Starting Driving

[Wil]

Got my provisional driving License today, anyone got any 'useful' tips for my first driving session

[Suh]

breathe....


honestly, relaxing and taking it easy.


i passed



applys to the lessons as well.... <_<

[Horny Elf]

breathe....


honestly, relaxing and taking it easy.


i passed



applys to the lessons as well.... <_<

Women shouldnt be allowed to drive.

As for the first lil rascal, do what the instructor tells you to do.

[Jacklyn]

keep your hands on the wheel :P..and your eyes open..

[Wil]

At £17 an hour to learn, im going to pursuade my parents to teach me. Once im driving to college all the honeys will come flocking to me ^-^
well thats the plan B)

[Suh]

At £17 an hour to learn, im going to pursuade my parents to teach me. Once im driving to college all the honeys will come flocking to me ^-^
well thats the plan B)

wait wait wait learning to drive and learning to pass are 2 different things. please i could teach you to drive (if i wasnt to busy cleaning Horny Es dishes), but actaully passing, is a differnet story....

[Mr. Peanuts]

Why do I have to be the youngest in my college?

[Wil]

Why do I have to be the youngest in my college?

Im only a few months older than you, most my friends are driving already
What you doing at college, i bet it beats Further Maths, Phyiscs, Economics and Computing <_<

[hogo]

make sure to pull the ebrake a good 5 feet before each turn so you have plenty of time to correct for oversteer or understeer. :fear:

[smertin]

Why do I have to be the youngest in my college?

Im younger than you mike. :turned:

[unrealistic]

At £17 an hour to learn, im going to pursuade my parents to teach me. Once im driving to college all the honeys will come flocking to me ^-^
well thats the plan B)

Its between £20-25 a lesson around here think yourself lucky...

(here being Oxfordshire)

[wadi]

Got my provisional driving License today, anyone got any 'useful' tips for my first driving session

CLUTCH

[Emaho]

dont drive into the ditch

[Ewan]

Firstly, don't think you're better than you are. You're not.

Remember: observations, observations, observations.

Always use a handbrake at a stop sign, red light, a slope, or if waiting for longer than 5 seconds (The last one is not a concrete rule, just a guidline, your instructor may tell you different (And obviously, take any advice of his over mine ;P)

Always stay in the leftmost lane possible (Obviously going into right hand lane if you need to overtake or directions tell you to be in that lane).

If you're learning in a decent car, you don't need to bother with 4th gear when going onto a dual carriageway. Just accelerate up in 3rd, then go straight to 5th.

I would learn the very basics (Starting the car, pulling away, changing gears etc..) with parents, but after that, go with an instructor. They are 100x better.

Try to be friendly with your instructor, you'll enjoy your lessons a lot more. If your instructor is a miserable twat who just shouts at you and doesn't chat, get a new one. It doesn't help if you're dreading your next driving lesson instead of looking forward to it.

Personally I found I drove a lot worse at 9 - 10 - 11am lessons, afternoon lessons were a lot nicer. This may just be cause I am lazy and not used to getting up that early ;P.

It's nice to practice in your parents car while also having lessons, but don't overdo it. If you have 2 hours of lessons a week, try to drive with parents for 1 hour max. You're going to be taking your test in your instructor's car so you want to be used to that. (Obviously, if you're taking the test in your own/parents car, ignore this advice.)

When doing reverse round a corner. You'll be taught to do it looking out the back window. It's 10x easier if you look in your left wing mirror (while kinda pretending to look out the back.)

Even though you're allowed to, never take off your seatbelt when doing a manouvre. There's nothing worse than failing cause you forgot to put it back on after a succesful manouvre.

Make sure you find out from your instructor ASAP where the headlights, sidelights and windscreen wipers are.

If your instructor is good, he'll probably try chatting to you while you're driving (when you're getting half good anyway) as this'll get you driving out of habit, not driving while actively thinking about it. If you feel comfortable and he's not chatting, try striking up some conversation.

Remember, DO NOT CROSS YOUR ARMS when steering, and when driving, keep them in the "10 to two" position.

When you first start, it's likely your right foot will ache or be sore a bit. Just try your best to ignore it. You can rest the left to the side of the clutch once you're in the highest gear that you want.

Never swerve, always stop when faced with a hazard. A hit from behind will do a lot less damage than a head-on collision caused by you swerving on to the other side.

Try wearing thin soled shoes as these will be more comfortable, and it's easier if you can feel the pedals better.

If you start kangaroo hopping, jut put the clutch right down and it'll stop.

If you feel a stall is about to happen, just push down on the accelerator more (This'll relate more to real driving than learning to drive).

When pulling out of a roundabout. Don't doddle, put your foot down. Going on to a roundabout slow is a lot more dangerous than going fast. (Obviously be sensible with this.)

When pulling up to a roundabout, always keep your eye on the car infront of you, not the roundabout, until there are none in front. If you're watching the roundabout, this is how rear shunts occur.

