Louisiana Drivers Test

Fourth time is the charm for driver

For 17-year-old Kacie Galtier of Houma, the trouble she had getting a chance to road test and — thankfully — passing, made it all the more a day to remember.

The Ellender High senior had tried for weeks to make that happen. But a star-crossed combination of rainy weather, mixed signals and a devoted mother with a back-breaking schedule conspired to thwart the effort.

On Wednesday, however, there were cheers from Kacie's mom and sister once they learned that she had passed her test.

“In the last four or five weeks we had been to the Motor Vehicle Office three times,” said Kacie's mom, 45-year-old Tamico Galtier. “Wednesday was the fourth time. I know they say strike three and you're out but I said ‘Come on, let's try one more time Kacie, it's not raining.' ”

The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles does not permit road tests when the pavement is wet.

Spokeswoman Michelle Rayburn said her department's regulations forbid road tests in the rain anywhere in the state.

“We have to be mindful of the safety of our employees,” she said, explaining that nervous first-time drivers and the rain can be a bad mix.

Rayburn also noted that some private driving schools do give road tests and allow those in rainy weather. And by 2012, she said, all driving schools licensed by Louisiana will give the tests.

The rain delays were especially troublesome for Kacie because attaining a driver's license was seen as crucial to her family's plans this year.

With her sister attending Ellender for the first time starting next week, the plan has been for Kacie to drive her. That would take a lot of pressure off the adults in the family.

“I felt it should just stop raining,” she said. “I don't understand because I can drive when it's raining, I don't see why they have to stop the driving tests.”

Her father, Todd Galtier, works full time at Specialty Rental Tools and is gone all day during business hours.

Tamico cleans houses, about three per day, working every day. She tries to do what is needed to make sure that Kacie and her 14-year-old sister, Maegan, get taken where they need to be, whether it is school, band practice or other activities.

“Me and her dad have been driving Kacie to band practice three days a week,” Tamico said. “Sometimes she has a friend who drives. There are other friends and family.

Louisiana drivers, women lag behind in knowledge of road rules

The 2011 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test ranks Louisiana drivers 39th in the nation for their knowledge of road rules. While the state average score of 76.1 percent is above the passing grade of 70, it’s below the national average of 77.9 percent.

Kansas set the pace with the highest state average, 82.9 percent, while Washington, D.C., was the lowest, 71.8 percent.

The national results show that one in five licensed drivers cannot meet the basic requirements to get a license. I’m convinced that one person is directly in front of me every day on the drive to and from work, and they’re cloned whenever it rains.

Before I cast that disparaging comment, I decided to . To miss some of the questions, you would have to be a brain-dead salamander. But even a highway veteran might trip up on some of them if he or she isn’t familiar with traffic laws.

I posted a score of 90 percent on the 20-question multiple choice examine, putting me ahead of the national average for males at 80.2 percent. My wrong answers involved what to do at an intersection with a flashing yellow traffic signal and one with a steady yellow light.

The national average score was 74.1 percent for women, who failed at a rate of 27.2 percent versus 13.6 percent for men.

While that might reinforce the negative “women drivers” stereotype, the test results suggest you forget what you think about older drivers. Those 60 to 65 had the highest average test score at 80.3 percent.

The link to the test I took didn’t ask for my age or gender. Those GMAC Insurance findings are based on a survey of 5,130 licensed drivers age 16-65 from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The test took questions from state Department of Motor Vehicles exams.

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