What bad mistakes did you make while learning to drive? I did awful today?

Connie F

ok, take it from a 35 yr old single woman, my first day of driving actually hurt. I have had lots of experience on go carts, motorcycles and even driving the car before I got my permit, but that person sitting in the seat with you really makes it difficult. I ran a stop sign, the instructor made me get out and apologize, can u imagine? Then he told me to turn right, I turned left. He said do you know your right from the left? I said yes. He made me write an essay. I held on to the steering wheel so tightly that my arms hurt for two days. I will never forget it, but it is funny now, but wasn't then. The absolute worst part was that when I went to get my permit, I failed the eye test and had to get glasses. Holy crapola. That hurt emotionally, but there was a silver lining. I became the smartest popular person around. My grades were just average because I couldn't see the chalk board. So all ended well. I guess the best thing to tell you is to relax, your instructor is not gonna bite ya, and as long as you don't wreck, I am certain you won't fail. Remember this is a time to learn, and just be honest with the instructor. Say that you are nervous and ask him, how would he deal with the nervousness. Also, before you make a mistake, as him what will happen. Ask him/her what will fail you, just be curious and let it be known that you are nervous but want to make an excellent grade and be the safest driver you can. Afterall, that is the ultimate goal. Good luck!!!!

justanotherengine

I drove down a one way once with my permit and my whole family yelling at me in the car, hey, it was the way I went with my bike !

My dad took me out to a big empty parking lot in the snow, and showed me how to correct a bad skid, get traction, how slippery it is to stop, how to get unstuck etc.. I'm sure that if I tried this with my son, I would get arrested.

Momo M

I nearly drove into a lake with my dad in the car, i was literally like 2 inches away. Another bad mistake was getting into a race with my mom in the car... i wasn't allowed to drive for a while.

mp13

Parents need to bring their children out to the country and teach them to drive LONG before they get into drivers training. That way they are more comfortable about it and silly mishaps are less likely to happen. Too many parents rely on a teacher for this and they do not receive enough wheel time to allow them to learn before they get a license.

London RÃ¯ot â™¥

I hit a mailbox when I was fifteen.
Scared me so bad I didn't get in the driver's seat again til a few months before my nineteenth birthday.

It gets better. Don't be too hard on yourself.

hannlbai78

if that is the worst thing you do then you are ahead of the game. just remember up is right and down is left. some people dont even use their signal lights. you shouldnt be devastated from that though. dont get too comfortable behind the wheel that can also be dangerous.

ledcustoms

i drove though a red light, because i was looking further down the street that where i was at.

someoneelse04

my driving test, dmv tester sitting right next to me, I start the car in the dmv parking lot, instead of backing up straight, I started turning the wheel too early and scraped the car next to me, didn't even make it out of the parking space..lol..well, wasn't funny at the time..I just made myself practice and next try, about 2 months later, same person, she was amused, I passed...practice builds confidence..

Johnny Huynh

well if thats the mistake u made thats its not really that big of a deal. Since when i was learning how to drive which was about 1 year ago i almost killed myself about 5 times over. So don't worry just stay calm and u should be fine

bestonnet_00

Don't worry too much about it, what you did was in the scheme of things not all that bad (and if the person following knew you were learning, I'd expect them to forgive you for it).

Though in my opinion those get somewhat nervous are the ones I'd rather share the road with then those who are overconfident since the people that get nervous all the time are a lot less likely to cut me off.

Though you really need to get more than a hundred hours of practice before actually getting your licence and that should be more than enough time to learn to change gear (which only those who have a disability should be able to get out of) and handle the car.

Ignore the idiots who advise advanced training though, young drivers who go through such courses actually crash more often.

gregoryb96

The best thing for you to do is to get an old piece of crap car and find an empty pasture or field. Then drive the hell out of it and drive as crazy as possible. Drive and do things that you would never do in your own car. This should help with your vervousness and help you drive a little better. That's how I learned to drive.

Sriram

Hi all,
First a learner need to know thoroughly about the capability of the vehicle which they drive to learn. Then should know about all the stuff on the dash board. The problem with a learner is, he/she wants to prove that they can use all the possible things in the vehicle and show that they are aware of everything. For example in a stick version(manual transmission) they want to use all the gears and prove that they can shift between very well without knowing the speed to trasmission ratio. It is not essential that we need to drive a long stretch in front. Learners can try this. As soon as you get into the vehicle pl spend some time knowing all the crab things for a few minutes. Adjust the seating to be comfortable, then know where the essential things are placed(like turn indicator, light swith etc) then slowly move front a few hundred meters, stop, then try to run a reverse and see if you can maintain a reasonable line(steady driving). Once you are comfortable try parking your vehicle in a garriage in reverse(this helps to judge the turning radius), once you are done with these basic things you are 60% ok. Then try with this. Place 3 poles in a straigh line sufficiently spaced(max 1 and 1/2 times the lenght of the vehicle initially then gradually reduce the spacing to 3/4th the lenght of the vehicle) in between and try to drive gig-jag both in front and reverse, then increase the number of poles. If you can drive through without hitting any of the poles, YOU ARE DONE!!
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Sriram

Ratus N

I found a couple of beers before the lesson helped, relaxed me right down. Mind, I'm not sure about doing that outside of Africa, your cops might want more than a couple of dollars to leave you alone. For me my driving instructor used to have a can ready for me to save time (he made me pay for it so don't worry I wasn't taking advantage of his good nature or anything).

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