now uh the other fascinating thing that we're going to do on the program tonight uh on april
7th 1999 we met a young man he was 16 years old at the time named paul fiore you remember paul
very well paul fiore we had him come on the show and he was out on 53rd street he and his father
were in the family car and paul was trying to parallel park he had his
uh learner's permit or his beginning driving permit and he was testing his parallel parking
skills because he knew that i guess when he turned 17 he would be taking his actual
driving test and in the state of new jersey i'm told now you have to be 17 years old well today
is the day and uh paul on the show tonight ladies and gentlemen this is going to be very exciting
we'll be taking his new jersey driver's license driving test right here live on the show
very nice kid he attends nutley high school and uh lives in nutley new jersey and
uh couldn't be a nicer kid now here's here's take a look at his experience parallel parking
because it'll be part of the test this is april 7th 1999. actually this doesn't look that bad
compared to later attempts we're rubbing a little paint all right
this is may 4th a month later in 1999. he curved it here we go september 21st 1999.
so you see what hap i'm afraid it looks to me like the kid peaked a little early well it got
worse yeah but no uh no more excuses uh because tonight is the night he gets one chance to pass
the test i understand he's passed the written exam but tonight he'll be taking the driving portion
of that test all right let's turn on the big cbs satellite let's go live out to new jersey
where he will be taking his road test hey paul how you doing all right dave today is the day
it sure is congratulations and good luck my friend how do you feel i feel all right did
you do anything uh by way of special preparation for the big day not really yeah no attaboy are
you confident i'm confident yeah all right and uh the gentleman to your right is whom
bob calderon hi paul bob paul bob bob bob and paul all right and you are the examiner that's
going to be giving the test correct all right and tell us now what are we looking at what are
the phases of the test he's got to complete here tonight okay there's three phases of the test the
first one's going to be the right turn at a stop sign where he'll make a complete okay this one's
this one sounds pretty easy you can do this can't you paul you can do this paul yeah that's easy
paul i love the happening necklace
okay so that's phase one right turn at a stop sign all right bob what's phase two
phase two is a k turn or a three-point turn right it's a three-point turn can you break
that down for us into three parts how how do you make that three-point turn the k-turn it's
it's it's trickier than it sounds isn't it it's trickier than it have to put a single on check
traffic he'll make the turn to the left he'll back up and it'll pull up to the right and that will
be the three point okay now the k turn unless i'm uh mistaken here replace the old j turn is
that correct i blew so yes it improved upon it i think it did yeah paul how do you feel right
now you got to be a little nervous aren't you my friend i'm nervous yeah did you go to school today
i went to school you went left early you probably you left early that a boy and uh
uh all right bob what is phase three of the big cast phase three is parallel parking parallel
parking all right now we all know what this is now now bob uh is this a judgment call
is this completely uh subjective or is there any way to objectively determine a
successful parallel parking job uh he's got to be a certain distance from the curb and
of course who doesn't want to hit anything yeah
is it possible to get a license in new jersey without a successful parallel parking attempt
uh it depends each situation is different uh-huh so there is a little room for negotiation here
tonight there's a little room yes yeah you're shaking your head paul because this is what's
been haunting you for six months hasn't it the parallel parking have you been doing any parallel
parking yeah parallel park since then yeah and you feel like you can drill it tonight you'll
nail it right am i right of course yeah well you know we have videotape that says otherwise
man alive i'm excited are you guys excited
okay now uh so at the end of the day chances are what do you think bob he'll he'll walk
he'll drive home with the license or dad will have to come and drive him home well hopefully he'll
drive home tonight you're looking to put him in traffic that's what you want to do is that right
you want to get him over the curb and in traffic tonight all right okay this is exciting paul any
questions for the team here oh i i i can't wait to see it okay all right paul so uh we're just
going to sit back now and and watch uh the first segment of the test is the uh come to to stop and
turn right was that the first segment of the test yes that's correct okay all right there we go okay
take it away here we go good luck and godspeed paul now we can't talk to them after the test
begins so here we go okay all right be careful no cowboy stuff paul you know what i'm saying
looks like a nice day in new jersey huh
wow look at this we got a camera right in the car you know we can put this
together in home video and make a million dollars selling the driver's aid drivers at
get the channel two helicopter covering it it's a big big night in wayne new jersey
all right here we go this is the first real test of man and machine ah there's the stop
sign okay this is gonna be all right is the signal on is that i don't see the signal
oh he signaled a little did he signal a little
i don't know did he signal a little late for that turn
huh i mean didn't he creep up to the stop sign and then sort of turn it on or like 400 feet before
you change lanes or anything isn't that right paul i think you're right yeah this thing's over
back up the crew we can save some money shut down the satellite advisor no i'd be very surprised was
that early enough to signal i think it might have been okay really 10 feet from the stop
sign you can signal well things have changed since i was a kid could just for my sake could
we look at the videotape to see where it is no no no back it up before because i don't think
it was on as he approached the sign there it is no it he puts it on am i right or am i nuts here
oh ladies and gentlemen you you beat the clock we stopped the clock
you got a ruling on that okay you see this
