Learn how to pass your driving test in New York City.

Introduction: My Experience Taking the NYC Driving Test

– So we’re going to do a mock road in New York City test with Sam.

– Yes.

– Who’s a driving instructor in the Bronx – a borough of New York City.

– [Sam] Mhm.

– [Rick] Very exciting. See whether I passed or not, right?

– [Sam] Yeah, let’s see, let’s see how you do.

– Drive in the big city. Alright. So we’re going, go straight unless told to turn, right?

– [Sam] Yes. Mhm. Go straight unless you’re told to turn. Alright, let’s go ahead and make a left here. Alrighty. We’re going to go straight down or straight up, however you see it.

– [Rick] This is so exciting [taking a mock driving test in New York City.]

Big Mac Sam’s YouTube Channel: A Bronx Driving Resource

– Yeah. What’s up guys? Big Mac Sam here.

– [Rick] Yeah, check out Big Mac Sam’s channel.

– Yep, look at my, check out my channel guys. Big Mac Sam.

– The other thing about driving in the city, there’s a lot more pedestrians and speed bumps.

– [Sam] Yeah, yeah. Alright.

– [Rick] And police and emergency vehicles.

– [Sam] Yes, yes.

– I think last night I saw more emergency vehicles in an hour…

– [Sam] Wow, wow.

– [Rick] than I have two years.

– [Sam] Mhm.

– ‘Cause last night I stayed in Brooklyn.

– Okay. Wow.

– [Rick] Lots of emergency vehicles.

– We’re going to go straight.

Double Parking: A Common Phenomenon in New York City Driving

– And double parking is a thing here.

– Oh yeah. Big time.

– [Rick] Yeah.

– Big time. And I hate it sometimes. ‘Cause when I’m on a two lane road sometimes, and I’m on the right lane, I’m going straight, I see double parked cars, you know, I look like, 15 seconds ahead of me, and then I just have to move over.

– Yeah and buses parked here and vehicles coming at you.

You have to slow down and give way.

– [Sam] Mhm.

– And this is very much about, you know, what we say, all the time.

– Let’s make a left.

– [Rick] You can be right. Or you could be dead right!

– [Sam] Exactly.

– [Rick] You might have the right of way but.

– [Sam] Yeah.

– And you know, driving in the city, we do, and I talked about this before.

– Yes, yes.

– Sometimes you got to be a little aggressive, but at other times you got to give it up too.

NYC Driving Examiners: Not All Are Created Equal

– Yeah. Some examiners, they’re very, very quiet. They’re just telling you what to do. Some of them are conversationalists. They will have a conversation with you.

– Yeah and that’s an excellent point. And what’s your feeling, Sam, about engaging in conversation with the examiner?

– [Sam] Don’t, I always tell students, don’t do it unless they start a conversation with you.

– Yeah.

– Because some of them, you know, they, I remember one time there was a student trying to have a conversation with an examiner.

Examiner said, “Focus on the road,” and left it at that. Let’s make a left turn.

– [Rick] I was going to go straight but,

– [Sam] Make a left turn.

– as you can see here, you can’t go straight.

– Yup, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

– And at the traffic light, we’re going to make a right turn.

– You have a lot of, four way stops here, all-ways stops.

– Yes, mhm. Yes we do.

– [Rick] Pedestrian, I was covering the brake there.

– [Sam] Yeah, Yep. Always want to cover your brakes. And look at this guy.

– [Sam] My goodness.

– And this is where you got to change lanes.

– You’ve got to signal.

– [Sam] Yes, yes.

– [Rick] Shoulder check, over –

What Happens if You Cross Double Solid Lines in NYC?

You Must Go Over Double Solid Lines to Move Around Double Parked Cars On NYC Driving Test

– [Sam] And it’s okay to go over the solid lines when you see,

– [Rick] Doubles.

– [Sam] Goes like this, yeah. Let’s make a right.

Right Turns on Red: A NYC Driving Rule You Need to Know

(Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens)

– [Rick] Doing auto body work, you fixing the car.

– Whoop. Yeah.

– Yeah, no that would’ve got points, right?

– [Sam] Yeah, yeah.

– Because, if it’s yellow and I was going to move out

– Yeah, you cannot, you just got to

– [Rick] And then it turned red, so I lost points there.

– [Sam] Yeah.

– [Rick] Oh no.

