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Tips for improving, am the worst learner driver ever!?

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Well, you're not allowed on the motorway until you pass, so I won't be on it.

I'm going to find it the hard to enjoy it, I just hate it as I make such slow progress.

Reply 21

Papinian

I didn't mean you on the motorway. One of the others said that. Motorways are safer though.

Why do you hate it though? A strong word, hate. Isn't being in control of a machine fun? Cars, boats (even sailing - especially sailing), bikes, motor bikes, even lawnmowers (at first) - all these things are a challenge. Cars are not just for getting about; they're more important than that :driver:

Reply 22

NickiM

I've never been one for being in control of things that go fast. At primary school, I remember not wanting to go on motorised go karts or quad bikes. I just don't feel in control, and this scares me.

Reply 23

Papinian

OK, another angle.

Look at all the millions of people who can drive. If they can do it, then so can you.
Your confidence is shot to pieces. Just take it one thing at a time - the steering - the clutch - the gears - the looking and signalling - the braking. That's it really. You can handle a computer, and these have many more controls and possibilities.

So you can drive a car. Your mum can, and you can. Give yourself time.

Make sure you have a small easy to drive car and that you are sitting high enough to see out and are comfortable. You will do it one day.
Keep going at it.

If you keep up the hate thing you'll talk yourself into failure - regardless of your ability, and won't do yourself justice. Same with everything... Motoring is a metaphor for life :rolleyes:

Good luck. :smile:

Reply 24

slk999

i had my first lesson today. i'm alright once i get onto 2nd gear, but it's going from neutral to 1st that's tricky- applying the right pressure on the clutch as well as gas. i think it'll get better- but i do need to practice and with no parent able to drive right now, it's difficult. i think i am going to have to drive with my godfather who is within good reach from school. cheap to insure too- but still- it's an expensive process! and probably a slow one too.

Reply 25

NickiM

I am going driving with Dad tomorrow...*scary*

Reply 26

mousy

dont worry, i know how you feel, iv had almost 40 hours and iv got my first test in two weeks and i am pretty sure im not good enough to pass! I get really nervous driving because I feel the pressure from my instructor.

Reply 27

kasias

I know how you feel. Just had a lesson. Headache, sore arms and neck and feel exhasted. too bad compared to usual. I get a bit tense.
15 lessons so far, 18 and a half hours so I can't be doing too badly. I can do all the manoveres but can't get my test booked yet becuase I get too scared.
I don't hate driving (see, being positive), I severely dislike it. But I do hate it sometimes.
What really annoys me is when my friends say "when are you going to have your test?, everyone else has booked one." And they haven't even bothered to start learning yet. "Everyone else" are the people who find driving easy and so boast about it. Loads of people haven't got one booked. *goes into anti-driving grump*.

Cars should be banned. It would be much safer, much more enviromentaly friendly, and public transport is so much less stressful.

Reply 28

vixky!

Stop comparing yourself to others!

I've been learning since January and I've only just finished my maneuvers! But I don't care. You have to go at your own pace.

Reply 29

NickiM

Talked to my friends today and a few of them at least can share some of my feelings

I have a lesson tomorrow, so am trying to look forward to it.

Reply 30

mousy

All of my friends are not supportive at all. They keep calling me crap cos I have had 30+ hours of lessons. What they fail to realise is that everyone goes at their own pace, and I haven't had any private practice. It really gets me down sometimes.

Reply 31

General Mullet

I wouldn't worry about it, you are right about people taking lessons at their own pace. I have a 'friend' who thought he was the big man after passing his test after ten lessons, he just went on and on about it. He also wrote his car off last week...

Reply 32

NickiM

I've been out driving for the past 4 days and am slowly gaining confidence. Hopefully it'll show in my lesson tomorrow. Went WAY too fast round a corner though today, it was very scary! but I am noticing improvements which other people would call tiny, and simple, so I am getting there, just very slowly.

Reply 33

Empath

Steezy20

Confidence is the key. The very fact you agree your driving is bad says your confidence levels are pants (that and the fact you said it in you post :p:

).

Arrogance is required for good driving. All good drivers think they're great drivers.

When you go out to drive, lost the nervous approach and gain a "don't give a fudge" approach instead.

Best piece of advice ever.... im gonna rep u for this... lol!!! :biggrin:

Reply 34

NickiM

Right, so even though I really don't want my driving lesson today, I should think "I don't care".

I'll let you know how my lesson goes with this approach!!!

Reply 35

garethDT

I put off driving for months and only started lessons after pressure from my mum. I started at the end of August and I've had 14 hours so far, although I have only made very slow progress, I am getting more confident. I find it helps to talk myself through what I would be doing when I'm in a car that someone else is driving.

Reply 36

NickiM

Yes, I help it helps to say out loud what you're doing!

Reply 37

Lottie

I think my driving instructor teaches things a little differently to my friends' driving instructors since he left all of the manoeuvres until we'd covered everything else. I wasn't sure whether he left them until the end because that's how he teaches them or because I was just hopeless at times. Actually, I'm still not sure. I don't suppose it matters because I'm happy with things.

I really don't have much confidence either; I like to drive 20 mph if I even suspect there's a pedestrian around and hesitate at junctions and roundabouts more than I should. I reallyreally do no want to run someone over or something awful. I worry far too much. I worry so much about people in front of me that I forget I am INSANELY IRRITATING to people behind me. I am getting better, however, and I like driving on some roads.

I've given up counting how many lessons I've had but I finally feel that things are making sense. I still hate meeting traffic but at least I know what I'm meant to do in those situations. I started learning in... March (with a few "breaks" for exams & holidays but they hardly count). :eek:

My friend passed her driving test last month; she started learning a month after me. That made me a feel a bit incompetent, to be honest, but she ended up driving into a parked car yesterday (!) because she was impatient and decided to drive without waiting for the demister to kick in and the condensation to clear from her windscreen. She couldn't see a thing and she didn't care! I suppose there's such a thing as too much confidence, really. Not everyone who passes their test "early" is over-confident or takes liberties by any means but I feel a bit better about the fact it's taking me ages to learn now. I want to do it right! I will do it right!

In any case, I'll be driving for about fifty-odd years so another few months learning isn't going to make much difference in the long run.

Have had a few decent driving lessons lately so the one I've got booked tomorrow has to be horrendous as a result. Keeps the world in balance that way! :wink: