[olecapt]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

that break in the white line signaled the end of the parking lane and the beginning of the turn lane.

It may also depend on the local signage. If the overhead signs show two left two through and one right...then that lane is clearly a turn lane.

[NewVegasGuy]

There's absolutely no signage telling you what to do. It's a solid white line for the parking lane, a break in the white line lined up directly with the entrance/exit to the 7-11 parking lot, and then another solid white line for the next ~15/20 feet to the corner. There are no signs saying that the parking lane becomes a turn lane, no painted arrows on the pavement showing which lane to turn right from, and no signs saying no parking in the section past the break in the solid white line. And that's just what it is - a break in a solid white line. After the break, it becomes another solid line, not a broken white line like every other turn lane in the world. I just feel like the tester that day was having a bad day and was looking for a reason to fail me.

[joesmiley]

I've got my test coming up this week at Henderson. Hopefully I get a nice tester... if anyone else knows of any other auto fails or anything else I should know I'd be grateful for the tips.

[budswain]

I got my license when I was 16 and through most of my 20's was a driver in most of my jobs. I'm 37 now and have driven many more total miles than most people my age and have never been in an accident of any kind but my CA license expired at the end of last year and by the time I even realized it I was about to move to Vegas so I figured I'd save myself the trouble of going to both state's DMVs and just wait until I moved.

Real bad decision.

Because of the time that passed I was told I needed to take the tests again and the first appointment for the road test was in 6 weeks. I received my "Instruction Permit" and then tested at the Flamingo DMV.
I failed. The instructor said I was all good(minus some bad habits) except when I turned off Flamingo onto what was a residential street I was going 35 which was true but I didn't recognize it as one because it had no driveways. It was one though and 10+ miles over the speed limit is an automatic failure.

I have an appointment for Dec 5 at the same location but I went standby yesterday at the Sahara location with full confidence I'd have no trouble passing.

My car(1998 Bmw) hasn't been used very much in the past 6 months and its a convertible which can leave a lot of dust in it. The female instructor sat down in the passenger seat and took out a napkin which she then used to close the passenger door. I took that as a bad omen.

At one point I was at a stop sign and there were buildings on the right and left close to the curb so I couldn't see what was coming from the sidewalks and down the street until I edged forward after stopping at the stop sign but suddenly right after I hit the gas a guy on a bike came whizzing out from right to left on the sidewalk in front of the car and he was talking on his cell phone which he held to his left ear so his arm completely blocked any vision from the direction we were coming. I saw him and tapped the brakes just as she said "whoa". As we made the right I began to chuckle about how ridiculous it was for a guy to be on a cell phone and riding his bike across intersections from the sidewalks and then I asked her "So he would have to walk his bike across that street normally right?" and she said "I am NOT going to answer that now!". She was implying that I was to receive "no hints" from her driving the test. Like that could possibly happen again or something.

After the test she went through all the things I lost points on including the incident with the biker. She said its my job to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and bikers around my vehicle and "edging" forward is a deceptive an possibly accident causing method of going through an intersection. She deducted points for speeding in a flashing yellow light school zone. She said I was going 20mph not 15mph. She deducted for it twice since we went through it twice going different ways. She also deducted points TWICE for not getting back up to speed AFTER the school zones. That speed limit is 25mph. I argued with her that there was nobody even near us so how could it make a difference if I was going under 25 after the school zone plus I added that the logic of deducting for both speeding and not speeding enough right after that was faulty but she did not seem to care.
She deducted for me leaving my hand on the shifter(in an automatic car) but I would do that for 2-3 seconds at the most and would catch myself and put both hands on the wheel EVERY time. It had to be obvious I was actively reminding my self to break a bad habit and succeeding for the most part as well.

So 6+ hours I wasted waiting on standby because she failed me on points. I did notice that I was standby #13 and only one of the 12 in front of me ended up passing.

I actually need to get my license before my Dec 5th appointment because of insurance so I have to go standby again. I think I'll avoid the Sahara location.