– Probably points or probably would’ve failed you actually. Some of these, some of these examiners, they can be a little too strict and some of them they’ll let it go, you know. It depends who you have.

– There we go. Failed my driving test in New York City.

– Yeah.

– [Sam] You sure have.

– [Rick] Oh my God. That’s so bad.

– [Sam] Yup.

– That is so bad.

– Alright, we’re going to go straight down. This is the area that I was taking a lot of my students.

Yeah. And we’re going to go straight down until you can’t anymore.

And we’ll make a right turn.

Understanding the 25 MPH Speed Limit in New York City

(25mph in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island)

– [Rick] And I’m also speeding.

– [Sam] Yes, you are.

– ‘Cause it’s 25, I just saw the sign.

– Yup, yup.

– I’m a terrible driver. I’m a terrible student.

– Hey when you have your driver’s license, you do what you want. I mean, it happens sometimes. We’re not thinking about it. Yeah, we’ll make this right turn. What is this car doing?

– [Rick] Yeah, here you got to be kind of cautious. Not really sure what they’re doing.

– Yeah.

– But, sneak up here.

– [Sam] Well, well, well. And of course, look at what the arrow says. We cannot make a left turn, just keep going.

– And that’s the other thing about here, in the Bronx and in New York City, is you get these really narrow streets.

– [Sam] Yeah, yeah.

– Really narrow streets.

– Let’s make a left turn.

– And you know, going back to that traffic light, that’s the other thing, is that sometimes, and I say this, you know, students that are totally prepared for their driving test.

– Yeah.

– Something like that in the traffic environment happens,

– [Sam] Let’s make a right, mhm.

– [Rick] And you fail your driver’s test.

– [Sam] Yeah.

– And it’s not because, you really, you know, it’s just one of those things where it sucks.

– [Sam] Yeah.

– You know, bad drivers can pass a driver’s test because everything goes right.

– [Sam] Yeah, at that time, yeah.

– [Rick] And there’s no surprises.

– [Sam] Yeah.

– But then you get surprised and something happens and you react incorrectly.

– [Sam] Exactly.

– And you fail your driver’s test because the examiner, they don’t, allow discretion in those types of things, so.

Parallel Parking: NYC’s Ultimate Driving Test Challenge

(Turning Right on Red: Restrictions in NYC Boroughs)

– [Sam] Did you want to do a parallel parking?

– That’ll be fun.

– You want to do it?

– Sure, let’s do it.

– All right, let’s go around the block. I found that nice spot over there. Sometimes even us experienced drivers will do a little trial and error, especially when it’s a tight, tight spot. You know, we’re just, going at it back and forth, back and forth.

– [Rick] Yeah. It’s 25. Didn’t get me this time.

– [Sam] Yup, no.

– [Rick] I got 25 this time.

– Yep. And let’s make a right turn.

– And the, you know, the other thing about the 25 is, is it, you know, and this is the thing I say to students when they’re preparing for a driver’s test.

You got to practice in and around the test center.

– You want to turn right here? Parallel parking. Let’s see how Rick does, guys.

– [Rick] Right into reverse. Yup.

– [Sam] There you go.

– I can tell you right now. I’m a little far from the curb.

– That’s alright.

Sometimes examiners will give you two tries.

Some of them will give you three tries. Alright.

Let’s see how you did. Some, of them will open the door to check, some of them don’t.

– [Rick] Yeah.

– I’ve seen it. Yeah. It’s not too bad. I say, it’s about 12 inches. You could be a little bit over 12 inches. I think I’ll give you five points for that. Not 15, unable to park properly.

– Yup.

– Excessive space for parking too far, probably five points.

– So five points?

– [Sam] Yeah, five points.

– And what happened was, I can tell ya exactly what I did wrong. My 45° degree angle was off.

Don’t Panic: How to Handle a Parallel Parking Mistake

Fixing a Parking Mishap: Why You Shouldn’t Try to Reattempt During the Test& Make it Worse

– [Sam] Okay.

– I should have been a little bit more of an angle when I came in.

– Yeah.

– I turned in too soon.

– And some people do 45°. I do 30°. I tell my students, 30° degree. I don’t know if you saw my video on parallel parking. Everyone teaches parallel parking different.

– Yeah.

– Everyone has a different technique to park. I always tell students, even at the end of my video, I said it, you know, it’s so many variables in parking, so.

– Oh my God. Yes.

– Yes, yup.

– So many variables.

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Instructor Takes New York City Driving Test…FAIL