35 replies to this topic

[Fikri]

• do you drive?
• do you drive auto/manual?
• how was your experience getting a licence? was it a smooth sailing or did you a hit couple of people along the way before finally getting one?

 

mom nagged me to take a driving licence again and i finally gave in. i already attempted taking one after finishing high school but failed miserably as i almost hit a motorcyclist that suddenly emerged from my blindspot.

i'll be practicing driving at driving school tomorrow for 4 hours  and another 6 hours spread across the next few days before taking the driving test. i'm a little worried because i have like, the WORST hand-eye coordination EVER. the last time the instructor never trusted me so he placed his right hand on my steering wheel the entire time lol. i never seem to get how to control the freaking clutch too! i really hope i'll pass this time. i already watched a few youtube videos to help me through this process.

[Junjie]

Oh my godd I can totally relate to this, except that I don't have parental pressure to get license cos my family doesn't drive either.

 

But yes, I don't have a driving license, didn't take lessons...except that I was sent for a driving course in the army during the compulsory national service guys in Singapore here have, in my last few months. I was soo shitty that my instructor (a tough, old-school former Naval Diver) basically cursed and swore at me every single day. Somehow managed to pass at the end. And then when I went back to my army unit I didn't drive, they didn't require drivers anyway and I suppose just sent me for an extra course cos it was my last few months or something. And then I never felt the need to get a license after that.

 

Public transport is relatively pretty decent in Singapore, however. Might be different if I lived like in America or something.

[JennaJayen]

I have 2 left feet, and I'm still on my learners licence, not that far off 30 years old now so need to get onto getting my full licence soon.
I do have an automatic car though, it's so much easier to drive than a manual.

[Cass]

I have my license a little over a year now. Students here get free access to the public transport, so I never had a need for a car. I can still use public transport for free, but there's some odd jobs that I have that are either in the middle of nowhere or ungodly hours. Since I can't depend on getting rides from friends all the time, it became necessary to get a license.

 

I drive stick, I'm a European after all. I have an Opel Kadett. The old tincan is 29 years old already. Everybody hates it so much lol but I'm so in love with my little stubborn old car. I'll admit it's hard work to drive the damn thing, but you can feel every gear turn when driving in it.

 

I was so confident when I was still taking lessons; I felt like I was the best driver in the world. Well okay not best, but pretty good nonetheless. Looking back I don't know how I ever got my license because I'm a complete idiot. I'm especially bad at parking (boohoo how stereotypical of me). I just make sure to steer clear from parking garages and parallel park lol, fuck that shit. I'd rather walk a little longer from my parking spot. But anyway, I got my license in one try luckily enough. Else I would've had a really crushed ego.

[KaibaSama]

I have a permit but not a license. I was practicing and trying to park at a slant when some bitches little kid basically ran right into the parking lot right in front of my car. I didn't hit him, he wasn't even that close but I got bitched out by the angry mom and her sister or whoever for about 20 minutes and they scared me so much I started crying. After that I became sort of afraid of driving, so I didn't try again. I also had a seizure in March, so I can't get my license till the end of August as per the ridiculous 6 month with no seizures thing. I'm not epileptic, so to me 6 months is kind of ridiculous to me.

[Torque]

I drive auto and manual. Had my license for 10 years now, since I was 16. Ive driven everything from 15000 lb box trucks full of products to ferraris and lamborghinis. It gets easier with time. Just practice and eventually you'll learn. Pressure isnt a good thing when learning because it causes you to rush. You're going to want to take your time and learn where you need to look and where to turn.

[Ali]

Yes. Manual. It's incredibly simple. Although doing 4 hours as a learner would have exhausted me...

[Emily]

I don't drive. I hate it. I have my reasons. 

(But I was pretty good at it when I tried. Just keep practicing. You'll get it!)

