Driving lessons necessary?

Isn't an International Driving License a waste of money?  What does it actually mean?

also stuff like making sure that they see you checking all the needed mirrors, the fact that you don't cross your hands when turning the wheel but instead shuffle them around etc.

I failed the first test due to nerves and a jerk examiner.  Some do actually go out to fail you.  Plymouth had a really low pass rate any how.

I agree, in the UK it is kind of an open secret that examiners do actively strive to fail you on whatever they can, whereas in the US at least in the place where I lived, you'd have to make plenty of serious errors to get a Fail. When I was 17 and taking my British driving test, I got failed three times in a row and gave up. I was young and nervous, but also, I too got a jerk examiner -- the same one all three times. One of things he failed me on? Not checking my mirror before making my manuevre. But I WAS checking it! My driving instructor had told me to adjust my mirror so that I can comfortably use only an eye movement to see into the mirror, rather than having to crane my head around in a big movement just to see. But the examiner, upon not seeing any huge head movements, simply concluded I wasn't even bothering!

So beware of not receiving good tips from your instructor. You are aiming to be seen to be fulfilling all the things that the examiner wants to see you do while driving.

I never took another test and never drove again until I was 30 and in the USA. I passed my test there with only ONE POINT dropped! My instructor was thrilled and said I was his highest-scoring studentever! Quite a contrast from my previous tests...

One thing that may help you adjust to the fact that you will be driving on the wrong side of the road, even before you get behind a wheel is to be a passenger -- I was a passenger for such a long time over in America, which was MY "they're on the wrong side of the road" country, that by the time I was driving by myself, I had already adjusted to the fact that it was the "other" side of the road I'm supposed to be on. Even the "visual" can, over time, get your brain switched over to the "other side" and I found it helped me enormously -- only a couple of times on a quiet road did I start to turn onto the wrong side, lol, and that very quickly went away. I had been a nervous driver when young, and never thought I could master driving in the USA, but if I could, then I know that you guys here can drive in the UK -- really you will be fine and you will get the hang of it.

Isn't an International Driving License a waste of money?  What does it actually mean?

No need to have one in the UK, it's just a standardised translation of the licence into a number of languages.  Some countries require one if you want to use an American Licence there, Italy and Spain for instance.  So one might be useful to bring if she plans to go on a driving holiday in Italy.

No need to have one in the UK, it's just a standardised translation of the licence into a number of languages.  Some countries require one if you want to use an American Licence there, Italy and Spain for instance.  So one might be useful to bring if she plans to go on a driving holiday in Italy.

Yup. If you're staying in the UK, your US state license is all you need to drive legally for 12 months. 

I know some people are going to hate me for saying this, because maybe im the exception to the rule but I didnt have a single driving lesson off a proper instructor and passed first time (lesson were too bloody expensive.. so i thought i would try it on my own and see how i do).

Although, i do think i had ALOT more time behind the wheel than your average learner. I drove almost everywhere and practiced my maneuvers a few times a week for 6 months. My husband taught me.  The test hasnt changed much since he took it so he remembered what his driving instructor taught him on where to look and how to do the manuevers and with a little help from my DSA dvd i passed. Although, it was VERY frustrating having him teach me, and I questioned everything he was telling me to do, cause i thought i knew it all since i drove for 5 years in the USA.

It does also depend on the examiner you get.  I think as far as examiners go, I got a pretty good one.

Its a personal choice. If you want to have a friend show you the ropes of where to look and how to do the manuevers so you pass the test, give it a go!  But I wouldnt recommend going in with no advice from anyone! Remember your friend has to be over age 21 and have had a valid driving license for 2 or 3 years... cant remember which one.

Isn't an International Driving License a waste of money?  What does it actually mean?

Crap!  Another waste of time and money.   

Before I took my test, i used to ride around on buses... whenever possible, choosing the upstairs seat at the very front right -- above the driver.  I'd watch everything from there, imagining in my head that i was actually driving, and what would i do and how would i manoeuvre, etc.
It's a way of getting experience from the driver's side of the vehicle, and i think it really helped me.
(I know it sounds daft, but...)

Before I took my test, i used to ride around on buses... whenever possible, choosing the upstairs seat at the very front right -- above the driver.  I'd watch everything from there, imagining in my head that i was actually driving, and what would i do and how would i manoeuvre, etc.
It's a way of getting experience from the driver's side of the vehicle, and i think it really helped me.
(I know it sounds daft, but...)

That's not daft, that's what my driving instructor told me to do to get used to the left side of the road and roundabouts, etc.   

