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I’m 23 and I don’t know how to drive.
Weird, huh?I enroll in a few classes and what not and it was simple
Only things I need help on are; my left and right turns, knowing when to brake(I always tend to pass the white lines on cross walks or the instructor has to brake for me), stabilizing speed.
I guess everything else is simple
Any tips, dos and don’t, pointers, etc?
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took me 15 1 hour lessons when i was 17 biggest pointer is listen to your instructor and try and book some 2 hour lessons you can get a lot more learnt in that time ( wasn’t an option for me as i took my driving lessons on my lunch break at work)
I have to say first off I did not start driving till I was 20 I told my parents I would kill someone if I learned at 16. I am definitely right about that because while my dad was teaching me i was sliding the cars around turns like a video game he was telling me to stop but, at the same time the grin on his face was saying otherwise. Took about 3 hrs in a parking lot with my mother on black ice. I would say another week of forced driving every where to actually get good at it. When I taught my friend it took me about 12 hrs but, then again I had her doing reverse serpentine between islands in a 16′ long minivan so…
I would definitely say best way is to go to a giant empty parking lot full of black ice and let the kid have a go and they will learn real quick. It also made me able to drift cars like a boss and handle snow and ice slippery situations like no other. Scared the crap out of the plow truck that was there though I stopped 6″ from the plow end at one point when he was just sitting there sipping on his coffee. I think he must have been entertained up to that point because he was done plowing for a good 15-20 mins.
Took me about an hour to figure out the Manual Transmission on my own, at Age 17.
My dad had me shifting the stick on the jeep when he was driving for a long while before that, though, so I guess it wouldn’t necessarily be just an hour overall, but the learning by myself bit in a parking lot helped. To this day, I still stall every once in a while, but who doesn’t?
Also helps I am naturally a cautious driver. I know what the car is and the damage it is capable of.
Every time I set foot in a different car, I have to learn that car’s personality – how it handles, brakes, accelerates, etc.
As for cornering and braking, focus on where you want the car to go/be and less on where the car is at the moment. It’s kinda like predicting the future based on the information you currently have, and it takes real-world practice. In all honesty, I really didn’t feel comfortable driving for 1 or 2 years after getting my license because there are so many things to learn and “master”.
I was taught to “aim high” when driving – meaning that you should aim the car N number of car lengths ahead of you – and you will naturally drive straighter and turn smoother. The number of car lengths depends on traffic and speed, ~5 for city driving, ~10 for the freeway. You’ll also have more time to identify and react to a hazard.
I had my license at 16 and had driven farm machinery years before that. At 68 years of age I am still learning. First I learned to drive my own vehicle and then I started learning to drive for everyone else on the road. Watch other vehicles around you. Usually, with no more that a few seconds of observation, you can tell if the driver is careful, careless, distracted, feeble or impaired. The ability to anticipate and be prepared for what might happen is the ultimate driving skill.
When someone crosses four lanes of traffic to make a left hand turn and you had your eye on them before they began the turn, you’re getting good.
I think I was 17? My first lesson back around 1991 was –
Dad and I get in his ol 79 thunderbird. He pulls over on the other side of the neighborhood , turns off the car, gets out, tells me to get out, hands me the keys and says, “OK take us home”. Umm, WHAT? HAH alright dad, very funny. Nope, he was serious. Nothing horrid happened.A few other relatives and friends gave me some lessons, but the majority of it was running my dad around on Saturdays in my car, a 1981 cutlass supreme.
The way he taught me to pay attention to the road was he would point out every stupid landmark or where some “working” lady lived etc then act all pissed when I got distracted. Yeah cliche but today I thank him for teaching me NOT to get distracted.Hard to say how many hours behind the wheel but I am going to guesstimate 40’ish before I took my driving test. It was more a matter of finding time to take me there.
When I got in the car with the tester, I almost forgot my seat belt til she put hers on. I passed first time though.Just a couple pointers about learning the feel of a car – Harder you push the brakes, faster it stops. After a while, judging stopping pressure and distance become second nature. When coming out of a turn, the steering wheel “mostly” corrects itself (on ANY car). There is a long boring mechanical explanation for this but just know the wheels tend to want to be straight. All you have to do is fine-tune the steering alignment.
Acceleration speed depends mostly on the engine’s power. You will get a general “Feel” for how much to push the gas for how fast to accelerate. No need to floor it.MOSTLY – when first learning to drive, you want an automatic transmission. Driving a stick adds a whole set of headaches you are not ready for.
Do not forget to learn the legal stuff too. Your state may have different rules pertaining with how far ahead to signal a turn, what to do when a bus has it’s stop sign out (In Indiana, even on the other side of the road, even with a dividing median, all must stop) and also – do NOT use bright lights in fog (I missed that one) Plenty of practice online tests for free, and they are NOT graded in any way.
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