The Student Room Group

Making stupid mistakes when driving

Hi,

I passed my driving test last Monday and have been driving almost every day since then, but I feel like I've made quite a few silly (and sometimes dangerous) mistakes which knocks my confidence. It seems that when I make a little mistake I panic and muck up again further on the drive.

For example, I was driving home from college today and I have to go left on a busy roundabout. I over-anticipated the distance of the other cars that were coming round and started to go, and as I pulled away one of the cars who was coming off left (but wasn't indicating so I didn't know was coming off) beeped me for pulling out on him. After that I felt like a nob for doing something so dangerous, and made another mistake a bit later on.

I was coming down a road and there were lots of parked cars on the right, and a car was coming up on the left hand. I have no idea why, as I wouldn't have done this normally, but I didn't slow down very much to let the woman through particularly safely.

Yet other times I will have a perfect drive and not muck up at all, but it seems once something goes wrong then I make more mistakes in my journey.

Is there anything I can do to reassure myself about this, or stay calm and not lose confidence if I do something wrong?
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 1
I think past just telling yourself that this is absolutely normal, almost expected, and that all you can do is calm down and learn from the errors - can you get some 'P' plates? These might give you a bit more confidence in simply acknowledging that you're still hesitant, and it will also let other drivers know to give you a little more space, and be a bit more patience with you. So they won't be so quick to beep and guilt you, and you will be less likely to do anything dangerous with any mistakes.
Reply 2
Original post by awe
I think past just telling yourself that this is absolutely normal, almost expected, and that all you can do is calm down and learn from the errors - can you get some 'P' plates? These might give you a bit more confidence in simply acknowledging that you're still hesitant, and it will also let other drivers know to give you a little more space, and be a bit more patience with you. So they won't be so quick to beep and guilt you, and you will be less likely to do anything dangerous with any mistakes.


Yeah, I suppose it is better so make these mistakes now than later so I can learn from them- at least I'm picking up on what I should and shouldn't do. I decided against having P plates, as one of my relatives who passed about a year ago drove for a bit without the plates and then bought some and put them on, but found that other drivers seemed to be more aggressive and impatient towards her than when she didn't. Obviously I can't speak from first person as it wasn't me, but I just took her word for it.
Original post by svin
Yeah, I suppose it is better so make these mistakes now than later so I can learn from them- at least I'm picking up on what I should and shouldn't do. I decided against having P plates, as one of my relatives who passed about a year ago drove for a bit without the plates and then bought some and put them on, but found that other drivers seemed to be more aggressive and impatient towards her than when she didn't. Obviously I can't speak from first person as it wasn't me, but I just took her word for it.


Yeah it varies- for some reason I had the opposite experience with p plates... People saw it as a command to overtake immediately, whatever the risk :/ I saw some seriously stupid overtakes -got rid of them after a couple of days, and it seemed safer that way! but to be fair most people seem to find they help :smile:


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Reply 4
Dont worry too much about it. We all have to learn.

As someone else said..get yourself some big P plates and dont be shy about displaying them with pride.

That way most sane people will cut you some slack. After all ,they dont want to have an accident either as aside from the inconvenience and possible pain, it costs money.

As for people beeping, well the P plates will reduce the beepage considerably. Beeping is just aggresive ignorance. Do you know, i drive every single day at work and i also drive out of work in my own car and i cant recall the last time i beeped anyone.

The only time i know my horn is working is at MoT time.

My top tips for you are


Get your P plates on

Be careful of your speed. If necessary get a sat nav which has speed limit beep alarms.

remember the golden rule.. If in doubt,dont. STOP.wait a few seconds,reassess

Dont be rushed or pressured by other drivers.
If you keep thinking about your mistakes, then you'll only make yourself more nervous. Every driver makes mistakes and many just seem to do what they want a lot of the time. The only thing that will give you more confidence is practice! I know it's not always easy, but you should try to relax and go easy on yourself.
You learn more in the first year after passing your test than you do for the rest of your life. I remember when I passed I was always making mistakes and thinking I was a bad driver. I pulled out in front of people at roundabouts multiple times. But after a year or so you'll stop making so many mistakes.

After you make mistakes you should take extra care not to do it again (for example if you had a scare that you may not be able to stop in time for a roundabout, then you should take extra care to brake earlier for the next few times)
Reply 7
I did I similar thing today.. I was at a busy roundabout, the car to my right had stopped because the car on his right was approaching.. I didn’t see him have his indicator on (so I thought he was going to pass the car on my right) so I see that as a chance to go turns out he put his indicator on at last miniute, then the car to my right pulled out the same time as me! I have my β€œp’s” on and he speed up and got rude to me! πŸ™ˆ I feel like it was my fault! Was sooo nervous driving back home I was and still am worried because of it! Definitely put my confidence down! πŸ˜”..