Poll of the Day > After a month of practicing driving, my skills with some kind of car still suck.

(+) Yeah! (+)

My driving teacher told me that I'm better than a drunk with a car. He obviously didn't want to hurt my feelings and say that my ability to drive is still utter and complete crap. I'm too nervous when I'm in the car, and I'm especially not used to driving at high speeds. It just freaks me out, and interferes with my ability to focus. I tried to learn how to parallel-park today, which was what I asked him to teach me to do, but clearly I have other things to work on, that probably require more attention. In any case, after today, I just have feel like I have no energy to drive for the next few days. I'm tired, and very worried that I won't be able to get a license like any normal-functioning adult who lives with his mother. And I know it's going to be extremely difficult to function in the real world without a license, which is why I'm so worried because I'll never become experienced enough to get mine. I'm just a dumbass with a driver's permit. Anyway, how was your day, board?

I must have these answers.
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You'll get better once you're on your own. I sucked balls at driving when I was first learning.
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Is parallel parking necessary for the test in your area? If not, dont waste your time with it. You only need it if you live in a city, and even then, you can just slightly inconvenience yourself by finding a spot that doesnt require it until you have a chance to practice on your own later on.

Just my 2. Being comfortable in normal traffic should be a bigger focus.
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The Popo posted...

necessary for the test in your area

There's a thirty-three chance that it will be. I will need to know how to do two of three parking maneuvers: parking in stalls, parking at a curb, and parallel parking.
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Lol. Im fascinated by bad drivers. And people who refuse to drive. Not to put down people, but come on. The best tip is always assume the other driver has no idea what is happening.
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what about driving makes you so nervous? it's a pretty easy skill to pick up.
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I work with a 37 year old that lives with his parents and doesnt drive. Apparently never has. Its sad to think a grown person cant drive themselves to the store for some milk.
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Get a really fast Motorbike. Problem solved.

OneTimeBen posted...

I work with a 37 year old that lives with his parents and doesnt drive. Apparently never has. Its sad to think a grown person cant drive themselves to the store for some milk.

I'm 31 and have no desire to drive. I've no need with public transport easy enough to access in my city or even walking places. Shocking I know!
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I started driving about three weeks ago. No proper driving lessons though. I think Im doing okay for the most part but high speeds freak me out too. I always drive 5-10 below the limit. My parallel parking is crap.
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MrMelodramatic posted...

I started driving about three weeks ago. No proper driving lessons though. I think Im doing okay for the most part but high speeds freak me out too. I always drive 5-10 below the limit. My parallel parking is crap.

Sounds like an average teenager. You will be fine.
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OneTimeBen posted...

MrMelodramatic posted...

I started driving about three weeks ago. No proper driving lessons though. I think Im doing okay for the most part but high speeds freak me out too. I always drive 5-10 below the limit. My parallel parking is crap.

Sounds like an average teenager. You will be fine.

he's 21 or 22
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It took me like a year of lessons before I actually got my license. And I failed my first driving test (because of parallel parking no less). It is not something you pick up instantly, it takes time.
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wwinterj25 posted...

Get a really fast Motorbike. Problem solved.

OneTimeBen posted...

I work with a 37 year old that lives with his parents and doesnt drive. Apparently never has. Its sad to think a grown person cant drive themselves to the store for some milk.

I'm 31 and have no desire to drive. I've no need with public transport easy enough to access in my city or even walking places. Shocking I know!

In a city with everything within a few blocks that is not unusual.
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Otherwise if you refuse to drive you are a little strange. And selfish. Some mental issues there.
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First world problems. Weak people scared to drive a motor vehicle.
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I can help.

Ask me a question.
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Jen0125 posted...

what about driving makes you so nervous?

Mostly the fear of ramming into other cars or something else in a high-speed environment. I just get nervous when I'm pressured to drive over thirty-five miles-per-hours because I know that every other car on the highway is driving about fifteen miles-per-hour more than that. It just got me freaked out that a car might possibly ram into me because I'm driving too slow, and it also freaks me out because I might ram into something because my field of vision is limited as a result of the speed at which I'm travelling.

To a much lesser extent, I'm also afraid of driving too much to the left or too much to the right in my lane, and being discourteous towards other drivers, who are sharing the road with me. I was also freaked out today about cutting my turns too sharply when turning at an intersection, which again, would result in a collision. I also got nervous when I was told to speed up to the speed limit because I was driving too slowly, but that's irrelevant, I think.

Oftentimes, I am worried about what to do when exiting a driveway. I'm too afraid of blocking the way of pedestrians crossing, which leads me to stop for too long before a stop sign before creeping out of the driveway. On one hand, I'll block people's way, but on the other, I'll interfere with people driving behind me who also wish to exit.

