New Learner - My Online Diary

[driving2day]

Well I had a lesson which I forgot to update about.

It was much better. Practise of the same places (big and small roundabouts), manoeuvres and so on.

I have much better understanding of the way I am being taught.

For example, when approaching the end of the road, slow down and go to second but if you know you can't see anything then go to first and stop if we're joining a different road.

Similar with roundabouts. When approaching a roundabout look ahead to see if you can see the right. If there is a space, go to second as you approach the roundabout, if not, go to first and stop.

I am okay with parallel parking. 3 point turns seem to be on roads which go uphill/downhill near the pavement so sometimes end up too fast at those points.

I tend to press the gas too much during 3 point turn and similar times. Not because I want to but I don't even feel my foot slowly pressing onto it.

[driving2day]

[Post edited]

[martine]

Oh crikey - how horrible to witness such a thing. I can't imagine what happened to cause this and I'm sure you will be upset for sometime to come.

Talk to your close friends and family - it will help. You might like to consider seeking help from a counsellor - might not be appropriate but look at http://www.victimsupport.org.uk/Help-for-victims or alternatively talk to your GP.

This type of incident is extremely rare - despite what is shown in the films - cars rarely catch fire even in serious collisions...let alone stationary.

Not sure anything i can write here is much to help really.

[fungus]

I can only agree with Martin.

Please don't let this experience put you off driving. I had a distressing experience almost 40 years ago which I didn't witness, but was second on the scene. I will not go into the details here, but I'm still driving. Seek advice if necessary, and don't worry about rambling, others do it. Keep posting.

[driving2day]

Thank you for your replies.

I still don't know who was in the car, male/female, none of that has been put anywhere, but I have tried hard not to think about it.

The lessons after were tough and one lesson I didn't do any manoeuveres at all, only general driving which probably was to not think about what had happened before.

In my last lesson I was fairly confident, much better at roundabouts, did two out of three manouveres well. Reverse round the bend I hadn't done in a long time so kind of forgot how to do it but I think I should be able to remember now.

Towards the end of the lesson I went on a roundabout and for some reason thought there would be a lane for me since I am going left (some roundabouts have this) but I don't know why I thought this roundabout would be like that, so I wasn't totally slowing, then ended up sticking out in the roundabout too much as the cars were coming round. Kind of made me feel the lesson didn't end up going good but my instructor said I did really well in the lesson.

She did ask me how any lessons I had with my previous instructor. I also asked her when she thought I'd be ready for the test (about how many lessons). I know it's not too soon because I am not totally confident, which is what I lack. but she did inform me that I need to be able to do everything without prompting so next lesson we'll go over manouveres and everything then I can start doing mock tests. I did say though that if I wasn't that ready then I can put of mock tests until I am at a good standard.

[driving2day]

I had another lesson during the week and we did mostly general driving, going on roundabouts and dual carriageway and right at the end did parallel parking.

I have to say I did turn left at the roundabout when I was supposed to take the 2nd exit. My instructor said it's because she says stay on the left lane which makes a student think turn left at the last minute. At the time I thought it was because I heard her name a certain area and that's what the first exit said so I took it. Silly as I wasn't signalling left so why I turned I don't know.

Prior to the lesson my instructor asked me whether I would want to do check test with her the following week where the instructor gets tested by the examiner. She said I wouldn't get charged and it would be 90 minutes of driving and a good experience for me. I said yes and once she had explained what happens I was happy she selected me out of all of her students but really I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, lol. I still booked another lesson for another day since I wasn't paying for the test one so I might as well get a normal lesson during the week too. She did say to me that we won't do any manouveres during her test.

My instructor also said in a couple of lessons we can start looking at booking a test. My driving is good but I need to get it up to test standard.

Aside from that, I guess there is nothing more to update with. I do wonder about my eyesight though. I have glasses for seeing from long distances but when my instructor tells me to look at the signs which show the roundabout, at that point I can't really make out the words, I need to get a little bit closer. But the opticians think I have the right number. Is this okay to go with or should I perhaps get another eye test? Thanks for reading.

[martine]

Hi there and thanks for another interesting update.

Remember with the intructor's check-test - all the eyes are on your instructor, not you...so enjoy it!

If you can read a number plate from 20m that's all you need to be legal. This will be tested before you drive with your examiner. If you've had your eyes tested recently I'm sure your optician is doing their job so I wouldn't worry.

