First Driving Lesson Tomorrow

[RaikkonenRules]

Tomorrow I will start my driving lessons. I've been waiting for this my whole life, can't wait :D

[ChrisS]

ain't nothing to it made just be relaxed and I'm sure you'll do fine.

what car will you be learning on?

[Storm]

so why the :s RR ?
driving is fun and easy to learn...(if you are not my wife and all her friends) especially if you already know how to drive a motorbike/moped with gears.

all the best!

[GridGirl]

A friend of mine started to learn to drive a couple of months ago. The instructor told him to get in the car so he did. The instructor then made him get out again before giving him a 10 minute lecture on how to enter and exit a car correctly. :s You'd think at 24 you wouldn't have problems getting in and out of cars but evidently so.

[Daniel]

Did your friend tell him/her to shut her gob and teach them to drive rather than being a pedantic twit? After all they were paying for that lecture. Be calm rr and all will be ok.

[airshifter]

Have fun and be safe RR, and take it seriously.

Learning to drive is much like anything else you learn, and most often the people that already thing they know it all don't. Those doing that in driving classes are probably more likely to be filling out insurance claims in the near future.

[ChrisS]

A friend of mine started to learn to drive a couple of months ago. The instructor told him to get in the car so he did. The instructor then made him get out again before giving him a 10 minute lecture on how to enter and exit a car correctly. :s You'd think at 24 you wouldn't have problems getting in and out of cars but evidently so.

did your friend pretend he was a NASCAR driver and got in the car through the window or something? :confused:

[Garry Walker]

Tomorrow I will start my driving lessons. I've been waiting for this my whole life, can't wait :D

Good luck. Just remember, no one mastered the art of driving in 1 day!

[MrJan]

I learnt with my Dad which was half a good idea and half a very bad idea. Although I saved loads of money we had a fair few arguements and ended up shouting most times we went out. That made me not want to drive as much and I kept putting it off. In the end I regretted it, I passed first time but about 2 years after I should have and have paid the price in terms of insurance. If I hadn't been so nervous about it I would have had 5 years driving experience by now.

I guess the moral is that the ends justify the means, even if you hate learning to drive it'll be so cool when you pass that it's all worth it :)

Good luck and have fun :D

[GridGirl]

did your friend pretend he was a NASCAR driver and got in the car through the window or something? :confused:

Nope, he turned his back away from on coming traffic or something when he was getting in. If it was a busy street with lots of traffic I can see that the advice might be helpful, but having a lesson at 6pm at night when your starting out from your nice quiet suburban street really didn't warrant the lecture. :s Thank goodness his first lesson was a two hour one, as I'd be majorly annoyed if ten minutes of my first hour lesson was spent being taught to get in and out of a car.

I really can't remember any of my first lesson. Hope you have a good one RR.

[MrJan]

How do you get in a car without turning your back on traffic? If your car is facing the right way you'd be getting in backwards and end up with your arse on the steering wheel.

[Erki]

so why the :s RR ?
driving is fun and easy to learn...(if you are not my wife and all her friends) especially if you already know how to drive a motorbike/moped with gears.

all the best!

Well, driving is very fun thing to do, especially in a van on snowy rural roads. :burnout:

I don't know how many lessons you have to have before taking the exam. I had less than 19 hours of total driving before I took my exam. However, the first 10 or so hours of them were little short from miserable. :s I thought I was the worst driver in the whole world, the only consolation to me was that even Paris Hilton knows how to drive. I felt all the time that I have to do everything perfectly first time and perform faultlessly. Having a car with difficult clutch and gearbox didn't help either. I soon got a better car though and everything went better. Except parking. I hate parking. I'm a driver, not a parker.

Anyway... to cut the long story short, stalling at the same junction three times in a row has been done and tested already, don't worry about that. :D

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Have you had any lessons from a close relative or someone? I think that if you master the basics of how to drive before starting professional lessons you will save a load of cash.

[jso1985]

driving is actually really easy, just takes some practice, you will make a lots of mistakes on the first lesson, but take count everyone did mistakes when learning.

Now parking... you will learn that too, just hope It doesn't take as much as it's taking to me :s :mark: , who needs to park? I wanna drive! :p :

[RaikkonenRules]

ain't nothing to it made just be relaxed and I'm sure you'll do fine.

what car will you be learning on?

