A new driver takes to the cobbles
BY SAM TOOLE INDEPENDENT INTERN
As a child, you maneuver your Hotwheels cars around the house. When you grow older, you sit on your couch and weave cars through different regions of the world in computer-generated giant races.

Finally the day comes when you no longer have to pretend to drive. You can sit down, start up the engine and pull out into the road all on your own. It seems like only a week ago that I experienced this freedom for the first time.

Wait a minute - it was a week ago. That's right: I'm a new teenage driver.

For most people, driving is just another mundane activity; many people spend a large amount of their time driving around. I know that some days my mother feels like she never gets out of her car and that all she does is drive around in one big circle. Let me tell you, though, it did not feel anything like mundane when I got my license.

The day my driver's test was scheduled, I arrived at the high school at nine a.m. sharp, anxious to take my test. As part of the initiation to becoming a licensed driver, I was forced to wait an hour; plenty of time for me to imagine all the things that could go horribly wrong. I envisioned attempting to parallel park and hearing the ear-splitting screech as I dragged my side-view mirror along the car next to me. Or the look of shock on Trooper Ellis's face as I rear-ended and crushed the bumper of a car in front of me. ("And the probation period is how long, officer?") The reality, however, was that I was fully prepared to take the test.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Toole gets his bearings behind the wheel.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires you to have your permit for a full six months before you are eligible to drive, and if you are under the age of 18 they also require you to complete a drivers' education course. The course consists of 15 hours of in-class instruction, along with six hours of observation and driving with a certified drivers' education teacher.

These facts, however, did little to console me as I sat waiting. Finally, I was called upon to take my test and breezed right through it. It was probably the easiest 15 minutes of driving I could have imagined - there was no ear-splitting screeching or look of shock on anyone's face by the end.

As I held my permit with a big PASS written on it, I called my mom telling her we needed to go to the DMV as soon as humanly possible because I did not want to waste any time getting my license. She came and got me (not as quickly as I would have liked, I might add) and I drove to pick it up. After running in and waiting in line, I soon was handed a paper copy of my very own license. And, that day I took every opportunity to drive alone that I could. I even went as far as jumping on the opportunity to go pick up my sister and do errands.

The most exciting part for me is not so much that I'm now able to drive alone, but the freedom driving gives me. It allows me to be so much more independent and eliminates the ever-present annoyance of finding rides. Although in a few months I am sure I will not be excited about being forced to do errands for my mother, for now, just point me in the direction

of the laundromat and I'm off. I

Sam Toole is a summer intern at The Nantucket Independent. He will begin his junior year at Nantucket High School in the fall.