[GetJinxed]

I drive a manual. Getting a license was somewhat easy. I had troubles learning how to parallel park and today i'm not so confident on that manouver because of that I have never learned on how to reverse parking either because i have never done it when I was learning. The perks on being on a school where you only learn on how to pass the exam and not how to completly drive -_- I guess that applies to most if not all schools out there Other than that I sometimes get kind nervous on a steep hill. I learned with a diesel car but this car i drive is a gas one so the clutch is a bit more sensitive than the diesel ones. Other than time i'm OK. I do get nervous when i'm giving a ride to a neighbour or somebody else that i'm not too close with or that has never been with me on the car while i was driving. Just kinda afraid they may think i'm a bad driver  Idk xD Have some lack of confidence sometimes 

 

Back to on topic: If you are just starting your lessons don't really bother with the clutch for now. The first few lessons my instructor was handling it at the same time as me just in case i would fail. After a few lessons you should be OK. If not just tell him to make a lesson or 2 dedicated to clutch handling and you will see you will manage to learn it 

[Karla]

I drive manual.

 

I didn't learn how to drive until I was 23 due to my mother freaking out of me being on the road as a teen. My dad taught me how to drive, and I often sucked a lot. I took my drivers test and written test and passed with flying colors. Got my license and started sucking less. I couldn't start driving by myself until after a year. Now I feel more confident driving by myself.

 

Try not to worry about having bad hand-eye coordination. That was a problem for me when I started driving too. You'll get better the more you practice driving.

[Coops]

I drive automatic. But I can drive manual if I have to. I have a little blue car I call the Blueberry. 

[Dazz]

I drive a manual, but on a motorcycle, it's easy enough just have to push your foot up or down to change gears Don't worry too much about the clutch, after a while it'll just become second nature to you. The more you're out on the roads the more confidence you'll build up from experience. The advice my instructor gave me before my test was to just relax, since a lot of errors come from overthinking or from being too nervous. She said ease your butt up because the instructors aren't there to catch you out, they just want to make sure you can ride confidently, they want more riders on the road since we're like one big brotherhood   Just give it time, and after being out on the roads for a while your confidence will grow a lot, then you'll be able to kick that tests butt no problem!

[sprockets]

I drive automatic and only learned how to a couple years ago, learning to drive manual is on my "to-do" list. I never learned at a younger age because a) I never like learning anything from my dad who makes me feel dumb for not getting it right away and b) Because I knew I would speed but eventually I got tired of taking the bus or having my dad drive me everywhere so I took driving school. I remember when I passed I thought that I wouldn't cause I felt like I made a lot of mistakes but maybe I was just being hard enough.

 

Anyways, it definitely does get easier for most although there are some people who don't like driving and only do it because they have to - one guy I know doesn't even like going faster than 60 km/h (37 mph for you Muricans) so he'll double his driving time by taking side roads instead of going on the main roads. 

[jinq]

automatic, I haven't driven since I passed my first road test in November. I still have another road test sometime after this November. I haven't driven past 80kph(50 mph) so I'll need some freeway practice before my second road test.

[Frizzle]

Automatic cars are for women and the disabled.

[Fikri]

ok so the first 4 hours is over and it was such a trainwreck. i kept on switching to the wrong gear (from 1 to 4, instead of 2), turning the steering wheel to the right too early the car ran into the kerb, the engine always went dead, etc etc. the instructor who is an old man barked a million things into my left ear per second. it was super confusing. he also kept on slaming the break for me so i couldn't tell if i'm using mine correctly or not. by the end of the class, he was like "why aren't you listening to me? i'm trying to help you over here. DO YOU WANT A LICENSE OR NOT??!!"

i'm supposed to learn for another 4 hours tomorrow but i asked him to cut it to 2 hours. @Ali is totally right, my butt and legs were killing me by the time i finished. not to mention the trauma.

i have only 6 hours more to turn myself into a pro driver from what i am now. i'm screwed. i heard scientists are working on driverless cars? any idea when they will become available?

[Cass]

Automatic cars are for women and the disabled.

