Renewing my Drivers License in California

[Bob KellyIII]

I got a notice in the mail from the DMV that because of my age i needed to renew my liscnses to drive in the state of California... So I stopped by the DMV and picked up their newest Drivers hand book and motorcycle book
I read through it about 3 times cover to cover but it does not tell you what the laws are now it talks to you like a friend saying what you should do in certain siduations.... in other words impossable to figure out what the laws are now
....so I went and took the test and failed both the drivers test and the motorcycle test.... there were questions in there that I had no idea what the answer was... and I decided that the only way you would pass that test was to memorize each book ! and the booklet has grown from a small booklet that stated the laws when I was a kid to a story book of well over 100 pages...for each of them....
so out of desperation I looked on line for a cheat sheet for the test and I found some imediately.... paid $9.00 each for the drivers test and I studied it....
then I went and took the drivers test again . I made the mistake and took it on the computer there and there was about 90 questions and all new and of course I failed to pass it again.... so the gal at the desk said well you have one more chance did you want to take it again ? I said yes and I want to take the written test... which I did.... and I passed it finally, barely.... but I passed
...I think she said you can miss 5 and still pass and I missed 4 and that was on the car test the motorcycle test I failed I missed one too many
so I went back on line and got the cheat sheet for the motorcycle portion of the test too....
.... Now I have to pay $41.00 again and then I can take my test again.($41.00 for 3 tries)
the problem as I see it is not the laws but the "instructions for keeping you safe" like how they say you are supposed to lean in a corner or cross railroad tracks and get rid of tailgaters..... so the tests have gone from knowing the laws only to How they think you should ride and of course I failed the test ... I have over 50 years of riding a motorcycle under my belt
and under all weather conditions ... I do not drive into large cities I avoid them like a pleg ! so I don't think I have ever seen a car pool lane in my life
or a light rail vehicle and their tracks....
the fact that they ask many questions in the motorcycle test about where the sand and gravel acumulate on a curve is good, but it is not a law ! and asking you when you should flash your brake light when stopping is also good but it is not a law.....
so it's not a question of knowing the laws anymore you have to pass the test
and it is test taking skills.... not just knowing the law.... they even asked when you should use the high beam on your headlight, which was when there was no one around ! ... and I have to wonder how many miles that person has put on a motorcycle at night ! and on what bike !
....
I found the cheat sheets out of date but they have given me an area of which to study instead of trying to memorize the entire book which is what you need to do. many new laws that half of which I didn't know existed have been in effect for years.... ear buds I new were banned but I had no idea a 17 year old could not use a hands free phone in the car.( or any electronic device) or smoking in a car with kids in it was totally illegal ! and I did hear something about child restraint law changes but nothing specific... sense I don't have a child of young age any more, I don't care !
.....
so I passed the car part but I still need to go back and take the motorcycle endorsement test and pay another $41.00 for the "privilege"
..... and folks I don't care what they call it it is not a privilege it is a God given RIGHT to drive in this state..... you can drive you cannot survive how do you get food if you can't drive.... but if it's a Right they can't take it away from you..... so it's a Privilege !
....
if by chance you are thinking of taking your drivers test all I can tell you is MEMORIZE the drivers hand book cover to cover...and the Motorcycle hand book too....because it's not about the laws... it's how they want you to drive
and if you don't answer the questions right you won't be allowed to drive

you may never encounter a Light rail vehicle in your life.... but you'll find trick questions about them.... like how to pass one when there is no room
that is kind'a hard to figure out on paper but in reality it's real easy....
so sharpen up your test taking skills because these tests are extremally hard
.....
when I first took my drivers test at 16 or 17 years old I passed the test with ease the first time..... well they FIXED that !

hopefully next week I will take the motorcycle test again and pass it and be done with this B.S. !!!!!
.... .08 percent (BAC) that is less than 1 tenth of a percent of alcohol in your blood and you are guilty of DUI ....that is ONE drink people ! you can't feel .08%
and to loose your license's due to DUI is very very expensive, not just the fines but the mandatory IID you have to have installed on your car before you can drive again ! ...... man you are better off walking home !
....
You youngins know all this already but anyone over 50 may not...I'm 70 and you have to renew your license's before your birthday at 71....so start studying now ! LOL
....
Bob.....

[Triple Jim]

I had a really good class when I was at the University of MD. I don't remember the official name of the course, but it was something like "How to Study". It was really a course in how to get good grades. The main trick is to figure out what the rules are, and then follow them. From what you're saying, it sounds like the rules for you are that you have to know the material in the handbooks and be able to spit it out for the test. Not how to drive safely or any other noble cause.

Forget all your years of driving and riding experience and just memorize the crap in the books and be able to regurgitate it! If you have, or can get, sample tests to practice with, just go over those until you can spit out the "correct" answers.

When I was studying to take the North Carolina driving tests when we moved here from Maryland, the state had online practice tests. You could take as many of those as you wanted, and when you felt you were ready, you drove to the DMV and took the real things.

Edit: I remembered the course was EDCP 108B. I just Googled that and the course is still being taught, and is called "College and Career Advancement: Concepts and Skills; Learning Strategies". Funny it hasn't changed in over 40 years.

