I have a UK driving license for several years.
Will be taking my US driving test sometime this month. I passed the written test and have my permit. Will probably not take any paid driving lessons (unless the market convinces me I should lol).
Haven't decided on DMV yet. Leaning SF because it has appointments 2 weeks faster than elsewhere and then DMV is literally two blocks from my office so I know the roads very well from a passenger/pedestrian pov. I've been practising driving on my UK license. However, all my practice driving so far has been outside of the city.
1,000
3.00FYI I am taking it next week from the SF DMV.
Practice overall going well. Practice in SF itself is still somewhat limited but also going well, I don't get stressed and am used to narrow roads/having to tentatively switch into the oncoming lane to manoeuvre around stopped cars from English driving.
Edit: Nevermind, I think I was probably misinformed by a Youtube video, further research suggests legally you can go as long as you are not interfering with the pedestrian.
(The only thing I am still a bit unsure about is giving way to peds. Supposedly I am meant to wait until they have fully cleared the crossing, but in practice in SF this means the light has turned red as they finish crossing the part of the road that is not in your way. Realistically no one is ever going to wait for them to fully cross and go once they are out of their side of the road. But maybe for the test I will just have to wait.)
Also, I believe I should drive into the middle of the intersection while I wait for them to cross, but if anyone can confirm this is true for the test that would be appreciated. Particularly if I am making a right turn into the closest lane then I don't actually need to go into the middle of the road to wait, but can creep onto the ped crossing that is not currently active. Is this correct? I can draw a picture if this doesn't make sense.
Good luck!
I’ll add to the good advice below that they can ding you for driving too slow (IIRC that was my main deduction Altho not nearly enough to not pass) so don’t overdo the caution. Try and exaggerate your safety checks so they can’t miss them.
For an international driver with several years of experience, passing the written is the harder part.
A couple tips:
When changing lanes, turn on your blinker, then do a noticeable glance to check your blindspot. You want to be sure the tester sees you do it.
They may ask you to do something illegal. In my test they said, "staying in this lane, go straight through the intersection" while I was in a right-turn only lane. The correct response is to never do something that breaks traffic rules, despite what your passenger asks. You don't need to argue, just turn right, or changes lanes if you have room to do so safely.
Defer to pedestrians more than normal.
@SirSalty I certainly hope it's not widespread here, either. I thought it was a pretty unfair trick, and was very glad my driving instructor warned me ahead of time. She'd heard about it from prior students, and sure enough, they tried it on me too.
This was 30 years ago, and it still annoys me!
@snazzlePop fine in the UK, havent had much opportunity to practice it on opposite side yet. Afaik it isnt something tested in the CA driving test but will practice it a bit anyways.