I should be yelling at you now but whenever I see people fuck up on the road it's either old people or women

[Waser Lave]

ok so the first 4 hours is over and it was such a trainwreck. i kept on switching to the wrong gear (from 1 to 4, instead of 2), turning the steering wheel to the right too early the car ran into the kerb, the engine always went dead, etc etc. the instructor who is an old man barked a million things into my left ear per second. it was super confusing. he also kept on slaming the break for me so i couldn't tell if i'm using mine correctly or not. by the end of the class, he was like "why aren't you listening to me? i'm trying to help you over here. DO YOU WANT A LICENSE OR NOT??!!"

i'm supposed to learn for another 4 hours tomorrow but i asked him to cut it to 2 hours. @Ali is totally right, my butt and legs were killing me by the time i finished. not to mention the trauma.

i have only 6 hours more to turn myself into a pro driver from what i am now. i'm screwed. i heard scientists are working on driverless cars? any idea when they will become available?

 

Regarding the gears, until you're confident with changing them smoothly in some cars it's a bit easier to let it settle in neutral for a moment before then moving it to the gear you need so like doing it in two movements rather than one, first -> neutral - >second (it's a little difficult to describe). And yeah, 4 hours is a long time to concentrate for a new driver and will probably result in you making more mistakes so 2 hours would be much better.

 

Really it sounds like you should find a better instructor. He shouldn't be confusing you, shouting at you and slamming on the brake without explaining why he had to do it (I don't see why he would need to use the brake unless it was absolutely necessary for safety).

[NapisaurusRex]

Driving is my favorite thing to do ever.

 

The only piece of advice I have for all you people who want a license but don't have one is to learn on the biggest freaking vehicle you have access to. Everything else is easy after that. 

 

I prefer stick, but most vans are automatic and I'm in love with 3rd row seating for my monster army.

[Ali]

ok so the first 4 hours is over and it was such a trainwreck. i kept on switching to the wrong gear (from 1 to 4, instead of 2), turning the steering wheel to the right too early the car ran into the kerb, the engine always went dead, etc etc. the instructor who is an old man barked a million things into my left ear per second. it was super confusing. he also kept on slaming the break for me so i couldn't tell if i'm using mine correctly or not. by the end of the class, he was like "why aren't you listening to me? i'm trying to help you over here. DO YOU WANT A LICENSE OR NOT??!!"

i'm supposed to learn for another 4 hours tomorrow but i asked him to cut it to 2 hours. @Ali is totally right, my butt and legs were killing me by the time i finished. not to mention the trauma.

i have only 6 hours more to turn myself into a pro driver from what i am now. i'm screwed. i heard scientists are working on driverless cars? any idea when they will become available?

I used to have 90 minute lessons, any less and I didn't settle into it enough to learn, any more and I got too tired. Driving IS tiring, which is why we pull over and have breaks on long journeys. Learning is tiring. 4 hours seems way too long to me. Also your instructor sounds terrible.

[Elindoril]

Don't drive.

Only reason I'd want to is to make people listen to my shitty music for once, CRAIG. Just one song! Let me play one damn song. Dammit stop playing Beck for the hundredth time.

[Honchkrow]

Only automatic, I haven't even touched a manual car before. The only part I've failed was the written test but that was because I didn't study lol, everything else was easy. I just remember getting a point because I was stopped at a yellow light for too long (I was trying to turn left), I mean, I just wanted to make sure I don't get t-boned by some idiot trying to run a yellow light. :l

[Zieke]

I consider myself a pretty decent driver, but I do have baaaad road rage.

I haven't been in an accident/had a ticket in 6+ years now *Knock on wood*

[Daria]

I loooove driving! I have an auto and I want to learn manual but my boyfriend won't teach me on his Evo how selfish of him not to let me learn on his 240 kW turbo car >:[

[SamanthaBee]

I drive Auto and nothing too tragic happened to me getting my liscence. In the 6 hours we had to drive with a driving school I completely failed at parking but still managed to get my permit lol. When I was 17, you took the driving test on the obstacle course they had in the back of the DMV so it was pretty easy that way. I have no clue how to even go about driving a manual car though