I also always have this habit of double-checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder when crossing over to some other lane, because I'm afraid of ramming into some other car. I'm also freaked out because while I'm doing this, because my attention is shifted away from the front of the car, and that will also have a good chance of causing a collision.

I also lack general common sense on a road. Like, today, I checked my left side for incoming traffic at a stop sign because I thought that that was a thing to do, despite the fact that there's no road leading into the intersection from the left. In short, I really have absolutely no confidence in my driving skills whatsoever, and I honestly believe I'm a danger to everybody on the road, including myself. I'm a nervous wreck, I scare very easily, and don't have much confidence in adapting to unfamiliar situations. I don't even think I know how to control the car as well as I should be able to; like, I didn't even know up until today how to "straighten my tires". I don't think I have any business driving, whatsoever.

wwinterj25 posted...

really fast Motorbike

See:

EclairReturns posted...

I'm especially not used to driving at high speeds.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Ask me a question.

In the ninth season finale of Friends, the group goes to Barbados to attend a paleontology convention where Ross is the keynote speaker. He has this speech prepared about bringing some prehistoric era into the twenty-first century. But before he can make the speech, things go awry. Chandler asks to use Ross' computer, where his speech is saved, in order to check his e-mail. Then Chandler opens a spam e-mail promising but not delivering sexy images of some celebrity, which in turn wipes the computer's hard drive. This becomes the catalyst for the part of the episode where Charlie helps write Ross' speech from scratch. Now my question is: Why does Chandler suddenly not know how to tell a spam e-mail from a regular e-mail? He used to work in a data processing company, where he works with computers all the time, and it seems like the type of job where he would have his e-mail and would know how to deal with spam all the time. It just doesn't feel logical. I get that the writers wanted a catalyst, but why did they simply not let Joey go on some porn site? Why did they make Chandler OoC for this scene only?
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Well just keep practicing. There's no time line that says you need to get your license before you're ready. As someone already licensed and on the road I'd rather someone like you keep practicing until you're confident in driving before getting your license than just getting it prematurely and putting us both in danger. It's only been a month. I had my permit for a year before I did my road test and I was still nervous. I kept practicing six months after I needed to just to make sure I felt comfortable. I was only legally required to have my permit for six months and have fifty hours of driving practice.
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EclairReturns posted...

In the ninth season finale of Friends, the group goes to Barbados to attend a paleontology convention where Ross is the keynote speaker. He has this speech prepared about bringing some prehistoric era into the twenty-first century. But before he can make the speech, things go awry. Chandler asks to use Ross' computer, where his speech is saved, in order to check his e-mail. Then Chandler opens a spam e-mail promising but not delivering sexy images of some celebrity, which in turn wipes the computer's hard drive. This becomes the catalyst for the part of the episode where Charlie helps write Ross' speech from scratch. Now my question is: Why does Chandler suddenly not know how to tell a spam e-mail from a regular e-mail? He used to work in a data processing company, where he works with computers all the time, and it seems like the type of job where he would have his e-mail and would know how to deal with spam all the time. It just doesn't feel logical. I get that the writers wanted a catalyst, but why did they simply not let Joey go on some porn site? Why did they make Chandler OoC for this scene only?

Lmao how do you even think of these things, dude
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EclairReturns posted...

Mostly the fear of ramming into other cars or something else in a high-speed environment. I just get nervous when I'm pressured to drive over thirty-five miles-per-hours because I know that every other car on the highway is driving about fifteen miles-per-hour more than that.

Remember that the motorway speed limit was only set at 70 because Jaguar was doing 140mph speed tests in the 60s. It's an arbitrary limit to stop people taking cars to the limit. Whatever car you are driving will be perfectly stable at significantly above legal limits anywhere.

I recommend you get a feel for how strong your brakes are so you have a reference point for how much space you need to give other people, when you know what's safe you can calm down.

EclairReturns posted...

To a much lesser extent, I'm also afraid of driving too much to the left or too much to the right in my lane, and being discourteous towards other drivers, who are sharing the road with me. I was also freaked out today about cutting my turns too sharply when turning at an intersection, which again, would result in a collision.

Figure out a reference point in the windscreen for how close the line is. In my car there's a ridge on the windscreen wiper near the joint which, when overlayed with the centre line, means the car is about a hand's width from it.

EclairReturns posted...

Oftentimes, I am worried about what to do when exiting a driveway. I'm too afraid of blocking the way of pedestrians crossing, which leads me to stop for too long before a stop sign before creeping out of the driveway. On one hand, I'll block people's way, but on the other, I'll interfere with people driving behind me who also wish to exit.

