“Don’t go to the Los Gatos DMV.”
That is the advice passed on among local teens hoping to pass their driver’s licensing driving tests. The location is notorious for being too difficult. For one thing, the surrounding area is filled with narrow roads full of bicyclists. And for another, teens think it has instructors who are likely to give failing scores.
These are the reasons many teens now opt for the Santa Clara or the Santa Teresa DMV testing sites.
For my part, I took the test at Santa Teresa, and personally, I found it perhaps even too easy.
Don’t get me wrong — I was happy to get my license, but as I was driving, I noticed I made small mistakes, like braking too hard or going too fast, and my instructor never marked it down. She seemed almost uninterested, staring out the window instead of straight ahead. If I was in fact truly an unqualified driver, I wonder if she would have given me a passing score anyway. Moreover, I barely had to change lanes or drive on crowded roads and remained in empty residential areas for basically the whole test — a huge contrast to Los Gatos.
This difference in testing site difficulty has obvious consequences. Many teens who drive recklessly and have little to no experience may not be ready for the road but may have passed the test anyhow by testing at easier DMVs.
Given that there were an estimated 39,345 car crash-related fatalities in the US in 2024, the quality of drivers on the road needs to be better regulated. Driver’s tests should be based on actual skill, not assessor differences or location variations.
In practice, teens who fail tests at Los Gatos because of miniscule errors like not turning their head far enough when checking their blindspot would likely pass without a mark at a site like the Santa Teresa DMV.
So why is it that DMVs should have different perceived levels of difficulty. They have the same checklist and the same requirements for the test, yet for whatever reasons, there appear to be noticeable differences in whether aspiring drivers pass at the Santa Teresa and Santa Clara sites and those who make the mistake of going to Los Gatos don’t.
A more universalized training program for instructors regarding scoring the rubric may help alleviate these differences. In the current system, it feels like passing comes down to the kindness of your instructor at a particular site.
But for the safety of everyone on the road, it is up to the drivers to ensure that they are ready to be driving on the roads and have all the practice necessary instead of relying on the score given by a DMV assessor — which may or may not mean you’re a driver who deserves to be on the road.
