Oriential woman

LAST MONTH
I tested an Oriental woman. As I usually do, I greet the people with the vehicle "hi how are you today, are you ready to be tested?" The man with this oriental woman states "she no speak good English. She need driver license. Her husband in hospital and she need to drive hospital." I let him know that I will do my best to say one or two word sentences to help her understand and also give hand signals. "Oh...good good, I appreciate" he says. I start the external checks on the car. "Honk the horn" I say to her. He repeats something in Chinese. She honks the horn. I say, "Left turn signal" again he says something in Chinese she puts on the signal. We go through the whole car check with his little mumbling to her through the window. He then asks if he can ride in the back seat. I tell him "no she must do this on her own and she must be able to follow my directions or she won't be able to pass the test."

So I get into the vehicle and start my little litany of what to expect, how to treat the driving portions in the parking lot as two way streets, at all intersections come to a complete stop, about following Georgia laws and signs, wait for my instructions and if you have any questions let me know and I will explain further so you may understand. During the time I am talking the woman is shaking her head in the up and down direction, she is also saying "yes", "yes" at appropriate times. (I think she is understanding some of what I am saying) When I am finished, she says "Parallel Park? OK...go?" I tell her "no, I will give you direction from here what to do next. I tell her to “come to the intersection in front of us and make a right. When we get to the next intersection, make a left and stop at the gate." Again she says "Parallel Park..ok..go." She starts driving, takes a right turn, (no traffic checks, she did not look left or right and did not use her signals) She then proceeds to take the left turn (again not looking for cars or using signals) she takes a right (past the gate) and proceeds to the left again and parallel parks the car without hitting any cones (however not using her signals). She then continues to drive the car out of the space and completes the reverse parking into the second space. She does not hit any cones; because had she waited for directions, she would have known that she had to pass the space and back in at a 45 degree angle back wards. That she could not cross over the center line of the road into on coming traffic to back into the space. (I am in such amazement of how she could memorize what to do and where to go, that I just sat there to see how far this woman is going to go in the program without any direction.) At this point there are two more maneuvers that I am not willing to complete with her. I tell her to make a left turn and go to the gate and stop. She does not want to make the left; she wants to go right which is where the next two maneuvers are to take place. I keep pointing in front of her and saying turn left, turn left (I get more stern and say TURN LEFT). She finally turns left. We go through the gate and I tell her park the car on the left. (pointing the whole time) She finally puts the car in (well... in-between parking spaces) I have to tell her put the car in park, turn off the key, take your key out. Now I have to explain to the brother that she failed because she cannot understand the language. She failed to follow instructions.

TWO WEEKS LATER

The woman is back for round two. I advise the other examiner who is working with me, that I have already failed this woman last week. Can you please give her the exam so that if she fails again, it does not seem like I have something against her? She agrees. The woman failed again.

TODAY

The woman is back for round three. The other examiner is giving a motorcycle test and cannot give her the test. So I'm up again. Yea!
Same situation as before on the car checks. The brother gives direction outside the car. This time, I let him know "she must listen to me.. and follow my instructions". HE continues with the little mumbling from the peanut gallery. (I roll my eyes as I walk around the vehicle to get in) I thought to myself; give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she has learned something, it has been a while. I tell her "my name is Cheryl; I will be the examiner for today." Her reply is "Parallel Park? OK...go". She takes off. Makes a right, makes a left, through the gate, parallel parks the car, pulls out and starts the reverse parking (again crossing the white line in the road). At no point during any of this driving does she look for traffic nor does she use any signals. Now, at this time the other examiner who is waiting for another motorcycle to drive into the area starts to watch what is going on with the car we are in. He knows something is wrong when she crosses the white line and is heading into the motorcycle field. Then she starts to back up into the parking space for the reverse parking and he starts to shake his head. He knows at this point she has not passed. Again I try to get her to turn left to go to the gate. I keep pointing and saying "left, turn left, go left" (the other examiner is now shaking his head and laughing) I am pointing in front of her face "left, left, left". "park the car, put the car in park, turn your key off, take your key out. She says "I pass?" (I take a deep breath and let it out slow) "No you did not pass". Again the brother tells me how the husband is in and out of the hospital and she needs to have a license to drive to the hospital. I smile and let him know that “we are not just giving out licenses today. She needs to learn enough of the language to take directions from the examiner, not just memorize the route”. I also suggest to him to contact a company that can teach her how to drive as well as enough of the language so she can complete the test. I tell him to take the paperwork into the building to counter number 9.