[PinkString]

Try the North Decatur DMV. I keep hearing too many horror stories about the other locations. It's like Marge Simpsons sisters at the DMV failing everyone.
And before you do go again, re-read their DMV driving booklet if you haven't already. They are weirder out here than in Calif. Good luck. i hope you pass!

[lafterd7]

Im going for my test at sahara location on the 5/19 and after reading your story, I come from calif too and let my lic expire after 34 years of driving with no accidents. I was surprised to read that she docked you for not speeding up to 25 right away after a school zone. Thanks for posting this I hope will prepare me, but maybe nothing will prepare me if they are like you say!!

[hadrian]

does anyone know how long the test is?

[dance_or_REBEL]

Originally Posted by hadrian

does anyone know how long the test is?

The road test is 20 minutes long approx. BTW North Decatur. Don't get the blonde lady, she failed all my friends and yells. Parallel is last on the test. It's also worth 4 points. They try and trick you with school zone stuff, and it's a year round school, so if you see the lights flashing pay attention.
Also the prob with North decatur, is that there is an area where the speed limit sign is almost completely hidden!! So drive around with someone and get to know the area the night before.


PS. When I took my drivers ed courses they said Sahara is known for the most auto-fails.

[Perla81]

I moved to Vegas from Puerto Rico in July 2010 and one of my worries was that I had to take the knowledge and road test again after years of driving. After obtaining my instruction permit, I started researching online to see if I could find any information on how to pass the road test. I really didn't come across anything good about the DMV's in Vegas. Most of the comments were about how awful the instructors treated people, how experienced drivers fail all the time and how the Sahara location should be avoided if you really wanted to obtain your driver's license. I started to freak out! Was it really going to be that hard? I even considered going to driving school just to play it safe, but I decided not to do it because it was expensive and after all, I thought, "why should I? I've been driving since I was 16 (I'm 29 now), and the road test is about showing the instructor you are a safe driver. I can do this".

I ended up scheduling my road test on the Sahara location before reading all the horror stories about this particular DMV. Oh, great, my worries came back! I was also worried about the parallel parking, even though I've had a lot of experience with that in my country, but nerves can really ruin your performance in the test no matter how confident you feel. So I decided to go to the DMV to find out if you could at least practice the parallel parking and that's what I did. Since I had to wait several weeks to take the test, I designated a couple of hours on Sundays to go to the parking lot of the Sahara DMV and practice the parallel parking. The area where they test this skill is available to practice all the times you need (on Sundays) until you feel comfortable, and I must say, the space between the barrels is huge. I also drove a lot around the sorrounding streets to know well the area, the school zones and speed limits.

The day of my road test I was definately nervous. My heart was beating so fast and I had a knot in my stomach! I don't know if it was because I was expecting the worst experience ever, but it was actually not bad at all. My instructor was very nice with me and the test went by smoothly. The first thing I was tested on was the parallel parking and then we drove around the streets that sorround the DMV. Just what I was doing on Sundays. We came back to the DMV, parked and there she told me that I've passed, that I've drove beautifully and that she felt safe. I got a 98. She did mention that one of the things that people taking the road test forget is to make a full stop before the stop sign and then move forward if you don't have complete visibility and stop again.

I just wanted to write about my experience because it was not stressful. I took my road test on a Saturday morning and maybe that was a good thing because there was no school and traffic was not that bad. Good luck to all!

[JonathanLB]

It's a joke that it would be a big deal to be going 15 on a 25 anyway, haha, I mean come on, unless someone is behind you who cares.

Those driving tests are always absurd for experienced drivers, it just results in funny situations, I mean I'm a very safe driver with no two-car accidents at least (managed to total a car in horrible weather conditions, very unsafe car, resulted in rollover), and only one speeding ticket, but in truth of course I go 10-15 over at all times, especially in California where you can go that fast right by a cop and nobody flinches or cares. I don't think anyone actually expects to be pulled over for speeding here. It's kind of funny.

Although the only time I took my new car up to 100 (I bought my Camaro 2SS in Vegas) was outside of Vegas, in Nevada, coming back to Los Angeles. Good times.