Sentinel intern Luke Widbin experienced driver's education behind the wheel for the second time around Wednesday. Widbin received tips to improve his driving skills from LeRoy Wichers, a teacher at Le Mars Community Schools, who has taught driver's education for 18 years. [Click to enlarge]

You may have noticed the increased number of driver's ed. cars around town, slightly weaving in the lane, making full stops at stop signs, or perhaps not stopping at all. But you have to be gracious with the student drivers -- we've all been there.

In fact, it was just the spring of 2005 when I was the sweaty-palmed, lane-swerving, wheel-jerking 15 year-old trying his hand at the road. But now in 2008, I'm going back to see what some common mistakes drivers make post-driver's education.

I'd like to think I'm a pretty good driver these days. I still have very little concept of direction (which way is Sioux City, again?), but I still have a spotless record.

That's not to say that I haven't made mistakes, like turning in front of someone in the Wal-Mart parking lot, or being pulled over for going 75 mph in a 55 mph speed zone two miles north of Le Mars. Calmly explaining that Dairy Queen was about to close and chatting high school baseball will apparently get you a warning with a very understanding officer.

Back in 2005, however, my driving was a little shaky. I did pass the class on my first attempt, despite turning the wrong way onto a one-way street in Sioux City and having the passenger-side brake used a few times (once with great force). I even had to drive with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT), just to make sure I was ready to be cut loose. I like to tell people my birth date fell on their random driving test that month, but somehow I think I might have been recommended.

So hearing I was going back to driver's education for this story left me a little pale, given my "interesting" past with the event.

Not knowing the information I've just shared above, LeRoy Wichers, a teacher at Le Mars Community Schools, agreed to take me out for some evaluation. Wichers has been teaching driver's ed. for 18 years, 10 of those at Le Mars. Before we hit the pavement, he explained what the program consists of.

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"We have two sessions of driver's ed. and we average about 100 students per session," Wichers said. "We service students from both Le Mars Community and Gehlen Catholic, as well as others who apply in the area."

Students are required to do six hours of driving in pairs, plus 30 hours of classroom time. There is one make-up session if pupils miss a day. If they miss two sessions -- better luck next time.

"These aren't LeRoy Wichers' rules, these are the state's rules," Wichers reminded me.

After confirming the rules of driver's ed. were statewide, I began to sweat a little. I had already rationalized if I did do a horrible test, it wouldn't matter because I'm a resident in Sioux County, not Plymouth. With the possibility of revocation back on the table, I began to listen more intently to the information Wichers was giving me.

"The first 20 minutes I spend in the car with the kids is just going over the car itself," Wichers said. "I show them where everything is and how everything works. Being in a different car can be strange, and if we're driving and they're trying to find something, it can cause an accident."

Once the students get a feel for the car, the rest of the first day is spent driving around Le Mars, working on basic skills.

Wichers usually takes his drivers to Akron on the second day of driving.

"They get to get on the highway, plus there are a lot of hills," he said. "They're not allowed to use cruise control yet, so we work on maintaining a constant speed on the hills."

On the third day of driving, Wichers teaches driving on gravel roads and parking. Students have to do every kind of parking there is, including the dreaded parallel park. According to Wichers, however, parallel parking is nothing to be nervous about.

"Most people hate parallel parking, well it's easy," he said. "Just pull along side 3 feet away of the vehicle, match side mirror to side mirror, or bumper to bumper, crank all the way to the right, turn your wheels all the way left, and you'll go in perfect every time."

Simplicity aside, I think I'll still keep looking until I can pull through a spot to parallel park.

"The remaining days we just go places and work on things," Wichers said.

Students will drive places like Sioux City, Sheldon, Sioux Center, and Orange City.

Like any driver's ed. instructor, LeRoy Wichers has some great "war" stories.

"You're ready for the bad drivers," Wichers said. "It's the good drivers that scare me, because you become a little more relaxed. and then they'll just make a mistake. I was driving with a student the other day when she came to a blinking red light. We sat there for four minutes until she figured out we could go."

Another common fear is the appearance of wildlife.

"Animals coming out onto the road is always a little scary," he said. "You never know how the driver is going to react. The natural reflex is to swerve, but you just can't do it. No one wants to kill 'Thumper', but you've got to do what's right for the safety of those in the car."

Once the talk was over, it was time for me to get behind the wheel and conquer my fear of driver's education. We thought it was best to just give me a taste of the first day's criteria.

Once I was reminded to use two hands on the steering wheel, the test went pretty well. I went the correct way down the one-way boulevard, I kept the car in the middle of the lane, used directionals, brought the car to a gradual stop, used one foot on the pedals, and so on.

The only hiccup of the whole test was my failure to stop in front of a crosswalk. To make matters worse, a bicyclist riding down the sidewalk had to wait to cross the road due to my shortcomings.

"One thing I teach my students is to make sure to stop at what comes first," Wichers lectured. "There might be a stop sign, but you've got to check if there is a crosswalk or something in front of that."

As we drove through the town of Le Mars, Wichers shared some more things that are forgotten after driver's ed.

"Everywhere you look, people are on cell phones," he said. "It's very dangerous for you and others to be a distracted driver."

I must admit, I'm on my phone so much I should be in Texting Anonymous classes.

A good rule of thumb from now on would be to ask myself, "If I had a driving instructor in the car right now, would I do this?" If we all drove that way, this Daily Sentinel intern would have a lot less accident reports to type.

After about 10 minutes of winding through city streets, we drove back to the school where I was informed I passed driver's education for the second time.

I was so excited, I immediately called my mother to tell her the good news -- before I started the car, of course.