Unless there is reason not to (restricted view, rain, traffic, etc..), try to keep ON, or at least 2 MPH below the speed limit. Going too slow is just as likely to fail you as speeding.

If a road has streetlights, it will always be 30MPH unless signs say otherwise.

If you make a mistake, just forget about it. If you let it get to you, you're more likely to make more.

If you're not too good at judging your road position, a quick glance in your left wing mirror should tell you how close you are to the curb.

When you stop behind a car, make sure you can see the bottom of the tires and some tarmac. This'll let you know that you're about 1 car's length away.

When you are in a queue and you are near a sideroad. If you would block the sideroad, stay back until you know that there is space after the side road for your car. Same goes for box junctions and keep clear spaces.

Try to get an idea of how big your blind spot is. When stopped (not while waiting at a junction/roundabout). Watch cars go by in your wing mirror and your rear view mirror, you'll see there is a surprising gap. I used to think that the blindspot could only obscure a cyclist, but it can easily obscure a whole car.

Don't be a dick to your instructor.

If you can't make a lesson or are going to be late. LET HIM KNOW. If it's not a last minute thing, let him know at least 24 hours before. He'll try to do the same for you (They aren't perfect, they miss/are late for lessons too).

Try to find out if you can buy lessons in bulk, it'll tend to be cheaper. Also let them know you are a student, you may get a small discount.

Book / take your theory test now. You'll hate yourself if when you try to book it, there's a 4 week waiting time.

Yes the theory test is easy, but don't take it for granted. Make sure you know exactly how the hazards perception test works, I didn't find the instructions that clear.

If you fail the questions, you shouldn't really be driving ;P Keep a theory test book (Will have all of the theory test questions (About 1000) in it) by your toilet, it makes a decent and very useful poo-read when your theory test is coming up.

When driving, try to look as far ahead as possible (And also near to you too ;p) as this will help you see things coming up that may cause you to slow/stop.

When changing gears, don't keep your hand on the gear stick. This isn't really that big a deal once you've passed but examiners hate it.

When slowing down, don't bother going 4, 3, 2, 1. Just slow to a stop and then go 4 -> 1 (Although it's quite likely you would have been in 3rd, so then go 3 -> 1).

2nd gear is your "power" gear. If you need to accelerate, use second (obviously if you're going 30+ already, this isn't wise.) When pulling away, go in 1st briefly, then say in 2nd all the way up to 30. Then depending on the car, go straight to 4th or 3rd. (My Mum's car cruises nicely in 4th at 30, but the car I learnt in was best if you left it in 3rd.)

If you're turning left at a junction, follow the curb round until you stop at the white line, you'll be in a nicer position to pull away.

A general rule: If you're going left at a junction and someone is coming from the right, indicating to turn left. If you didn't see them turn on the indicator (I.e. it was on when you spotted them). Wait until they start turning in before pulling out. If you saw them turn it on, it's safe to go. (This may depend on your instructor, he may tell you to always wait until you see them start to turn. Listen to him over me.)

When on your test, treat it just like a lesson. Remember, always look in your mirror before: Indicating, slowing down, speeding up (I dunno why, but it keeps them happy), changing gear and changing lane (When changing lane, check blindspot too). It also helps to randomly check your mirrors every now and again just so you have a general idea of the traffic around you. Whatever you do, don't speed.

If you get an emergency stop in your test, he'll pull you over and tell you. Then when you're driving, he'll check over his shoulder before telling you STOP. This is a stupidly easy thing as you know exactly when he is going to do it. The place people fail is pulling away again. Put your car in neutral, put handbrake on. Check BOTH shoulders and then pull off.

Try not to go out drinking on a night before a lesson. You'll be a lot worse and bad lessons aren't nice.

Don't go straight into 2 hour lessons. For me I found 1.5hour lessons were nice to start, and then pushing up to 2 hour. Every now and again I would have a 1 hour lesson. If you're on a 2 hour lesson and you're just not "feeling it". Ask him to cut the lesson short. It's better to have a lesson ending on an ok rather than ending after going downhill. (Obviously if it's cut short, your instructor will (should) only charge you for what you did, if he wants to charge you for the full time, get a new instructor.)

Try not to get lessons at the weekend, they are more expensive and the roads are busier.

Try getting used to looking at signs as you drive. You won't necessarily need it that much when learning/on test. But it's very useful when you come to drive on your own if you're used to looking at them and reading them to see where to go.

If your examiner tells you to do anything, you have failed your test (i.e. "Stop", "Put your seatbelt on", "Don't go" etc..) They will give instructions in the form of a request (i.e. "Turn right please"). If they don't say anything, keep going straight ahead until they say otherwise.


These are mostly tips told to me by my instructor. A few are ones I have thought of myself either when learning or since I've passed.

If your instructor says anything that overrules a tip, do what he says, not me.

[Jeansi]

You're not serious about just writing that yourself?