One week before Christmas I got an email saying that my trainer suddenly has 3 open days I can drive. As it turns out she chose not to take a week of her vacation. Since I don't check my personal email until after work, Monday was already over. I only had 2 days left to try this again. I got on the phone with the DMV the first thing Tuesday morning to schedule my 3rd road test. They had no openings Tuesday, so I asked about Wednesday. They only had one morning and one afternoon appointment left open. Knowing it was supposed to rain over night and well into the morning I took the 1:45 pm appointment. I called my trainer to let her know what time to get me to the DMV and everything was set. But things would not go as planned.
I awoke Wednesday morning to some torrential rain and a boat load of fog. My bus driver commented that it looked really spooky out that morning. She was right, we passed a two story home decorated for Christmas with candles in the windows. It did look creepy against the dark rain filled morning sky soaked with thick rolling fog. I was not happy. This was my second to last day of work before Christmas vacation. I had my plate extremely FULL of things to do that day at work and at home. I tried to not think much about my test, but I did find myself looking at the radar on my breaks. I saw a break in the rain on radar at about 11am. I was by no means excited because I had no clue how long this window of no rain would actually last. By the time 1:00 came I walked outside and the concrete showed the rain was drying up and the clouds had gotten much lighter. I was running late, so we drove straight to the DMV with no practice. I was still shaken from my work day and making stupid mistakes, like turning the car off without putting the car in park and hitting the wrong blinker by accident. There were just the kind of little things that may cause me to fail yet again. This kinda of behavior before my test made me doubt myself more.
Once we stepped out of the car at the DMV the clouds all broke, the sun came out and cool clean air swept across the sky like a late October day in the South. I was elated that now they could not cancel my road test due to rain. Now I just wondered how the sun would effect my test drive. The DMV was full of people and teens out of school trying to get their license. A Department of Corrections officer greeted me, and when she did not know what a bioptic driver was, she called to her supervisor for help. I've never seen the DMV supervisor before. She was a lady between 40 to 50 with glasses and a can do attitude that could be addictive. She read all my documentation, and told me shed come over to do the interview too. They took yet another photo, asked me the health questions, did the eye test, and had me sign a statement. After that, it was time to hit the road once again. I hoped I did not get Mrs. Brown, unless she displayed a more friendly demeanor. Today since the teens were out of school, the line to get the road test was long. About 5 cars were ahead of me. So we waited as my trainer happily worked on her ipad. It was really cool to witness this one teen and his family interact at the very moment he got his license. He was with his older teen brother and his father. He hopped out of the car with the safety officer and high fived his brother as he joyfully claimed his success with a laughter, pride, and a smile that said it all. I watched as we got closer and closer to the front of the line trying to figure out who was going to test me. Finally I made it to the front of the line and officer Jones approached my vehicle.
He was the officer who gave me my first road test. Because he had shown interest in my bioptics, and actually talked to my trainer when I failed, I felt like this was a good thing. He is a no nonsense guy, but that's likely part of his job description. The other safety officer I tested with the second day was subtly brazen. So the differences were vast. My trainer seemed over anxious to exclaim to officer Jones how happy she was we got him again. I was over there sinking down in my seat thinking, please don't say anything to him that will accidentally jinx this for me. She had told me not to mention the second test, yet she didn't mind revisiting the first. He definitely remembered me, a good or bad thing, I don't know. Regardless, I was now officially nervous when he got in the car. We again tested signals, emergency break, and horn. After he put all the data in his electric pad he said to proceed when ready following all the normal rules of the road that I'd follow if I was alone. He asked if I had any questions. I asked him if I could creep up after I stop at a stop sign to safely see around corners before jumping out into the road. He then shocked me a little, because instead of answering me, he turned my one question around on me and said, "What does the State Drivers Handbook say about that?" My mind spun and I stumbled my way out of my own questions with an acceptable answer.
After that, I put the car in drive and we were off. He took me on the same exact route. I nailed the 3 point turn, I nailed backing up the car. I saw all the stop signs timely. The sun was shining and this was going fast. Now on to the road that connected to the stop light that caused me to fail last time. No 18 wheelers today. When I approached the light was red, so I had to stop. I fumbled for my turning signal and turned the wrong one on for a split second, but I very quickly corrected myself hoping he didn't notice. I told the officer what a long light this was hoping he'd forget if he did happen to see me fumble. Now I was worried about my slight signal fumble. Once the light lit up green I wasted no time turning and increased my speed as he reminded me to do on my first test. Now the trick was to not miss the turn that proved obscure during my first test. I practiced it, and made sure I had some landmarks in mind so I'd not miss it accidentally. I made sure to slow down for the turn, but not to a crawl. I made the turn a little fast, but certainly not dangerously fast like the first time. At least there was no question I saw it this time. Now for the final touches.
I crawled to a stop sign trying my best to make sure my vehicle's front end was not a hair past the front of the stop sign. There was no white line on the road so you must judge your stopping distance by insuring your front end does not stick out further than the pole of the stop sign. Next I turned my blinker on and then had to judge the traffic flow. We had traffic coming both ways. I waited very cautiously until it was clear and turned left. Almost home. Next stop was to turn right into this HUGE pothole filled with water. I mentioned to officer Jones how the drivers must have worn this turn out because I was having to ride a little off the road because the road was crumbled so bad. I wanted to ensure I didn't hit the vehicle turning out on the lane to the right of me. I crawled through the pothole and he told me to take my next right, which was the DMV parking lot. Now I just have to navigate the yellow lines and turn the sharp roundabout without hitting a cone. He then told me to bring the car to a stop and put the car in park. It was done. Now for the results.
