As you grow up, you will find yourself gaining many new privileges, from a later bedtime, to more responsibility and freedom. Arguably one of the best things to gain as you get older is the ability to drive. In the words of a former Harriton student, “Driving is one of the few things about growing up that isn’t overrated; it is actually amazing.” A large portion of the Harriton student body drives, and with a lot of young drivers, there is sure to be a lot of great stories. Whether it’s the mishaps of beginner driving, or funny things that happen to you and your friends while behind the wheel, The Banner found a few tales that are sure to put a smile on your face.

“The day after I got my permit my dad took me to the parking lot to learn to drive. It was finally time to make my first left turn and I was like ‘Dad I can’t do it’, and he was like ‘Yes you can’ so he made me turn left. I was driving this huge truck and I made the turn and then he told me to stop except I couldn’t find the brake so we sort of just coasted into a fence and it broke.” – Grace Biegger

“One time when I was driving with my friend Taylor, we were blasting Kanye with the windows down, and when we looked at the car next to us, the old guy in the car had started singing and dancing with us at the stoplight.” – Gianna Robertson

“I was turning around in the Dominoes parking lot and bumped into the wooden fence, and when I looked out the window three workers were just staring at me and didn’t stop staring until I left.” – Kayley O’Connor

“I was staying after school for a club and we left to get food, and on the way back we were listening to Beyonce at high volumes. It was nice out so we had the windows rolled down and we were all singing really loudly and as we pulled in we passed by a teacher leaving for the day who started laughing because we were all being crazy; the same teacher said hi to me in the hall the next day and all I could think of was how embarrassing we were all acting.” –Anonymous

“I was driving to the cross country banquet which was at the Narberth Fire Station and had to get the senior gifts. No one had told me the address of the fire station so I just googled it and then put that into my GPS. As I was driving, I could see that it was really backed up with traffic so instead of making a right turn I decided to turn left, thinking that it would be a faster way.  It turns out that I was actually going in the exact opposite direction of where I wanted to go and was even approaching the highway.  I was completely lost and realized that I was going to be super late to the banquet and started to fear that the senior gifts were going to break in the back of my car.  I finally found my way back to the route I should have been taking and got to the location that I plugged into the GPS; however, it was the wrong address.  At this point of the night it was dark, I was late to the banquet, and I had no idea where I was or where I was going.  I ended up pulling to the side of the road, calling my friend (who puts Mr. Klick on the phone), and having a hysterical breakdown on the phone with Mr. Klick.  But it was a happy ending! I finally made it to the cross-country banquet 45 minutes late and the seniors loved their gifts.  But the sad part is that Mr. Klick never wants me to drive again.” – Ali Zamsky

“A group of us were driving to a Harriton basketball game in my minivan, which is named the Party Van, and we were listening to some Kanye at very loud volumes when my friend Noah yells, “Jesus Christ Coby, slow down, this is real life not teenage wonderland where we survive everything!” So then when we got to school I actually obeyed the five-mile-per-hour rule while driving into the parking lot and everyone was laughing.” – Coby Levit

“Before I started driving, my dad had mentioned to me that he’d never had a flat tire in his lifetime, which is surprising because he drives a lot and has been for a long time. The day I got my permit, he took me to drive in a parking lot and everything was going well for the first two minutes until not one, but two tires popped at the same time. I decided I had the worst luck on the planet but my dad thought it was hilarious.” –Anonymous

Though we can’t help but laugh at our peers’ misfortunes, we hope that next time you’re strolling through the Harriton parking lot, or getting behind the wheel, you try not to make any similar memories of your own…