Bad driving lesson knocked my confidence

Hello everyone, I've been taking driving lessons during the summer, and thought I was doing pretty well today where I've had my worst lesson yet. I haven't stalled for weeks and today my instructor took me to my test area to drive there for the first time, I managed to stall the car 4 times today.. I put it down to being in an unfamiliar area..but that's no excuse because obviously that's going to be a common occurrence when I finally pass my test..driving in unfamiliar territory.. but it made me feel absolutely crap tbh.

Then I went to the petrol station with my instructor and she showed me how to fill the car up I ended up leaving the petrol station and my instructor told me to turn right, which I did, so I was back on the right, but for some reason completely unknown to me I was briefly driving on the right side of the road I was just lucky there were no oncoming vehicles, she asked me what I was doing and I promptly moved over to the left side..

Then there was another issue where I had to turn right off a main road into a side road, pretty easy right, stay near the centre line check mirrors, indicate, did all that, but there was a car pulling out and I ended up not even seeing my turn in and tried to turn so that the car pulling out was on my left, there was basically nowhere to turn and I should of seen my turn in, there were even the 'keep left' arrows so I had no excuse,

I also kept forgetting to check my blind spot which is just ridiculous I know..

My instructor says I'm making great progress, I told her that I'd like to be taking my test by october/november time and she said that I will definitely be taking it by then, if not before but I'm wondering if she's just trying to make me feel better because she could see how dissapointed I was in myself.

Iv'e completed all my maneouvres and havn't really had many problems with any of them..

Any words of encouragement/advice would be much welcomed or by others who have experienced something similar,

Oh and iv'e been learning since the middle of May, and Iv'e done 10x2hr lessons..

tldr - I mucked up, missed my turn in, stalled 3 or 4 times, kept forgetting to check my blind spot, drove very briefly on the wrong side of the road(never done this before..and feel like crap because of it)

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

Iqbal007

Original post by Buxtons

Hello everyone, I've been taking driving lessons during the summer, and thought I was doing pretty well today where I've had my worst lesson yet, I haven't stalled for weeks and today my instructor took me to my test area to drive for the first time, I managed to stall 4 times today it's like, I put it down to being in an unfamiliar area.. but obviously that's going to be a common occurrence when I finally pass my test.. but it made me feel absolutely crap tbh.

Then I went to the petrol station with my instructor and she showed me how to fill the car up I ended up leaving the petrol station and my instructor told me to turn right, which I did, so I was back on the right, but for some reason completely unknown to me I was briefly driving on the right side of the road I was just lucky there were no oncoming vehicles, she asked me what I was doing and I promptly moved over to the left side..

Then there was another issue where I had to turn right off a main road into a side road, pretty easy right, stay near the centre line check mirrors, indicate, did all that, but there was a car pulling out and I ended up not even seeing my turn in and tried to turn so that the car pulling out was on my left, there was basically nowhere to turn and I should of seen my turn in, there were even the 'keep left' arrows so I had no excuse,

I also kept forgetting to check my blind spot which is just ridiculous I know..

My instructor says I'm making great progress, I told her that I'd like to be taking my test by october/november time and she said that I will definitely be taking it by then, if not before but I'm wondering if she's just trying to make me feel better because she could see how dissapointed I was in myself.

Iv'e completed all my maneouvres and havn't really had many problems with any of them..

Any words of encouragement/advice would be much welcomed or by others who have experienced something similar,

Oh and iv'e been learning since the middle of May, and Iv'e done 10x2hr lessons..

tldr - I mucked up, missed my turn in, stalled 3 or 4 times, kept forgetting to check my blind spot, drove very briefly on the wrong side of the road(never done this before..)

Well i did lessons for 3 months and then passed, i started around Feburary ad passed in May.

Stalling is a common occurence until you get a full grip of the biting point, dw it'll go.

Reply 2

jammie276

It sounds like you just had an off day TBH, as for the stalling even experienced drivers still occasionally stall and it doesn't matter to much in your test either you will only get a minor I think.

Reply 3

vertigo.0012

Don't dwell on it, everyone has an off lesson. At least you know where you went wrong - and that you did go wrong - so you'll learn from it. If your instructor says you're making progress then you are. Forget about the lesson, chances are the rest of them will be fine!

Reply 4

Seasick Steve

Probably when you first stalled you might have been under pressure a little bit. This would have then knocked your confidence, so you kept making errors. The same thing happened with me - you've just got to put it past you and learn not to repeat these mistakes in your next lessons.