Sounds like you're getting on fine now...keep it up!

[driving2day]

I've had a few lessons since my last post which I wish I had updated as I went along but my monitor is working and right now I'm focusing on paying for driving lessons.

The check test was a good experience in that I made extremely silly mistakes. I was not nervous at all, not even a tiny bit. Not butterflies in stomach or anything, as I knew it was for my instructor, but I feel having a 3rd person in the car affected me without me realising physically.

For example, I would be at the wrong gear when at certain roundabouts. I was at a traffic light, when it turned green I carried on driving thinking of driving ahead, and not noticing the car in front of me was breaking to turn right. Normally I would have noticed and stopped.

There were a few other really silly mistakes but I guess I realised how even without nerves another person may affect you and perhaps this is what happens in driving tests.

My instructor set the lesson to focus on roundabouts and the feedback she was given (one of them) was to perhaps let the student get on with the roundabout and not prompt too much. She said to me that she would do that but she doesn't want to put us in danger either. I understood that and agreed at the time but I think I more agree with the examiner now.

The next lesson we focused on right turns on roundabouts which I did fine on my own after practising. Then we mixed them up, but I messed up when we started doing straight.

What I have noticed from that time and the lessons after is that sometimes I feel my own judgement is better. Not always, but I get nervous with oncoming cars. I used to hate being in the middle of the road at traffic lights waiting to turn right whilst other cars pass me for that very reason, but now I am fine with it. I used to hate joining a road but even that I am better with. However, with roundabouts, I have this huge fear of the cars (especially lorries) coming from the right. I feel I can't judge their speed as each car varies.

I also feel my instructor doesn't always judge correctly. For example once she told e to go, when I was wanting to slow down as I felt the car on the right was fast approaching, and we had to suddenly break before joining he roundabout which made the car stick out, because the instructor's judgement was incorrect. This has happened more times than I would have liked, which makes me feel like I am going a step backwards.

Another time there was a lorry which was close so we let it pass, then another lorry was approaching and I was meant to be turning right, so I joined the roundabout upon the instruction of the instructor, the lorry was right behind and I didn't manage to get to the right lane really fast, so felt like I was in a real muddle. I'd much rather have waited for that lorry to go then on the roundabout. Would that be hesitation in a test, resulting in a fail?

I know at times I make mistakes myself, but I would much rather be safe on a roundabout and stay back so I am more careful there. Last week I decided to watch some roundabout videos and felt better in tackling them mentally, but when it got to the lesson we hardly did roundabouts and focused on manoeuvres which at this point I am completely fine with.

I don't know, but the last 2 or 3 lessons I feel like instead of feeling more positive about roundabouts, I feel more frightened and this is because of the incorrect judgement of my instructor, which she would say herself, 'yea, that car was coming slightly faster than I thought, yea from my side I thought we could go' and so on. I would much rather have been left to my own judgement and stayed back which would not have made me worry about roundabouts more.

I thought of another example. My instructor tells me to look at the wheels of the people coming from the right (normally it's the cars which are the next door people from the right who are going to join the roundabout too) to see where they are going. I don't feel for myself this is a good judgement because I can not tell most of the time. Even with my instructor, sometimes she thinks they are going to the left but instead they come round to in front of me. Once I said, those cars don't seem to be turning left it seems they are coming this way, to which she disagreed and told me to go, but I was right. I don't like to be right in this case because I want to get over my fear, but once I get into a possibly dangerous scenario then it's like I'm hitting a brick wall again. It's like I dislike hearing look at the wheels because the wheels don't tell anything to me most of the time.

That was a long rant, and I don't like to talk about my instructor in this way, but I hate being put on the roundabout when I told feel safe, even when I say no, but I'm told we still have to go, then we either suddenly break and are sticking out onto the roundabout which is in the way of other road drivers, or I'm in a squashed position in the way of other drivers on the roundabout.

[driving2day]

I have finally managed to overcome fear of roundabouts. I have to say I looked up a youtube video which showed cars from all angles which helped me because the next lesson I was fine.

This has been a lesson for me twice since I started learning to drive. The first was clutch control, I couldn't get it. I had booked a free lesson with a instructor from a different school and her different explanation made me get it. The same applies for the roundabouts. I didn't get any of the advice I was given as I felt when I followed it, it didn't apply well. However, the youtube video although a cartoon, was a good way to learn how the cars work around a roundabout.

I am on my way to booking a test, but the next is in October.

