Woman ticketed after hitting DMV building during road test

Nita Sureka was demonstrating her parking prowess when she drove her 2000 Volkswagen Jetta into the side of the Department of Motor Vehicles service center, putting a gash in the wall. The incident forced the center to close for a few days. (Washington Post)

Comments

[Cherie]

Was she Asian?

Ok, alright...I know, I know...thats racial profiling and you all have come to expect that crap out of Dick Tater Tots not out of me...but I couldn't resist. I've driven around Las Vegas enough to know that the stereotype is true.

[G-Man]

I was actually talking to a friend yesterday about women who have never driven. This girl is 28 and first learning how to drive. How the heck has she been getting around for the past 10 years? She's probably a spoiled brat.

[Cherie]

Gman...depends on her location. Many cities have great bus, train, cab transportation and there is not much need for a car.
In my area you can't get around if you dont have a vehicle...we have no bus service, no trains and it costs and arm and a leg to get a cab...I think there are 3 cab companies in the entire county. But someplace like NY, LA etc and you can do without a car...hell in LA you can get to work faster on a bike than trying to drive.

[Lois Lane]

28 and she is just now trying to get a driver's license?

[Lois Lane]

I, too, wonder how she managed to get around all these years. Public transportation is pretty crappy where I live, although there are taxi cabs galore.

[saltylemonaid]

This article was dumb. That’s Virginia Code 46.2-659.

[twerp]

Spongebob Squarepants...

[alberti]

A woman who identified herself as Sureka’s older sister but declined to give her name said the accident was just that — an accident. “Reckless driving? She wasn’t even driving,” the woman said by phone.

stupidity runs in the family... the car obviously drove itself into the building.

[Lois Lane]

twerp - Are you talking about the episode where Spongebob tries for the millionth time to get his boating license and gives his instructor a coronary?

*I only know about this because I babysit for kids who are Spongebob freaks. Just thought I'd make that clear.

[G-Man]

Cherie - I find it hard to believe she never had a need to travel in a car for the last 10 years. I lived in Brooklyn and Long Island most of my life and know tons of people who live in NYC. Basically all of them have a drivers license even if they don't have a car. I knew one girl personally who lived in Brooklyn and had no license. She was chauffered around by her husband or father. She moved out to Long Island a couple of years ago, so I hope she got her license.

[Cherie]

My Auntie lived 88 years without having a license. And she got around just fine. If she can manage that in my area...this girl could've managed to be 28 and have never driven.

[sometimesilie]

G-Man, DC transit is awesome. The Metro, as it's called, runs everywhere, and on the weekends anyway, it gos until around 3-4 am, or used to anyway. It's fast, clean, efficient. In a word, the exact opposite of the Philly subway.

People who learn to drive older are very nervous drivers I think. I drove a sh!t ton before I moved to the city, and than I didn't drive until recently. Having just gotten my DL again, I was very nervous at first. Now I don't think twice. I've heard of other older drivers, learning for the first time or after a long hiatus have similiar experiences.

[twerp]

Lois,

I'm one of those "Spongebob freaks".....it's a great show (I have every season on DVD)....anyhey, there are lots of episodes about him trying to get his license and wrecking boatmobiles in the process. This story really reminds me of that show because it sounds like something Spongebob has done.

[Lois Lane]

twerp - Nothing wrong with being a Spongebob freak! I just called them that because they love the show and watch it all the time. It actually cracks me up.

[Phranqlin]

There are many reasons why a 28-year old woman wouldn't have a driver's license. She may have simply not needed to get one if she lived in a large urban area with good public transportation. (As for needing a driver's license for identification, states will issue you a non-driver photo ID.) She could be from a country where you don't need to drive to get around. She could be anxious about driving -- I know a woman in her 40s who's never gotten her license because she's scared of driving. (She also has other mental health issues, so it's probably a good thing that she's not out on the road!)

Also, medical issues could have kept her from getting licensed. For instance, if she had a seizure disorder, she would have to be seizure-free for a specific period of time before she would be permitted to get a driver's license. My S-I-L and a good friend from college are both in this predicament.

Point is, we don't know what's going on with this woman besides the bare facts reported in the story. I tend to think the reckless driving citation is an overreaction based on how much damage she did to the building, although again the article is silent on whether she'd been driving erratically earlier in the test. (It's likely that the DMV will erect Jersey barriers around the driving test course to avoid a repeat performance!)

[lawdog]

I agree that the reckeless driving ticket is a bit much. Let the insurance companies pay for the damage and be done with it.

[The Asshole Guy]

It's fast, clean, efficient...

LMAO!!!

sometimesilie it is obvious you have not rode the subway in the DC/VA/MD area lately. The redline breaks down at least once a week during rush hour and a lot of the cars are old and outdated, hence a reason they break down.

While the DC/VA/MD metro does allow you to get around, it is not all that and a bag of crackers.

[AngrySockMonkey]

must suck to be her

[A.V.]

This guy out to be in the joint~~

"police spokesman Jeffrey Dube"

[Lambiepie]

maybe she comes from another country? in other countries (especially developing or undeveloped countries) most people don't have cars, it's too expensive
when they come to the USA it's impossible to get around without a car, so they get licenses
their reflexes suck
their judgment about how much space they need to turn, park, or pass double-parked vehicles suck
hitting a building by accident is probably the easiest driving that woman has done ever

[sometimesilie]

TAG it was cool 10 years ago then. 5 years ago even. Great. Other than Philly, it is the only major city I have any in depth experience with. Philly's subs have lowered my expectation almost to the point where I'd be happy with a mule pulled wagon, so long as it was not covered in vomit, feces, and armed insurgents. Now that I've become big and important (snork) I ride a different train, and I gotta say, with the exception of service ceasing at or before 10 pm on the weekends, it's pretty good. It used to suck, but now it's good.

[Nicole]

I thought Chicago's system was pretty nice.