Learning to drive a car

[azhagi]

Please put down your experiences while learning to drive a car..

I have got my license here a few months ago but am not able to get the confidence to drive especially on the freeway...merging into traffic ,exiting etc.

To add to it,a lady bumped her car into mine when I had stopped my car because the car before me was trying to turn...after that I am even scared of braking :?

Also,to all the ladies here,if your husband is in the car,does he get hypertensed while you are driving,and do you end up fighting by the time the drive is over :(

[NM]

azhagi :

Is this thread open to only those living in the US?? :(

[Lambretta]

Please put down your experiences while learning to drive a car..

I have got my license here a few months ago but am not able to get the confidence to drive especially on the freeway...merging into traffic ,exiting etc.

To add to it,a lady bumped her car into mine when I had stopped my car because the car before me was trying to turn...after that I am even scared of braking :?
Azhagi.......I guess u shud hav learnt driving while in India itself.....'cos even many foreign expats say half-jokingly tat if u've learnt how to drive in India u can drive newhere else in the world! :lol:
Neways, yea, going by NM's query- is this thread open to experiences of learning driving only in the US? or newhere else too?
Also now my query- is this thread open to ladies' driving experiences only? :)

[ssanjinika]

Azhagi.......I guess u shud hav learnt driving while in India itself.....'cos even many foreign expats say half-jokingly tat if u've learnt how to drive in India u can drive newhere else in the world! :lol:
Neways, yea, going by NM's query- is this thread open to experiences of learning driving only in the US? or newhere else too?
Also now my query- is this thread open to ladies' driving experiences only? :)
Lamby I dont think thats true.I did learn to drive in India(pls dont ask me if it was on the Herald..the poor car was long gone by then)
Also I had total road sense coz I rode a bike for a long time(since college) but it worked against me.The speeds you travel in out here is incredible.Most of the times the legal speed limit is 60 m/hr which means the traffic usually moves at 80m/hr .That itself was so scary.On top of that you have merging traffic and cars changing lanes :(.The biggest issue I had when trying to drive a car here was to learn to drive on the RIGHT side of the road.You are so used to driving on the LEFT that its automatic for you to try to drive on the LEFT which is very very dangerous since ur on head on path for the opposing traffic.Shucks how my hubby freaked out the first time I did it :P.After that I became very very cautious :roll:
Anyways I feel when you learn to drive here start with a clean plate.Even if you do know driving please go to the professional driving school and go through a course(its mandatory in a lot of states) and practice a lot before you go for your test.Driving is a lot of practice.You get better at it as you do more of it :).Good luck!

[Lambretta]

Lamby I dont think thats true.I did learn to drive in India(pls dont ask me if it was on the Herald..the poor car was long gone by then)
*digr
Yea I guessed u'd sold it by then.....but hey, y do u say "poor car", "long gone"...?? U dont mean to say it was..........! :shock: :cry:
/digr

Also I had total road sense coz I rode a bike for a long time(since college) but it worked against me.The speeds you travel in out here is incredible.Most of the times the legal speed limit is 60 m/hr which means the traffic usually moves at 80m/hr
Yup tats true.....esp. on the freeways rite?


Anyways I feel when you learn to drive here start with a clean plate.Even if you do know driving please go to the professional driving school and go through a course(its mandatory in a lot of states) and practice a lot before you go for your test.
Um.....hey, I wasnt trying to give ne misleading advice.....jus reminded of this funny article I read online abt driving in India.......cant seem to find it now.....:?
Neways, Good Luck ppl.! :D

[ssanjinika]

knew that LAmby :).Just trying to impress upon you how diff I found to drive here :P.

[azhagi]

NM,lamby,pls give driving experience in other countries as well,

All men and women can jot down their experiences here.

I did learn to drive in India,got a license ,never drove after that since by then I conceived and had a kid to take care of ...

So,I almost started from scratch here,so that did help,I should say...

But I am still scared of the speeds-65 m/hr here in CA

[Shekhar]

I think there should be exclusive lane in all countries for women drivers!!! :D :D
May be that is not practible. How about this?.. Compulsory red flags in front and rear of the cars driven by women!! :lol: :lol:

[azhagi]

Good Idea-Shekhar....exclusive lane :lol:

[Shakthiprabha.]

azhagi,

my situation is same like u.

