Driving Lessons

When Abed's father passed away, he didn't have much money to his name to leave behind. It was just a few thousand dollars. Abed's sister decided he could have that money and buy a car with it. However, Abed didn't have a drivers license. He was 25 years old and had never really driven before. By that point in my life, I'd been driving a car for ten years.

Fortunately, I was not tasked with teaching him how to drive. One of his father's friends took on that responsibility and let him borrow his car to get the license with. (I couldn't really teach him how to drive in my car because I drove a standard transmission. You cannot begin learning to drive a car on a stick and I wouldn't have wanted him to wreck my gears.)

Once he had gotten the basic stuff down, I would ride with him and observe his skills to give him a few tips. He was a very attentive driver and had full control of the car. However, we were driving Downtown and he blew right through a red light and I could see cars coming our direction. I screamed, "STTTTOOOOOOPPPPPPPP!"

After we crossed the intersection, he stopped. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT! I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SCREAM AT ME!" I yelled, "ABED! YOU RAN A RED LIGHT! CARS WERE COMING AT US! I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO DIE! YES, I'M GOING TO YELL IF I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE!" Abed didn't say anything after that. He continued driving.

The time came for Abed to take his driver's test. He had heard that it wasn't crowded at the DMV in El Cajon, so we decided to go there. I happened to need to renew my driver's license, so I thought I could take care of it while we were there. I had been to the Central San Diego DMV so many times before and there was always a line, so I was surprised to see how calm it was in El Cajon. I took a number and sat down. Within ten minutes, my number was called. As I went up to the window that called my number, a man attempted to cut in front of me and asked the clerk if he was open. The clerk saw me and told him that he needed to get a number and wait until called. I wonder how that guy would have handled being in the central DMV.

I got the renewal taken care of and got a photo taken. They gave me a paper copy of my license with my picture on it. For the first time, I felt like my photo made me look old, like I was no longer in my 20s.

Abed's sister and brother in law helped him pick out a used car. He was able to get insurance for it. He was good to go.

The next day, he was driving down the highway and got rear-ended. The car's frame was severely damaged, but Abed was still able to drive the car. The other driver was in the military and was in his sister's vehicle. He didn't know where his sister kept the insurance information. He provided his number to Abed and told him to call. But Abed couldn't get a hold of the guy at the number.

I asked Abed what type of insurance he got. He said he just got liability. I asked him if he paid an extra $20 a month for uninsured motorist insurance. He said he wasn't sure. I told him that if he had that, all he needed to provide to the insurance company was the license plate number of the car and they would take care of the rest.

It turned out, no, he only had liability and no way of getting hold of the other driver to make him pay for the damage to the car. Supposedly, the car was totaled, but he had no choice. He had to keep driving it.

Even though it was damaged, it still turned out to be a fairly dependable car. But Abed didn't want to venture too far from home.