I had no real expectations after failing it twice and me fumbling my blinker and turning a tad fast. Any little thing could be detrimental. He was silent for some painstaking seconds. He then said "well.....congratulations, you passed." I went into a silent disbelief/elation. I tried to play it cool, and just said "thank you". He went on to tell me I made a 96 score! I then immediately asked what lowered my score. He indicated he did not really see me completely yield at the yield sign located at the very beginning of the course. Next, he said that it may be due to my thick red filters, but he really did not notice a lot of eye movement from mirror to mirror. And finally the third thing was that when he asked me to come to a quick stop, he did not see me look in my rear view mirror to ensure no one was closely following me. Aside from that, he said I did exceptionally well. He told me to take the small score paper inside to the clerk and they would issue my license. As soon as he opened the car door my trainer who had been anxiously awaiting my return, asked officer Jones how I did. He told her I passed, she squealed with delight and laughter and he relayed how improved my driving was. I now felt like a million bucks. Onward to the clerks desk.
As I approached the desk I realized that just like that teen I saw, no one was going to be able to wipe this huge smile off my face either! I was beaming with excitement and shock that I finally reached my goal. The clerk asked what I was there for and I told her I had just passed my test. She was very nice and congratulated me and asked for the score paper. Without any prompting she glanced at my score and said, " you did very well, we don't see many scores this high here." Now she really had me smiling. I told her thanks and that I had waited around 33 years for this day to come. She said "well you did it." She had me fill out some paperwork and after a few computer entries asked me to check all the information on it very carefully and then sign it. I saw my name, address, date of birth,and license number etc. on it. This all seemed correct. With that I signed and then she printed me a paper license and told me the plastic license will arrive in the mail within about 2 weeks. She said the paper license is just as valid as the plastic one would be. That meant no delay on me testing my new driving legs! I was elated. I thanked her again and with a great caring smile she wished me well. As I started to walk out my trainer asked to see my license, I showed her. She told me that we have a problem. You've got to be kidding me I thought, what now?
She noticed that it did not say "bioptic driver" in a certain area of the back of my license. She indicated that the state Safety board in Montgomery forced people to pay for a new license when this data was missing to correct this critical error. My trainer said we should get back to the clerk's desk as quickly as possible to resolve this before someone else was waited on. I darted through that place like a mad man, and we both skid into her desk. My trainer did all the talking to explain what was required to be on my license to make the state safety department was happy. I apologized to the clerk for signing the form when it was incorrect, but told her I just had no way of knowing what the state needed on that card. She was really patient and said "you've waited this long, I'm sure we can straighten this out, it's not a problem." She had to redo my photo to redo the computer license. No way around that apparently. How many times do you get a do over drivers license photo opportunity? I did my best GQ and anxiously awaited the new printout to sign. She had to have someone else more familiar with bioptic drivers give her a helping hand in the computer to fill out the miscellaneous boxes to show I'm a bioptic driver. Once they worked together to straighten that out, I signed the newest license and she printed out the paper version yet again. After that, I thanked her again for working with me to resolve the unforeseen mistake. She said she was glad she could take care of it and wished me congratulations again. With that I was out of the DMV. And this time, walking out for the first time as a licensed bioptic driver!
I couldn't wait to tell my family. None of it was sinking in really. I was not overly ecstatic because I didn't even think I'd get to test this particular day. That made it all so much sweeter. The more I thought about it the happier I got. I drove all over town with my trainer that day taking in some last minute tips. We had fun and I enjoyed finally having a reason to celebrate. My journey to this moment started February 19th, 2009 and my goal was reached December 21st, 2011. Friends, that's 2 years 10 months and 2 days of blood, sweat and tears! Don't give up on your dreams. If you're a bioptic candidate reading this, don't freak out either, lol. The time from start to finish depends greatly on your eye condition, your prior experience with a car, and your personal support system during training. None of these 3 elements worked in my favor. My eye problem was complicated by not only problems seeing at a distance, but by extreme light sensitivity and my color blindness. I had no experience with a car, because neither of my parents could see well enough to drive. I had no real home training support system, because I lived away from family and my best friends understandably did not want to risk me wrecking their only means of transportation during practice. I'm sure they also did not care to have the insurance hiked up if I unexpectedly wrecked their car. To those few who did take this chance; I profoundly thank you for being brave enough to take a few risk for me!
I had days where I wondered if I should be doing this. I had days when I thought it would never end. But I learned to chant this in my head "just put one foot in front of the other." That's what I've been doing over the last 3 years. I'm so happy that my work finally paid off! Let me tell you, driving that car is still scary because of the unknown factor but the fun now greatly outweighs the anxiety factor. I have so much fun driving. It's just unexplainable to those who have never really had to experience a substantial period of time without the ability to drive. So what will I do now? Well I'm going car shopping of course! I'm sure you'll be involved in that and I welcome your opinions and financial support. lol Every little bit helps. Just kidding. But man, what a great Christmas! Thanks for following my journey. I'll write again as the car search takes shape at the beginning of next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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