CHA SA-SOON NEEDED 960 DRIVING EXAMS TO GET HER LICENSE

A South Korean woman needed 960 driving exams, written and practical, to finally get her license at 69. Cha Sa-soon’s marathon began with a written test in April 2005.

Cha Sa-soon, a South Korean woman from the village of Sinchon, finally got her driver’s license in 2010, when she was 69. The New York Post said she lived alone there.

Guinness World Records would later put her in the books for the “most driving theory tests taken.”

A written test, five days a week

Cha started taking the written driving test in April 2005.

For three years, she took it five days a week, NDTV reported. After that, she slowed down.

The written test alone ate up hundreds of attempts before she finally passed.

Passing the written test did not end it. She still had to get through the practical driving tests.

The Post reported that she failed the driving-skill and road tests more than once. NDTV said she had to retake the practical test over and over.

All that testing was not cheap. She spent about $4,200 on the attempts, the Post reported. Estimates of her total costs ran higher in some other reports.

What happened next

After she passed the practical tests, she finally got her license, the Post reported.

Her story was detailed in a viral YouTube video from Asian Culture Unlocked, the Post reported. It later went viral again on Reddit, NDTV reported.

Users on the r/TIL subreddit were discussing a news report of her success.

Guinness World Records recognized Cha for the most driving theory tests taken in November 2020. The recognition covers theory tests only, not the total of her written and practical exams.