Before I took my test, i used to ride around on buses... whenever possible, choosing the upstairs seat at the very front right -- above the driver.  I'd watch everything from there, imagining in my head that i was actually driving, and what would i do and how would i manoeuvre, etc.
It's a way of getting experience from the driver's side of the vehicle, and i think it really helped me.
(I know it sounds daft, but...)

Yes, that's exactly the kind of thing I did when I came from the UK to the US and had to get used to the prospect of driving over there. Same thing but in mirror image: riding on buses or even being a passenger in someone else's car, I tried to really absorb the fact that we were on a different side of the road than I grew up with. It really did penetrate so that by the time I had to drive a car myself, I was mentally ready to deal with the other side of the car and the other side of the road.

Now that I'm back in Blighty I've gotta switch my whole brain back again and I'm slightly daunted all over again!

I really made huge efforts this summer to get used to being on the other side and to take note of the different perspective. I paid attention to how people were driving etc. It will take a while, but it hit me that I will at least need my license even if I don't have a car, just so I can rent a car or whatever when needed!

IMHO you should take some lessons.  I had been driving for more than 20 years in the US, and I failed my first driving test even after taking lessons -- for not looking through the car (rather than using the mirror) for a long enough time while reversing.  You will have to do two of the four required maneuvers:  turning in the road (K turn), reversing around a corner, reverse parking (parallel parking), and reversing into a parking bay.  For me, reversing into a parking bay was particularly difficult, especially in a right-hand drive car.

You also may have to open the bonnet and show the examiner that you know where to fill up your fluids.  I had to show him how to check for bald tyres too (and it's different than in America).

The examiners here want you to do things a certain way, I think, and a professional driving instructor will teach you how to drive the way examiner wants you to drive.  Starting this month, there are new requirements for environmentally aware driving too.

Oh yes, and get started soon.  Your year of driving on the American licence can pass quickly and some areas in the UK have long waiting times to take the practical test (I had to wait nearly 3 months).

Oh yes, and get started soon.  Your year of driving on the American licence can pass quickly and some areas in the UK have long waiting times to take the practical test (I had to wait nearly 3 months).

Yes, I waited 8 weeks for a driving test and then the day of my 1st test they called and cancelled it because the examiner was ill. Grrr. Then they rescheduled it for 6 weeks later!! So after giving the DSA an earfull, I managed to get it for 3 weeks after my original test was supposed to be.. so in all it took me about 3 months get an appointment to take my test. 

But remember, you need to take your theory BEFORE you can book your practical test.. so make sure to start studying for that and get that out of the way.

IMHO you should take some lessons.  I had been driving for more than 20 years in the US, and I failed my first driving test even after taking lessons -- for not looking through the car (rather than using the mirror) for a long enough time while reversing.  You will have to do two of the four required maneuvers:  turning in the road (K turn), reversing around a corner, reverse parking (parallel parking), and reversing into a parking bay.  For me, reversing into a parking bay was particularly difficult, especially in a right-hand drive car.

You also may have to open the bonnet and show the examiner that you know where to fill up your fluids.  I had to show him how to check for bald tyres too (and it's different than in America).

The examiners here want you to do things a certain way, I think, and a professional driving instructor will teach you how to drive the way examiner wants you to drive.  Starting this month, there are new requirements for environmentally aware driving too.

Oh yes, and get started soon.  Your year of driving on the American licence can pass quickly and some areas in the UK have long waiting times to take the practical test (I had to wait nearly 3 months).

I agree wholeheartedly. Even if a person has been driving like a pro in America for 30 years, it's different over here. The requirements of the test are rigid, and differ from those in the US, in certain techniques, certain expectations, and of course different rules of the road. You will faile if you don't get tutoring on exactly what an examiner is looking for in order to pass or fail you. And they LOVE to fail you. Think about it, this is a tiny country with a relatively small but ever burgeoning population, and tiny roads that already stuffed to the gills. Nobody admits this, least of all the examiners, but part of the covert MISSION is to try to keep as many potential drivers OFF the road if they can help it --it's a futile battle but they give a high failure rate partly for that reason. It's an open secret. That was the conversational urban legend way back thirty years ago when I failed three times at 17, even my brother and brother in law said so. Don't give them any reason to fail you. Take lessons no matter how great you are driving in the US.

Examiners here don't have a quota but if they deviate from the normal pass/fail rate they will be investigated.  So you could say it is a kind of quota.  It's just a money hungry government, it's not the examiners.