear. I even had the tendency to always look at the tachometer to see that the engine is running at 1500 rounds per minute before I could lift the clutch pedal up very slowly. In the next few lessons, I soon got used to the coordination of the pedals and even shifted up to the 4th gear while on the main roads. But it was mostly on following traffic rules already.
Then came the Risk Forecast Training and the Traffic Police Driving Simulator. I had to attend the former in order to progress to the final stages of my practical driving lessons but that wasn’t a huge issue. The bigger issue comes from the latter, where there are 3 compulsory modules to attend in order to sit for the traffic police driving test. Unlike say ComfortDelGro Driving Centre where students can book all 3 modules in one shot, BBDC only allows for one module to be booked at a time which really made the process much longer. Furthermore, the earliest slot to book for the TPDS is usually 1.5 months away. Anything earlier than that and I’m considered lucky. Anyone who enrolled after end-2019 must go through the TPDS to inculcate good driving habits. Likewise, anyone before that can be spared off and technically get their license within a shorter period.
It’s just nice that all the lessons I’ve booked for during the June vacation can cover the basic driving techniques on the road and the circuit so that I don’t need to worry about completing the final stages of practical. Oh ya, those getting a manual license also must sit for an extra practical lesson for automatic transmission. But since I’ve already completed the basic driving techniques earlier on, I can go through the lesson for automatic transmission car in one shot with a breeze.
Due to the availability of practical slots (or lack thereof), I could only come back to complete the final stages of driving lessons after 1–2 months of inactivity. My driving skills were rusty at first, but I quickly caught up in the next few lessons. From then onwards, it was really based on luck as there are very limited slots available if I wanted to grab the earlier days to attend driving lessons. I would constantly log in to my account to check for available slots that were previously cancelled by other students at the last minute so that I can complete the final stages earlier. I also had to see if the available slot doesn’t clash with my lessons so that I can grab that slot before anyone else does.
After completing my third and final traffic police driving simulator lesson, I would come back for another 3 revision sessions to prepare myself for my first driving test. Due to my internship, I could only book for the night slots to revise my driving skills. Learning the driving techniques in the darkness at night really hits differently. I had to be more aware of my surroundings than in the day. But a huge mistake was that all my revision sessions prior to my first driving test were all at night. And furthermore. one of them was on the day before the actual test.
I was so confident in passing my first driving test that I wore what I thought would be my lucky clothes to the test, but boy was I so wrong.
First of all, I was assigned to a tester who’s as big as a sumo wrestler. His physical appearance really distracted me and crushed my confidence in no time that I couldn’t concentrate on the road well. Circuit driving was fine, didn’t hit any kerbs or whatsoever and I could progress on to the main roads. That was until he asked me to do a u-turn on a road filled with weekend traffic when I was on the leftmost lane. The other vehicles seemed to refuse to give way to me to enter their lane. Since I thought I had to follow the tester’s instructions, I forced my way through the busy traffic, but the tester put his hand on my steering wheel.
That was when I knew I fucked up.
I still did that fateful u-turn but was instructed to return to the driving school immediately. Without him saying anything else, I knew that I’ve failed my first driving test. On the way back, he told me that I could’ve taken an alternate route if I couldn’t do what was instructed.
Haiyaaa, why never say earlier? I thought one of the driving instructors said that I must do the instruction, if not the tester would give me an immediate failure. Then I didn’t know what has gotten into me, but I forgot to shift the gear back from 2nd to 1st that I moved off in the second gear which almost stalled the car. As I followed the tester back to the driving school, I still had to wait in the waiting room for my results to be printed. I knew I failed due to an immediate failure, but I didn’t expect to get so many demerit points. He still explained to me, one by one, about the mistakes I’ve made during the test, nonetheless.
My confidence went from a high to a low after my first driving test. I was so depressed that I even thought of giving up the idea of driving for cycling but was dissuaded by my parents since I’ve came so far with my driving lessons. But nonetheless, I still have to attend a few more revision sessions to prepare myself for the retest. Oh, the retest is slightly more expensive than the first test but I still booked for one anyway. Luckily, there were two public holidays in lieu so that I can do my final revision and the retest in the respective mornings.
For the retest, I went in with a laid-back set of clothing and attitude. I don’t expect myself to pass this one either, especially that my confidence level has dropped since I failed my first test. Luckily, I got a slimmer tester compared to my first one, albeit more stern. I remained calm and composed and tried not to worry as much as I could. I successfully cleared the circuit round once again and was given another route out from the driving school. Luckily the traffic was much clearer especially that it was a weekday morning.
When the tester told me to drive back to the driving school, I thought I might’ve reached 20 demerit points or above and failed once again as the duration outside felt too short. I came in without any expectations and waited as my tester printed out my results.
To my surprise, I finally passed this time round!
I couldn’t contain my excitement for any longer, but the tester still went through the mistakes I made. From 36 demerit points with an immediate failure on the first test to 12 demerit points on the retest, it’s really a huge improvement to me.
After getting my results, I was off-boarded by a driving school staff with what I should do after passing the driving test and was refunded the remaining amount from my account.
The first thing when I left the driving school, I went around a few petrol stations to search for a set of probation plates for myself. Later in the day, I applied for a qualified driving license through the police website. Then I looked at my account for one last time to see my training history. The next day, it vanished into thin air.
Heck, I can’t believe that all these were done within less than a year that I didn’t even need to renew my membership with the driving school at all. I was told that my license card would take about a week or two to mail out to me, but it was eventually delivered within less than a week which was pretty fast.
At the beginning, I was pretty low profile with my commitment towards driving lessons. Only some of my close friends knew I was pursuing a driving license before I embarked on my practical lessons, where I’d start to share a bit more on my social media.
It was a long, challenging, and expensive journey to make my lifelong goal come true. It was certainly worth every effort and penny especially with the covid situation that slows down the process. My younger self would certainly be proud of how far I’ve gotten to reach this goal. I might even consider taking up Class 4 or 5 license should there be sufficient time before my enlistment. Howard out!
Class 3 learning journey: 26 February 2021–3 January 2022