you see this happen all the time in sports you know one one week a team will have an easy game
and they'll look beyond that easy game to the tougher game down the road down the schedule
i think that's what the kid has done i see he was concentrating on the parallel parking yeah
and may have fumbled this little turning on the house we don't know what do you mean you don't
know you can't signal 10 feet and you've got to give people other there are other
motorists on the road well i never thought of it that way you never thought of it that way
all right well we'll see what happens uh that was a paul fiore who's taking right now in wayne
new jersey taking his a driving test to get his first time ever new jersey driver's license and
and state law prohibits us uh televising uh certain portions of the test really yeah but
you saw them just finishing up on it we've already seen the uh the signal in the turn
i don't know we have a ruling on that yet i don't know paul is driving and his instructor is bob
calderon and if you know anything about driving tests you know he's he's the best he really is
yeah he is the good my friend bob calderon is the gold standard for driving cats right so next uh
next week there he is right there next they'll be doing the uh i think what they have next is the k
turn and here's what the k turn looks like we put together this little animation it's it's see there
wow that's more complicated than i thought yeah let me see that again apparently you
pull in and then turn the car over let me see if yeah all right then you jack it up turn it over
and then you back out so you actually have to roll the car over wow wow thank god i don't
have to take a driving i mean with my neck and my back i just screwed up yeah uh okay so it's
the k turn are we ready to see if they okay here we go ladies and gentlemen paul fiore and
bob calderon and uh that's the massive driving training testing complex in wayne new jersey
that generates about 80 of the revenue for the town of wayne new jersey the driving
test facility they have out there and you can see why people come from all over the world
all right here we go this will be the k-turn and we're looking at you now these pictures
coming live from chopper2 give you an idea what's going on in the world of news today
okay i was hoping to see some blue smoke smell a little rubber here
i don't know
certainly not as exciting as the animation was it
that that was it that was the k-turn okay well i just thought we'd see a little something you
know the doors hanging open and yeah you know the old bootleg turn blue smoke tires screaming that
kind of thing all right okay so that means now he only has the dreaded parallel parking ahead
of him so keep your fingers crossed ladies and gentlemen light a candle for the kid all right
parallel parking
i don't need to tell you that personally emotionally and sociologically this is a
big moment in any kid's life because if if he if he passes the test he's a big man all of
a sudden he's like a big shot if he doesn't pass the test he spends the rest of his life as a dweeb
that's what's at stake here that's huge yeah that's cute
a little upset he looked a little upset well it's the tension
i think maybe he knows about that turn signal thing you know
well ladies and gentlemen you've seen it a million times on television that's the wayne
new jersey driver uh licensed testing center and now we're going to go back out to paul fiore and
his driving instructor bob calderon and if you're scoring at home i don't know it looked to me like
there might have been trouble with the first round uh harold letterman gave the first round
to the instructor and the second round went to the kids so let's just see we're now up to the
crucial parallel parking this is the make or the break here now is what we're looking for
in the parallel park take a look at this here is here's how you successfully parallel park
like that there you go now that's how you that's how you that's a bad job of parallel parking
all right turn on the satellite let's go back out there here we go take it away this oh it's getting
dark now see this is this is something i hadn't counted on he's now got a parallel park in the
dark he's got the got the high beams on here we go this could determine the future of this man's
life here we go he's in motion now got plenty of room i must say this looks like it's pretty easy
this looks like a done deal to me chill the champagne ladies and gentlemen all right he's
backing up wait a minute wait easy yeah here we go you put the queen mary in there for god's sakes
all right get to get the stern thrusters ready we're coming ashore
well it ain't up to me it's up to the state of new jersey now it's in the hands of bob calderon let's
oh he's gonna gonna give him another shot it looks like got a very generous uh driving instructor
i'm gonna try it again
okay kind of thing you know later in life by the time you parallel parks the party will be over
there's no point in getting out of the car
all right wait a minute he's doing doing something highly dangerous
he's perpendicular but he's signaling we're gonna we're gonna have to give it to him he signaled
the hell's going on out there maybe a leak in the muffler what is happening
all right looks like a little tension in the cockpit all right that's fine what is what exactly
well it's just i guess i guess they've waved what are they just are they going what are they
there you have it all right well we'll find out no no wait a minute
it may be all right it will be we'll be back to find out how the kid did
is bob the handy bob can i talk to you where is bob calderon bob uh how did it go sir
he went pretty well dave let me ask you a question on that first thing did he signal
too late or did he signal on time making that right turn he was on time really i thought it
was like 400 feet we got a signal he was on time all right and how did the rest of the test go
not too bad dave all right too bad so what is the verdict here paul on behalf of the new
jersey division of motor vehicle i'm happy to announce you passed you passed the test
all right and here is the governor of the great state of new jersey christine todd whitman
i got a little something for you that you've a little something for you here that you've earned
congratulations well done after all this i don't know how you passed it
congratulations paul stay off the turnpike new jersey
we'll see you tomorrow night with john malkovich craig kilbourne is next good night everybody