I know and learnt to drive car. I did not get license as i had to rush back to my routine (i learnt it in chennai)

I am s***t scared to think of driving now. Ive lost all hopes that I would take out my car and drive anyday. My hus always teawses me I can drive only when there is a bandh, that too at wee hours of mornings :(

[Shakthiprabha.]

and my hus is the MAIN CULPRIT.

he never lends his car for practice :cry:

[Alan]

LOL! Shakthi mam! Putting the blame on hubby! Smart indeed! :-)

[Shakthiprabha.]

hehehe alan.

WELCOME. howz u? howz life :wink: whats up in life?

[jks11]

hi u all women drivers

i learnt driving in chennai and u know i ended up with the gear handle in my hand one fine day!!!! :cry: oops and the instructor was my son who is now in us. I am at saudi where women cant drive :x .....taboooo...ugh!!!!will come back with the gear story next time...ought leave some suspense na azhagi? :wink: ......i am a newbie....

[azhagi]

SP akka,

Nice to know your experience....especially when yours is the same as mine...


Yeah,husbands really don't have courage :wink:

Alan,now that you have become a new husband,you will get to know very soon what we mean :wink:

JKS11,waiting to know the gear story :shock:

[Thunderbird]

here in canada one married man who's around 50, having two children both are 17.... doesn't have a license ( he is scared of driving :rotfl: ) his wife has a car :wink:

[Shakthiprabha.]

hi jks. welcome :)

azhagi,
true alan is too young to say things in haste now :lol:

thunder,

whats soooooooo funny to laugh at his fear of driving :mad: :mad:

[Lambretta]

and my hus is the MAIN CULPRIT.

he never lends his car for practice :cry:
Maybe wen he buys a newer car & doesnt feel like using this one nemore, & it no longer has much resale value neways, he wudnt mind lending it to u as it may not really worry him then how it ends up looking like once ur done! :lol:

Kidding! :P

[Shakthiprabha.]

I think u got my husband's pulse very rightly :lol: :D :oops:

[Lambretta]

I think u got my husband's pulse very rightly :lol: :D :oops:
Ama......afterall, engla kulle ellam konjam empathy irukum...:wink:
Btw, may I ask wat car ur Husband has? Most prob. guess is Maruti 800 but not sure......:lol2:

[Shakthiprabha.]

He has TATA INDIGO.

How were u so confident it was maruti 800 :) ?

[Lambretta]

He has TATA INDIGO.

How were u so confident it was maruti 800 :) ?
Well.....considering tat they've been much too common in our country....:roll:....they've been the 1st car for nearly every car owner of the present-day (90s onwards) society......so twas my 1st guess! :lol:
The Indigo I guess is...well, ok! :)
But among newest cars, I like the Hyundai Accent to a reasonable extent! (tat too preferably in Black! :)).....

[svasu_ani]

Hi,

Am back from my vacation in india recently and i learnt car driving and got my license too..
to get used to roads and traffic in India after an year of stay in US was horrible. the first day when i went for car driving the lady gave me the car and asked me to drive, i had to use gears, clutch accelarator , brakes the steering and it was first time for me on wheels and the traffic was horrible.. and people , cyclist crossing the roads...ah i ended up home shivering with fear and took a break of 5 days and strted again...

and on last day i was asked to practise the reverse gear stuff n i was fed up with small roads n i jus gave up n went for driver license test next day..there they jus asked me to drive normally no reverse gears n i did n got license...
Any way i had gone through agent so didnt hve any trouble of getting a license...

I still hve to try driving on roads alone..

Anitha

[Lambretta]

and on last day i was asked to practise the reverse gear stuff n i was fed up with small roads n i jus gave up n went for driver license test next day..there they jus asked me to drive normally no reverse gears n i did n got license...
Any way i had gone through agent so didnt hve any trouble of getting a license....
:) Same thing w/ me wen I learnt car driving....learnt it on my own car (Standard Herald! :)) & from the same old gent from whom I bought it (he was an instructor in ITI)....:)
On the day of the test, we drove down to the RTO, taking the agent w/ us, & after a long wait, met the Inspector, who jus told me to drive the car upto the 'break' in the divider, then turn over to the opp. (right) side, turn around again to the left side of the road....like an '0' turn.......:)
I did it & got my car driving licence....tat was 6 yrs ago...!
'passed my scooter driving one easily too, this year.....