Inch forward slowly but don't stop, just keep looking around until your car is blocking the road for passing cars as this means you're out far enough that your main concern is getting out of the way and meeting traffic speed.

EclairReturns posted...

I also always have this habit of double-checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder when crossing over to some other lane, because I'm afraid of ramming into some other car. I'm also freaked out because while I'm doing this, because my attention is shifted away from the front of the car, and that will also have a good chance of causing a collision.

Feel free to check around you to avoid collision, but don't worry about what's in front so much, you're travelling at the same speed and indicating your next maneuver, people need to be cautious of you.

EclairReturns posted...

I also lack general common sense on a road. Like, today, I checked my left side for incoming traffic at a stop sign because I thought that that was a thing to do, despite the fact that there's no road leading into the intersection from the left. In short, I really have absolutely no confidence in my driving skills whatsoever, and I honestly believe I'm a danger to everybody on the road, including myself. I'm a nervous wreck, I scare very easily, and don't have much confidence in adapting to unfamiliar situations. I don't even think I know how to control the car as well as I should be able to; like, I didn't even know up until today how to "straighten my tires". I don't think I have any business driving, whatsoever.

You're stressing too much, calm down, it's not a big deal, even if you do fuck up, everybody else is also meant to be keeping their distance to account for you. You will not crash as long as you try to keep pace with the traffic and don't stamp on your brakes randomly.
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EclairReturns posted...

Jen0125 posted...

what about driving makes you so nervous?

Mostly the fear of ramming into other cars or something else in a high-speed environment. I just get nervous when I'm pressured to drive over thirty-five miles-per-hours because I know that every other car on the highway is driving about fifteen miles-per-hour more than that. It just got me freaked out that a car might possibly ram into me because I'm driving too slow, and it also freaks me out because I might ram into something because my field of vision is limited as a result of the speed at which I'm travelling.

To a much lesser extent, I'm also afraid of driving too much to the left or too much to the right in my lane, and being discourteous towards other drivers, who are sharing the road with me. I was also freaked out today about cutting my turns too sharply when turning at an intersection, which again, would result in a collision. I also got nervous when I was told to speed up to the speed limit because I was driving too slowly, but that's irrelevant, I think.

Oftentimes, I am worried about what to do when exiting a driveway. I'm too afraid of blocking the way of pedestrians crossing, which leads me to stop for too long before a stop sign before creeping out of the driveway. On one hand, I'll block people's way, but on the other, I'll interfere with people driving behind me who also wish to exit.

I also always have this habit of double-checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder when crossing over to some other lane, because I'm afraid of ramming into some other car. I'm also freaked out because while I'm doing this, because my attention is shifted away from the front of the car, and that will also have a good chance of causing a collision.

I also lack general common sense on a road. Like, today, I checked my left side for incoming traffic at a stop sign because I thought that that was a thing to do, despite the fact that there's no road leading into the intersection from the left. In short, I really have absolutely no confidence in my driving skills whatsoever, and I honestly believe I'm a danger to everybody on the road, including myself. I'm a nervous wreck, I scare very easily, and don't have much confidence in adapting to unfamiliar situations. I don't even think I know how to control the car as well as I should be able to; like, I didn't even know up until today how to "straighten my tires". I don't think I have any business driving, whatsoever

Uh, do us all a favour and don't drive.

EclairReturns posted...

Mostly the fear of ramming into other cars or something else in a high-speed environment. I just get nervous when I'm pressured to drive over thirty-five miles-per-hours because I know that every other car on the highway is driving about fifteen miles-per-hour more than that. It just got me freaked out that a car might possibly ram into me because I'm driving too slow, and it also freaks me out because I might ram into something because my field of vision is limited as a result of the speed at which I'm traveling.

Keep in mind that in high speed areas, you are actually in some of the safer spaces on the road. Intersections are technically more dangerous, since you have cars from all directions crossing paths. As for being afraid of hitting someone else due to driving fast, heres a tip: watch when a driver in front of you passes something (like a street sign) and then count to found out how long it takes you to reach that same marker. That is how long you would have to slam on the brakes if the person in front of you were to do so. Anything between 1-2 seconds should be plenty.

To a much lesser extent, I'm also afraid of driving too much to the left or too much to the right in my lane, and being discourteous towards other drivers, who are sharing the road with me. I was also freaked out today about cutting my turns too sharply when turning at an intersection, which again, would result in a collision. I also got nervous when I was told to speed up to the speed limit because I was driving too slowly, but that's irrelevant, I think.

