Learning to drive is full of lessons — some more memorable than others.

After one young driver was reprimanded by their instructor for tapping their brakes for a bird, they decided to take their instructor’s directive to “never stop for birds” literally. Soon they found themselves barreling full speed for a family of wild turkeys!

Read on to find out how the story ends!

We don’t stop for birds

Many years ago, when I was 15 years old, I was enrolled in a driver’s education course to get my learner’s permit.

This involved several sessions riding around with the instructor and two other students in the car, taking turns between driving and observing.

When it was their turn to drive, they came across a little obstacle in the parking lot.

This Saturday morning, I was first up and pulling out of the school parking lot when a dozen small sparrows flew right in front of my windshield.

I lightly tapped the brakes, and the instructor ordered me to pull over. He always had you pull over and stop before he reprimanded you.

The instructor wasn’t pleased about this.

He sternly told me, “We don’t stop for birds.” I argued that I had just lightly tapped the brakes as they flew inches from my windshield, and it was not done in panic.

He reiterated that we do not stop for birds.

The lesson continued as planned.

A half hour later, we were a ways outside of town, a little over a hundred miles west of San Antonio, Texas, and I was still driving.

The speed limit in this rural area is 70 mph, which my cruise control was set to. It was a speed the Geo Metro’s 3-cylinder engine was struggling to maintain.

But what do they find making their way across the road?

We came over the top of a hill and saw a half dozen wild turkeys slowly crossing the road up ahead.

I kept in mind my instructor’s orders not to stop for birds and maintained my course.

So the student did exactly what they were told.

As we neared the birds, I showed no sign of slowing down, and the instructor hit his brake on his side of the car quite abruptly and yelled at me to pull over.

He made me get completely out of the car and started to berate me about not slowing down for the turkeys.

The student had a quick explanation ready.

With a straight face, I said, “Sir, you told me not to stop for birds.”

He got a bit flustered, then stammered, “You know what I meant,” and ordered me to switch places with a girl in the back seat.

I didn’t get to drive any more that day, but this was my only major incident, so I still passed the course and got my permit.

The instructor’s hasty directions sure came back to bite him.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter appreciates the small details that really help you visualize the story.

It may be annoying to stop for a bird, but hitting them is even worse!

This driver’s ed class appeared to take a more preemptive approach at teaching their drivers to deal with obstacles.

Swerving definitely has big consequences — if not for the person driving, for the car itself.

Thankfully these turkeys lived to see another day!

Let’s hope this instructor learned a valuable lesson in choosing his words a bit more carefully.

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