I probably need a bit of advice on slip roads here. My instructor always says I do well but it's only coz she tells me what to do. I always end up looking at the wrong lane in my mirror (the cars behind me rather than the cars already on the dual carriageway). I think I can avoid this next time but I'm not sure. I am told to hit the gas and then as I can start to see the dual carriageway a bit more then to start breaking and if there is a safe gap to go. I never know how to judge the speed though. Advice, welcome.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

You need to get as early as possible a view of the traffic you are going to merge into. If the d/c has a nominal speed limit of 50, but the traffic is at a standstill on it, there is no point arriving at the end of the slip road at 50 mph! Position yourself somewhere where you have the best view of the new traffic stream. This is often to the off (right hand) side of the slip road. Then monitor it while accelerating to match it. Pick a vehicle in the nearest lane to you and slightly behind you, and see if you are going slower or faster than it. If slower, you probably still need to accelerate. If faster, you have already managed the target speed. Slow down to match it. If you feel you are matching it and will arrive at the end of the slip alongside it, look to see if there is a gap behind it. Then a small adjustment of your speed will see you merge into that gap.

[driving2day]

Thank you for your reply. I will need to apply that in a lesson. It was well explained and much better than the youtube videos.

I do need to book a test but the next is in October, which is probably a good time anyway. I have the option of having a test around 10:14 or after 1. All my lessons down here have been after 11am. I did have one lesson earlier but that was ages ago and I was struggling to concentrate. Back home I used to always have lessons early. So I'm thinking even though it is busier after 1, I am more used to later times driving, and I don't want to risk feeling sleepy by having a 9 o'clock driving lesson before the test but waking up at 8. What do I do? I was always focused on having a test early as roads are quieter but since I moved it's not the same.

I had two crazy drivers today. One was when I went to turn right onto a side road. It had a bit of road markings in the middle of the road where people turning right can wait so that the cars wanting to continue straight are not blocked. As I was about to change my gear to 2, this van man cut across me in front to turn right. My instructor beeped at him multiple times for being so stupid, as it was clear I was turning and I wasn't even being slow. I'd say we just missed hitting him, as we were looking towards the right when we looked ahead and see a big blue van cutting in front of me narrowly.

Another time we were approaching a big roundabout which we could clearly see. I had to get in the right lane before the part where you start breaking. I was accelerating to get ahead and go in the right lane but this time a man in a smaller van who was in the right lane started accelerating even more so I can't get in front of him. Silly as my instructor said, but there are people on the road who don't care.

[GJD]

My instructor beeped at him multiple times for being so stupid, as it was clear I was turning and I wasn't even being slow.

I think your instructor was wrong to use the horn in remonstration.

Understatement of the year?

If that's really what the instructor did it's a serious failing of professionalism.

[martine]

My instructor beeped at him multiple times for being so stupid, as it was clear I was turning and I wasn't even being slow.

I think your instructor was wrong to use the horn in remonstration.

Understatement of the year?

If that's really what the instructor did it's a serious failing of professionalism.

I expect the instructor was using the horn to 'warn another road user of their presence'

[driving2day]

Thank you for your replies.

I probably wouldn't do that myself as you're right, in can result in worse. But she did comment saying he should have known, and I have a big fat driving sign on top of the car so he should be ore aware when cutting in front to turn right into the road. But he was a crazy driver, very crazy, and that's where it lies at. I probably won't say to her anything about it, but it's good to be told here that I shouldn't do this myself.

I have experienced many incidents when learning to drive, my instructor says it only really happens during my lessons! Like a few weeks back I was driving and there was a man on the pavement facing the road. He threw a glass cup right in front of me! Had I been driving at normal speed it probably would have hit the windscreen but I was aware he was there and thought it was better to stay back, but my instructor didn't notice he had glass in his hand. I wondered if it's a sign for me not to be on the road (lol) because of an incident quite serious happening every lesson, but then since I became confident at roundabouts nothing happened, but now again, crazy drivers around me. It doesn't really encourage me to drive once I pass but I suppose petrol costing so much will keep me off the road anyway.

[driving2day]

Once I posted I saw your little jokes going on there!

I do have a few concerns about my instructor but I know she teaches the other things well and I have this forum to get things cleared up every time, even without me noticing something was wrong. After watching traffic cops on the bbc I would think if police were around they would have stopped him for being so crazy. Normally the police are always around when I'm driving but not then lol.