The short answer is yes, but oh god I had so much trouble with it.
I was a very nervous learner. I took driver’s ed on time and everything, at 16, but I hated it and it wasn’t uncommon for me to end up in tears after a class. These instructors tend to assume all the teenagers in the room are very careless and suffer from invincibility complexes and don’t understand danger. That was not me at all. At that age I was already far too aware of my mortality from illness. So the instructors tend to show gruesome videos of what can happen if you have even a momentary lapse in judgment behind the wheel, and shit, I was already terrified, I didn’t need that emphasized to me.
It was this fear that prevented me from even trying my exam until I was 18. And, I failed miserably. The nerves really affected me and I drove very poorly, I know I deserved to fail. But I had a grumpy, awful examiner, who yelled at me over my poor performance, which I really didn’t need. I had a panic attack and didn’t drive again for an entire year. It’s embarrassing how weak I was, but it is what it is.
It became a big thing for me, I was beating myself up for not having my license and was truly starting to worry I would never get it. The worries were big enough to convince me I needed to take action. When I finally got behind the wheel again, my parents were very encouraging (they were sick of toting me around everywhere, for one thing). Slowly I gained confidence back, and I drove 20 minutes out of my way to take my exam again in a different location. I didn’t think I could handle even seeing the woman who failed me the last time. I got a much more comforting examiner who was very calm the whole time. I passed and it was so easy! What was I worrying so much about?!
It is a huge relief to have that behind me, but I’m still not super comfortable driving. I don’t drive often because I don’t have a car at college, and I also go to college in Mass and I never want to drive here because people are ridiculous.