[Bob KellyIII]

Yah Jim ! that's it exactly it's more test taking skills than anything anymore !
and what their observations of the real world are on a motorcycle are not what I see at all... in one question I noted that they recommended that you stay locked to the bike in a corner....i.e. lean with the bike keeping in line with the bike.... however they do not keep that idea throughout it at all because in crash avoidance you are supposed to make the bike lean or swerve while you keep your body straight..... so which is it ? it's like you have no idea what is RIGHT after reading the book.... I know the CHP ride by making the bike lean and they keep their body straight this is great for maneuvering and is probably the best way by far.... but when riding down the road your not maneuvering... but when that rabbit runs across the road in front of you at 50 mph you maneuver the bike like the highway patrol do ...but do you do that in a corner? lean the bike and keep your body straight ? NO you lean with the bike.... but they do not make any effort to tell you why or how to do that... it's like ride it you'll figure it out.
and the biggest cause of motorcycle crashes is going wide in a curve why ? because they are locked into the stiff un moving position of leaning with the bike... when all they have to do is lean the bike more...it's an easy cure but it is not being taught anywhere and the test says how to do it wrong.
you will not go off the high side of a turn if you ride like the CHP....
you may well drag parts of the bike when the bike is leaned so far but that is another story....and then there is the racing method of leading the lean in with your body this is also not part of the study information with the DMV
they never even mention it... but it has it's place. the way the DMV wants you to ride is Locked to the bike at all times.... unless you swerve to miss an object then you can just make the bike lean but ONLY then !
I suppose it's not a WRONG concept by any means but it misses alot of other riding ideas that may be better for certain riders
....for most of my life I have ridden on the street in the fashions of being locked to the bike and make the bike and me lean at the same rate....
however when you ride on the dirt you do NOT do that....you make the bike lean and keep your self in balance at all times. but sense they do not take riding on dirt roads into consideration in the test they kind'a miss that part of it....
anyway.... Yes it is test taking and study skills that come into play on the DMV test now.... more than anything else ..it's not the laws only like it used to be...if you knew the laws you would pass the test, not so anymore they want the right answer for a certain question in a certain way..... and they mix them all up and confuse the issue as much as they can
for instance they asked the question what is the 3 second rule for motorcycles..... well it happens to be their Recommendation that you increase the following distance at night to 3 seconds when following a car..... that is not a law, you can't be cited for it but they have it in the test and that can keep you from getting the license's ! ....that question should not even be on the test... along with about 50% of them.

oh well, the state does what the state wants the people do not get a say anymore....
...
Bob........

[DannoXYZ]

Just memorise booklet and regurgitate as necessary.

If you want bottom line laws, see here:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/f...cle+Code+-+VEH

Gotten out of lots of tickets knowing cops didn't know what they were talking about.

[Bob KellyIII]

well, I got the drivers liscnses, but still need to go back for the motorcycle knowledge test... as I failed that one 3 times...( didn't bother studying for it)
it seems the test has changed dramatically sense I was a kid.... and I suppose that is a good thing. but the way they said to cross railroad tracks back when I was a kid is different than it is today.... today they say drive straight accross them... when I was a kid it was zig zag so you aproach the tracks as close to 90 degrees as possable.... if you put that answer down you miss that question.... and there are many more like that
like cornering and riding with a passenger ....more than enough to miss the entire test
...I've read the booklet from cover to cover again and think I got it... but we shall see
I think I will go down tomorrow and do the test again and try to get it over with !
.... the test now days has to do with their idea of how you should ride not so much about the laws...... i find that very strange but par for the course for California !
one thing in particular that I dissagree on is how to start your corner.... they say to start your corner from the center of your lane..... I disagree completely you start the corner from as close to the white line as you can get.... this gives you maximum visibility you are seen easier and gives you more road if something goes amiss they say the same for the center of the lane which is wrong.... but you can't dispute it... you just answer it the way they want you too .... seems trivial, but it is not to me, now we have at least one maybe 2 generations that have been told how to start a corner completely wrong..... however I know once you get your license no one ever looks at the drivers handbooks ever again... so that is their saving grace....
oh well.... it's california DMV after all a criminal orgination that extorts money from every driver in the state, when it is your RIGHT as a human being to drive if you so choose.... the DMV was started to curtail car thiefts.... look what it has evolved into now. it's a privilege not a right and that privilege can be taken away....
a good thing I suppose as i don't want to be taken out by a drunk driver so it's probably a good thing all in all..... leave it to the government to misconstrue something and call it correct.... just like our 2nd amendment rights . guarantied by the constitution but denied by Newsom and his pack of idiots.... this state is circling the drain rapidly !
Bob....

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by Bob KellyIII

... the test now days has to do with their idea of how you should ride not so much about the laws....

Maybe because they know you had to have already passed the car test that had all the law stuff on it.

[Bob KellyIII]

yah ! I kind'a get that impression from the Book which even states that this won't cover the laws so much as it will safety in riding....
.....
I finally passed the test though today.... so I am happy about that !
just gott'a wait for my DL to come in the mail now LOL
.....
one question that I missed still pisses me off though.... the question was about
something obvious and I remember reading about it in the book and in the 3 possable answers each one was right.... they were ALL correct, so then I had the delima of choosing the one that was the most correct..... that is not the way to make a test question !!!!! but there was 3 questions like that that I counted in the test ! all the answers were right just one was more right than the others..... I didn't have many tests like that in High School, or in college
to answer that type of question you have to get into the mind of the writer....
and understand where he is coming from and what idea he is trying to portray.... and I don't do that unless I am really interested in what I am reading about..... I guess I ain't interested in his ideas of what is safe and what is not..... so that is probably why I missed those questions LOL
.....
but at least I won't have to mess with that for 5 more years by then I am sure they will change it all again so I will have to study even harder... LOL
of course I could Die before then... and never have to mess with it again !
....
Bob........

[CaliGrrl]

Back when I got my first license, my dad made a distinction between teaching me how to pass the test, then how to drive to stay alive.

Glad you passed, Bob!