Reply 5

Buxtons

Original post by Seasick Steve

That's the thing, I stalled at the traffic lights when they were on red and went to green.. I havn't done that in ages it's usually when im in a panicky situation and I stall then when theres lots going on.. but I was in my test area and driving there for the first time today and the roads and roundabouts were very different to the other ones I had been doing.. =/

Reply 6

trathen93

You'll be fine, everyone makes mistakes. You'll start to make less and less mistakes and become a decent driver, it just takes time.

Reply 7

itchy and scratchy

There's nothing wrong with this. No one is perfect on the road, no matter how long you've been driving!

You are bound to make mistakes, and it could just be due to a lack of focus, if you're stressed about other things.

On my first driving test I ended up driving on the wrong side of the road down to nerves, needless to say I failed, but I passed the 2nd time.

I heard of pupils that had off days just days before their test and ended up passing. Use this time effectively, don't dwell on this one off lesson, and drive around as much as you can - in your parents' cars if you are able to.

All the best.

Reply 8

CalmDownMrRooney

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(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 9

AYE

I almost killed me and my instructor twice in one lesson - he said "I've never had that done to me before". Weeks later I passed.

Reply 10

Cicerao

I drove on the wrong side of the road once, don't worry. You laugh at it. Eventually. :colonhash:

Reply 11

xWelshyx

Don't worry, honestly. Everyone stalls, even the most experienced drivers stall now and again. Stalling is nothing to worry about really - obviously try and avoid it, but if you stall in your test you won't fail, it'll just be classed as a minor. Some examiners won't even mark it as a minor if you respond well and don't panic.

And everyone has a bad lesson! My test is VERY soon and I still have bad lessons. You just need to get over it and not dwell on it. It sounds harsh but driving is something you just have to get stuck in with - there's no point sitting there all nervous and scared, you have to be in control of the car and really show your instructor you want it. Having the right attitude will improve your drive so much, you just have to find that confidence in yourself :smile:

a bad lesson now and again doesn't make you a bad driver!

And trust me, if your instructor is a good instructor then she wouldn't tell you you'll be doing your test then if she doesn't think you're capable of it. Good driving instructors won't give you false hope!

Reply 12

GdotNizzle

Just a bad day. Shirk it off, and keep on practising :biggrin:

Reply 13

harlar

Something similar happened to me about a month ago, so I totally know where you're coming from. It's horrible and it really does make you think that you'll never pass - but it shouldn't at all! My instructor told me that absolutely everyone has a terrible lesson and it's something that you'll learn from. Just keep going and practise as often as you can if you have access to a car. You'll get there. :smile:

Also if it makes you feel any better, I once tried to adjust my seat at a set of traffic lights and went careering backwards, missing the lights at a very busy box junction. I've also stalled so much I've missed the lights twice, and I nearly hit a car when I was practising with my mum the other day. >_<

Reply 14

raz373

you'll be fine, i rushed all my lessons and passed a month after my birthday, but the night before my test, i kept putting the car in third to set off and loads of stupid stuff stalled in the middle of a dual carriageway. But then at the time of the test. Passed with no minors whatsoever. and thats with the old test. you'll be fine :smile:

Reply 15

heafymatt

OP this is not an issue - especially after only ten lessons.
Stalling is not a problem even in the test, and you won't be penalised as long as you deal with it properly. I would put the rest of your problems down to tiredness and stress. I frequently made errors similar to these when I was learning and got better by practice, which was made alot easier when I didn't drink the night before a lesson, got a decent nights sleep, was in a calm state of mind during lessons(try to forget about personal problems) and concentrate on what action you need to take next and what is going on around you. Also when walking or on the bus during your day you could try running through what you should be doing when moving off, turning, manoeuvres etc. in your head. This seemed to help me :smile:

tl;dr - Minor mistakes are common with young drivers and a healthy state of mind can help.

Good luck OP :smile:

Reply 16

Bezzler

Hey, in my last but one lesson (on Thursday) I stalled something ridiculous like 12 times, including three times at the same set of lights. Today I stalled once right near the end of my lesson in a traffic jam cause my foot slipped off the clutch slightly when I wasn't paying attention, and that was it. We all have off days. And I'm planning on taking my test in about 6 weeks.

Reply 17

Magnus Taylor

It was my 7th lesson today and previously I had just moved onto main roads , but today I couldn't even start the car without kangarooing lol

Reply 18

Natalie j1986

Hay new here -- hope people can help ?-- had my 8th lesson today and I'm struggling finding biting point with up hill start (balancing) last week was a terrible lesson and its completely knocked my confidence. I felt like walking away from it. I need to do this for my son. Any advice please. :-)