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Driving lessons- had 4 hours now and feel kind of useless :/

So I guess this is just a sort of vent? I don't really know.. I guess I just am looking for some words of comfort or encouragement.

I just had my 4th driving lesson on Friday and I feel absolutely useless and rubbish. My driving instructor let me drive on the main roads on my 2nd lesson - on the roundabout (we didn't really properly enter it, just took the first left) I turned and hit the curb, the car turned off.. he then let me drive home and everything was fine until it came to turning into my street...I accidently turned in at the wrong lane since it is a very narrow sharp turn. After that, on my 3rd lesson we went back to a quiet road with lots of junctions, left and right turns stuff like that. We practised left and right turns pretty much all lesson and I just couldn't get it right :frown:

He told me I would do 2 turns really well and then the next one I would go back to turning too wide, not being close enough to the curb so I would be blocking the other lane, not accelerating enough when turning, over steering, not steering enough etc... Had my 4th lesson and the exact same thing was happening- I'm not consistent enough with my turns. Do I just need to practice more? I feel like by my 4th lesson, I should really be able to at least turn left and right properly... Idk ): Does anyone have any tips or anything?? I feel really dumb.

Reply 1

username4591444

It's just your 4th lesson, he let you on roundabouts at 2nd lesson before you were ready so he has poor judgement. That can rattle you and affect your nerves or focus next class. You just need to get a feel for the car and judging distance, it'll definitely improve.

Reply 2

gtty123

You just have to stick at it. Just make sure your instructor is good, isn't wasting your time and is actually helping you to learn. Anyway, don't have a specific 'standard' as to where you should be by X lesson.

Reply 3

TheMedicOwl

Four lessons really isn't that many. It can take time to build up the spatial skills and muscle memory you need for driving, and the only way to do that is through practice. Don't expect too much of yourself at this stage, and when you're out in the car, try not to overthink things. I found that I got much better when I was more relaxed and not trying to rehearse every step of every manoeuvre in my mind before I did it. Again, this is something that comes with time and practice. Another thing that helped me was variety in my lessons. When I was having trouble with roundabouts my instructor would never let me spend the whole lesson on them, because that way it just gets harder and harder to focus. You need to be practising a mix of skills.

Reply 4

OwlOfFire

I agree with the other responses. You have only had four lessons and that isn't many by any means! Learning to drive is difficult and knowing when to turn, just takes practice. Please don't give up, I remember feeling useless after one of my first few driving lessons because my instructor would tell me I turned too early, too wide, too late, in the wrong position etc. Driving will get easier and you're not doing badly at all

Reply 5

Iownuk

If it makes you feel better, I got my driving license at 18 but I’m pretty sure I’d accidentally kill somebody if I tried driving now at 22 lol

Reply 6

Jiiny

I just wanna say thank you for everyone's kind responses :smile:

It's really made me feel a lot better.

I guess I just need more experience in controlling the car and spatial awareness. I was just feeling a bit frustrated with myself for not getting it right, since my instructor said he doesn't want to take me onto the proper main roads until I've perfected turning properly- which is understandable.
Thank you guys <3

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 7