My Two Cents on Learning to Drive
Car number 534 was the vehicle I was assigned on my second attempt at passing my driving test. Little did I know the sum of its individual digits would be the total demerit points I would receive that day. Like my peers who had gone through the same ordeal and passed, I was elated. But I didn’t post a snapshot of the slip of paper to Instagram Stories like the rest of them. I wanted to soak in my own accomplishment. I burned my weekends for the past 5 months just to get here. I decided to write this, as a reflection on the progress I made with driving a manual car, and as a guide to those who are starting out.
Some would ask why drive a manual? To that you would have to know the reason behind why I needed to learn how to drive.
Driving is a luxury. This statement is true anywhere in the world. There are so many other forms of transportation available. One doesn’t need to operate a metal capsule attached to 4 wheels and a motor to get from point A to B. And in a well-connected city like Singapore, owning a car is definitely a luxury, much less learning to drive. Albeit the cost of the latter is a one-time payment; in my experience, it ranges from $2500 to $3000. That is equivalent to almost 1200 train rides, or 33 monthly concession passes. Then why did I forgo 2 years worth of train and bus rides just to learn how to drive?
Plain and simple: survival. My parents’ goal wasn’t to let me drive me and my friends around; my family wouldn’t even be owning a vehicle in the foreseeable future. Rather, they believe that driving is an essential skill that would be very useful in an end-of-the-world kind of scenario.
Coming back to the present, I would say I am fairly confident in operating a Class 3 vehicle. The 60 hours spent at CDC were not a waste, fortunately. Although I did not particularly enjoy my time there, it is my honest opinion that each of the 22 instructors I had was genuine in his teaching. On one hand, it is their job - they are getting paid, and their livelihood is only a bad review away. On the other hand, they have so many years of experience that they want to pass on the knowledge to the new generation of drivers (us) to ensure that we are safe on the roads. They wouldn’t be an instructor at CDC, if they were out to see their pupils fail, much less when their pupils are paying clients.
One thing I observed was that most of the instructors at CDC were in their 40s. There are a couple of younger ones, but I can safely call most of them ‘uncle’ when I meet them. There aren’t many female instructors either, perhaps due to the safety aspect during lessons. I would say there are almost an equal number of Chinese and Malay instructors, and in my experience the latter group is always friendlier, and more approachable during lessons.
I must point out that there is some level of racism expressed by most of the instructors I’ve met. Be it verbal, or through their actions, most of them seem to hold a grudge against the foreign workers trying to learn how to drive at CDC. The foreign workers make up about 35% of the Class 3 learners (based on my observations) and usually book many back-to-back lessons during the weekends. While I understand that it's not right to demean another group of people and label them with derogatory slang, there wasn't much I could do then, other than silently judging their character, given that most of these comments are passing remarks.
I am also annoyed about the booking system for BBDC, SSDC and CDC. You would think that the 3 organisations which serve all the demand for driving lessons in Singapore (with a population of more than 5 million) would be more inclined to invest more into their online systems over the years. But the frequency of the ESS application (for National Service) crashing when I apply for my leave is nothing compared to the CDC application logging me out on the day new slots are released. I understand that they are not government agencies, but with each learner paying almost $3000 from start to finish, I would want to believe there is enough profit to at least hire better developers or outsource to a more reputable company to build their websites and applications.
Heck, even most of the systems for polyclinics are a magnitude better. It also doesn’t help that there are people out there who build Bots-as-a-service (BaaS) to capitalise on the first-come-first-serve methodology to book a lesson. Although I cannot comment much on these BaaS (as I don’t want to divulge my login credentials and payment information), I am 50% sure they contribute to the problem rather than being a solution for the learners. I wish the LTA would step in and provide more regulatory oversight on how these driving centres conduct their operations. Maybe they can work something out with GovTech to provide a less panic-inducing booking system and better learner website experience for all.
The route I chose was to study for BTT and FTT as a private learner, then join the school for driving lessons. Undoubtedly this meant extra costs for opening both a private and school account, plus renewal of the accounts when I still needed them after the validity of 12 months. The annoying part is that none of the driving centres allow walk-ins, and I needed to book an appointment online before going down to settle my account issues. I had to do that before starting or continuing my driving course. This meant that my progress was directly dependent on the earliest available appointment slot, which is usually 2 months away.
As for the cost per lesson, the passing rate of learners, availability of lesson slots, and other miscellaneous comparisons between the 3 driving centres, you should be able to find sufficient information online. Personally, I found the process to be straightforward, with only minor setbacks along the way. If I had to do it again, I’d still stick with CDC, just because it is conveniently located.