I was nervous about veering outta my lanes when I first started. Over time, I just came to realize that my car is a lot smaller than the lanes. It just isnt easy to realize at first from inside the car. Cutting into your turns too sharply... youll be fine with that with practice. Since you dont like going fast though, be sure to stay out of the fast lane. Stay in the slow lanes and others can pass you if they dont like your speed. And if you truly dont like going fast, you can always avoid the highways and take side roads.

Oftentimes, I am worried about what to do when exiting a driveway. I'm too afraid of blocking the way of pedestrians crossing, which leads me to stop for too long before a stop sign before creeping out of the driveway. On one hand, I'll block people's way, but on the other, I'll interfere with people driving behind me who also wish to exit.

Youre being thoughtful, but overly-so. If you block the walkway, pedestrians will just walk behind your car (as would you, in that case).

I also always have this habit of double-checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder when crossing over to some other lane, because I'm afraid of ramming into some other car. I'm also freaked out because while I'm doing this, because my attention is shifted away from the front of the car, and that will also have a good chance of causing a collision.

Im the same way with mirrors. Its good to be aware of your surroundings. And you should be looking over your shoulder when changing lanes due to blind spots. Again, repetition will make this come as second nature over time.

Honesty, the more you practice, the more youll become accustomed to it and begin to relax. Just keep at it and youll loosen up over time.
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The first time I drove all by myself was in 8th grade. And it was stick shift.
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You'll get used to it. Before long, you'll be eating chick fil a and watching porn while driving with one knee

As far as "Friends" go, it's Hollywood dude. Stop overthinking dumb shit.
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AllstarSniper32 posted...

The first time I drove all by myself was in 8th grade. And it was stick shift.

Classic sunwu posting technique
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You might be trying too hard to focus honestly. Cars are designed to be intuitive to the driver and honestly dont take much mental attention to control, thats why one of the most important things to do while driving is to observe other vehicles.

Try having a more relaxed approach because everything about operating a vehicle requires subtlety. You accelerate slowly so the car doesnt lurch forward, you break softly so the car slowly comes to a halt, and you slightly make alterations to the wheel to stay in your lane.
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EclairReturns posted...

Mostly the fear of ramming into other cars or something else in a high-speed environment. I just get nervous when I'm pressured to drive over thirty-five miles-per-hours because I know that every other car on the highway is driving about fifteen miles-per-hour more than that. It just got me freaked out that a car might possibly ram into me because I'm driving too slow, and it also freaks me out because I might ram into something because my field of vision is limited as a result of the speed at which I'm travelling.

yes, what's dangerous is speed differential more than just speed. if you're going significantly faster or slower than everyone else, that is what is dangerous. that IS something to be wary of, the problem is the anxiety hijacking your ability. only practice and repetition will get rid of that.

To a much lesser extent, I'm also afraid of driving too much to the left or too much to the right in my lane,

there's a lot more space around your car than it feels like. (though obviously don't overestimate it either). something I think helps is to notice where your front left wheel is relative to your left foot. depending on the shape of your car, your left wheel is basically right there beside your foot, rather than way out where it "feels" like it is.

I also always have this habit of double-checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder when crossing over to some other lane, because I'm afraid of ramming into some other car.

why is this a bad thing? you are supposed to check mirrors and shoulder check before changing lanes.

I'm also freaked out because while I'm doing this, because my attention is shifted away from the front of the car, and that will also have a good chance of causing a collision.

you're right to be aware of this. it can be tricky if traffic ahead of you is slowing down, and you're changing into an exit lane or something. do your best to mentally keep track of both things and slow down as necessary.

I also lack general common sense on a road. Like, today, I checked my left side for incoming traffic at a stop sign because I thought that that was a thing to do, despite the fact that there's no road leading into the intersection from the left. In short, I really have absolutely no confidence in my driving skills whatsoever, and I honestly believe I'm a danger to everybody on the road, including myself. I'm a nervous wreck, I scare very easily, and don't have much confidence in adapting to unfamiliar situations. I don't even think I know how to control the car as well as I should be able to; like, I didn't even know up until today how to "straighten my tires". I don't think I have any business driving, whatsoever.

it sounds like you need to take a driving course. there's things I still do today almost 20 years later that I was taught only once way back then. they will also let you drive a car under safer conditions (the instructor will have his own brake pedal), and tell you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong.
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Jen0125 posted...

AllstarSniper32 posted...

The first time I drove all by myself was in 8th grade. And it was stick shift.

Classic sunwu posting technique

I don't even read enough of his posts to recognize that XD
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