[azhagi]

In India,I went for my driving test in our own Santro...the RTO guy told me that I should use only a driving school vehicle and not my own...then somebody asked us to give Rs.250/-,he handed this over to the RTO guy.Now the guy did not open his mouth after that.I went for the driving test in our own car,and got the license too.How could he refuse to give me the license when he had taken money from me :x

[Ghlli]

i'll never get my driving license cos i'm used to seeing my dad drive and he's proli the most craziest driver ever :rotfl: he drove into a sainburys lorry/truck cos i told him to :rotfl:

[NM]

Hmm! I still remember the first few months driving to work, after i got my brand new car. I would leave home by 6.30am, to avoid getting stuck in the jam for fear of my car stopping or jerking due to my inexperience in playing with the clutch and accelerator. By 6.50am, i'm already at the office..works starts at...8.30am :oops: ...
And then, because 4.50 - 6pm is peak hour, again I would wait till the rush hour is over and leave for home at about 6.30pm :oops: Those were the days !! Then, when I stated working in southern thailand, i was a given a company car, oo la la..that was a toyota auto...i really enjoyed driving the car, especially on early Monday mornings, when i drove back from home ...i would really push it to @160km/hr..that's the only time you could do it as the speed limit on the highways is 110km/hr! Then, when I came to Australia, I had to sit for theory testas the rules are different. That was OK. The worse thing was this test called 'Hazard prevention test' where you're shown video clips or abt 28 dangerous /hazardous situations and you will hv to click the right answer - that was dreadful. After that, was a 20 minute driving test. I've got my licence now..and contrary to everyone's experience here, my husband always encourages me to drive, especially on long drives. he is happy to just sit back and relax... :D :D The only I can't do it here and miss most is speeding beyond 110km/hr :cry: :lol: So, girls..you definately will gain more confidence by continuously driving... :wink: :wink: guys, come out of the old MCP thinking and let your other half drive! :evil:

[goodsense]

Never get a new car soon after getting your licence. As a new driver in a snow country, please make sure you change to your show tire just before winter.

I had a terrible accident in 1988/89. It was one early morning about 5:30 am. The snow trucks were not yet on the highway to remove the snow. I didn't know I should take my foot off the brakes when the car started to skid on the snow. Luckily, it was like that for sometime and was close to ignitition before it crashed into the guard rail. I was in the crashed corner and my brother on the other side in the front. Neither of us were injured or had a scratch. Thank God. But this is the story of my first car (which was new) after obtaining my licence just a few months before.

Learning to drive is one thing when we are with an instructor, but when on own sometimes we are still learning. Learn all you need to that relates to driving before you go off alone.

[Raikkonen]

Naan car-ai paranthu paranthu ottuven..

[villan007]

Naan car-ai paranthu paranthu ottuven..

aiyo paavam.. :(

eppidi pa appuram gear lam poduveenga ? :oops: .... :lol:

[Lambretta]

Naan car-ai paranthu paranthu ottuven..

aiyo paavam.. :(

eppidi pa appuram gear lam poduveenga ? :oops: .... :lol:
Gear-e podalam......ana Brake/Clutch/Acc. thaan kaaluku ettathu illeya?! :P :lol:

[villan007]

Naan car-ai paranthu paranthu ottuven..

aiyo paavam.. :(

eppidi pa appuram gear lam poduveenga ? :oops: .... :lol:
Gear-e podalam......ana Brake/Clutch/Acc. thaan kaaluku ettathu illeya?! :P :lol:

lamby , eppdi gearbox kaila eduthitu parapara car kulla... :lol: :lol:

[Lambretta]

lamby , eppdi gearbox kaila eduthitu parapara car kulla... :lol: :lol:
Um.....puryile...:?
Neways, gtgo for lunch now.....paapom! :wave:

[ssanjinika]

My India driving license was the best.Not my car but my scooter DL.I got my license when I was in the 11th standard.Of course I didnt want to go and take up a test since I thought it was a waste of time :oops: and the norm was you give money and you get your license(guys guys no hard feelings pls..Ive grown up a lot since then :oops)Got my license too that way and used that license for nearly ten yrs.I used to have a bajaj sunny first and then spirit which I rode everywhere(to school then to college and finally to work).Just before my marriage I went to learn car driving and happened to show the instructor my scooter driving license.There he gave me a shock...my license which I had been using for so many years was FAKE!!! It was not a real license!!!I had to scramble to get a real scooter driving license before I could get my car drivers license :lol:

[Braandan]

The best place in Chennai for a challenging driving experience is the length of road which connects 100 feet road thru MMDA colony, Razak garden road towards Poonamallee high road.

From 100 feet road opposite Radha park Inn, go down at the Vallavan hotel point, turn left towards MMDA colony main road, at MMDA tank turn left and then right to Razak garden road..

Insure yourself and your car against third part heavily before encountering the challenge!