Look who’s on the road now!

And he got a 97 on the road test, too!

Well, Tadpole is no longer dependent on other people to give him rides around town. He took his road test this afternoon, and he passed it with flying colors – he scored a 97 out of 100 possible points, and the examiner who gave him the test was really impressed with how mature his driving habits were, and how well he responded to such things as unpredictable pedestrians.

So now he has his provisional license, which means he can drive without a supervising adult in the car. There are a few restrictions, such as not being allowed to have more than one unrelated teenager in the car with him, and not being allowed to drive between midnight and 5 a.m. except under special circumstances. If he goes six months without an accident or ticket, he graduates to the next level of license, with fewer restrictions.

He’s also working on a program of training and testing offered by our car insurance company; when he passes that, our insurance rate will only be half again what it was before he got his license, rather than double.

Meanwhile, we now have three drivers but only two cars, so Tadpole is looking for a set of wheels. A friend has offered to sell him a 1975 Datsun (a classic, I’m told) for a mere $85 – it will go for about 5 miles before overheating and needing to be turned off for 6 hours to cool down. So it would get him to school in the morning and home in the afternoon, but it wouldn’t be good for much else.

In a couple of days, if I have time, I will revive the poll about what car Tadpole should get … meanwhile, all of my faithful (and even not-so-faithful) readers are invited to offer suggestions, and if any of you actually have a car you’d like to sell, tell about it, and why it would be the ideal car for a teenager who participates in Boy Scout activities, often has to haul a very big string bass around, and might sometimes tow a boat here and there – but who’s going to have to buy his own gas, so he’s interested in fuel economy as well. Even if you don’t have a car to sell, tell what you think would be the ideal car for Tadpole; the best suggestions will be featured in the poll.