I think it is a BMW Mini.


so why the :s RR ?
driving is fun and easy to learn...(if you are not my wife and all her friends) especially if you already know how to drive a motorbike/moped with gears.

all the best!

lol I clicked on the wrong smiley. It was meant to be a rotating smile. ;)

Thanks for the advise guys :up:

[Zico]

Nice one mate, after passing my test learning to drive was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. Note that I said "after".... because you only really start learning properly through experience.. In passing your test you will only have learned the basics. My advice would be to have your 1st 2-3 lessons with your instructor, that way you can stamp out any bad habits immediately.. then gain experience driving with a family member if possible.

When you come to sit your test remember that they dont seem to look for competant drivers who can merge with the flow of the traffic.. if your instructor/examiner is anything like mine they will subconsciously mark you down as over confident and be less lenient with any mistakes you make. You need to exagerate your head movements as you check your mirrors etc and basically drive like a pansy erring 150% on the side of caution with regards to your driving style. Maybe I was unfortunate tho.. :D

I hope that doesnt sound like a lecture, it wasnt my intentions.. just passing on my own experiences. Do my personal experiences ring true with anyone else on here?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

When you come to sit your test remember that they dont seem to look for competant drivers who can merge with the flow of the traffic..

You can say that again :mad:

[RaikkonenRules]

Have you had any lessons from a close relative or someone? I think that if you master the basics of how to drive before starting professional lessons you will save a load of cash.

I only have 20 laps go karting experience at the circuit in Sharm El Sheik in the summer. But those karts don't have gears though :(

[Mark]

The best thing to remember as you go along and start to learn something is not to try to show off. You would impress nobody. The examiners are looking for calm and measured. Driving the car is quite easy being able to know what other drivers are going to do is the real test.

[millencolin]

Most important thing i found was dont be pre-occupied with your driving. what i mean by that is dont be overly-paranoid about what speed you are travelling or making sure your hands are on the wheel correctly. Be more weary about other drivers, not just the one right infront/behind you but others coming from other directions too.

but just be calm and you'll be right. i was lucky and had an excellent teacher though (heart driving school, brisbane :p :... free plug).

Oh, and dont try and 'clip the apex' of corners or anything, cause general motorsport rules dont apply to driving :p :

[raikk]

remember outside inside outside, proper lines, low risk passes use as much of the road as possible anddon't forget to warm your tires........wait a sec :P

[Drew]

I was lucky to have a field to practice in. Just general, probably obvious tips:

1) Remain calm, people will cut you up, pull out on you etc because you're a learner,
2) Concentrate on what you're doing, everybody makes it look easy, but at the start it really isn't.
3) Be patient,
4) Remember everybody makes mistakes, just make sure to learn from them!
5) Play by the rules. Stick to speed limits as if there was a gun to your head even if you're not with your instructor! What you do after you pass is up to you..
:)

[millencolin]

I was lucky to have a field to practice in. Just general, probably obvious tips:


5) Play by the rules. Stick to speed limits as if there was a gun to your head even if you're not with your instructor! What you do after you pass is up to you..
:)


and what you do with the resulting speeding tickets is also up to you. i say make a collage out of them :p :

[Drew]

and what you do with the resulting speeding tickets is also up to you. i say make a collage out of them :p :

If he gets 2 within a certain period, he's banned. Parking tickets on the other hand :p :

[Easy Drifter]

Just listen to your instructor. I hope you are learning on a manual shift. Switching to auto is easy but the reverse is not true. Over here these days most people learn on an Automatic and if they have to drive manual they are lost.
When I was instructing at a race drivers school I had people show up who had never driven manual. That was a whole lot of fun! If they remembered to use the clutch at all they would just shift down and release the clutch. Instant lock up. I was there to teach the basics of race driving not the basics of driving.
Anyway you are lucky you are not here. It has been snowing since early morning. Those are not conditions for your first lesson!

[MrJan]

don't forget to warm your tires........wait a sec :P

That's an important one. Examiners will mark you on how long the black lines you leave are :D ;)

[RaikkonenRules]

Just had my lesson. The Instructor drove me out a mile then went over the basics with me. Then I had to drive the car back. Went okay just forgot those bloody gears and clutch a few times and stalled :(

[MrJan]

I stalled yesterday. Been driving for three years though :D

[Erki]

I have stalled three times in the last five days. :s In a diesel. :s

:s

[Daniel]

I stalled yesterday. Been driving for three years though :D
I beat you!

I've been driving for 6 years and stalled and reversed into a hedge today :)

[Mark]

I have been driving for 10 years and still stall occasionally! An examiner will not fail you for a single stall as long as you stay calm and resolve the situation. I stalled on my test and still passed.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I don't think I stalled on my first lesson or on any of my three :mad: tests. Although I did stall a few times in between ;)