Will I be a good driver?

Question

I am 16 years old and I will be 17 in a few months. I am currently in driving school and yesterday was my 1st day driving with my instructor. I've never driven in my life before so I had a little trouble turning along a curb. I was so upset about it that I think that I will be a bad driver. I study my notes and read/comprehend the chapters in my student driving manual. I know I had one little problem and everyone keeps telling me that I did great for a person who has never driven before but there is still doubt!!!. So is there hope for me being a good driver?

Answer 1

Judging by what you've said I think you'll be an excellent driver. The primary difference between excellent drivers and horrible ones, is that they both think they are the other. Terrible drivers are terrible because they think they're not and therefore take way too many stupid risks. Excellent drivers are always cautious and drive defensively, which saves lives.

Learning to be a really good driver takes many years of practice, and as a rule, teenagers are bad drivers simply because they lack experience. I think you'll make one of the better bad drivers until you get more experience under your belt.

Also, a piece of advice. The single most important thing you can do to ensure your own safety as well as the safety of your passengers and everyone else on the road is never, ever get too close to the guy in front of you. You know those guys you sometimes see driving only a foot behind the guy in front trying to force him to move over so they can get to wherever they're going thirty seconds faster? Yeah, everyone else thinks they're idiots too.

Any time there's an accident in front of you, the length of the distance between you and the guy in front of you will make all the difference in whether you become part of the accident or not.

Answer 2

As a Driving Instructor, I can tell you that everyone goes through this.

I will give you a tip about pulling up to a curb.

When you pull over to park along a curb, don't look at the curb. Instead look through the driver's seat of the car parked ahead of your space.

Remember this when driving..........your hands (and your feet) follow your eyes.....that's how the human brain is wired.

So, you steer where you are looking.........same as riding a bike, or walking even, but you've been doing that a long time and probably just didn't think about it in that way, right?

Remember your art classes, and "perspective"? Leonardo DaVinci developed it..............."two parallel lines meet at the horizon".........when you are pulled up along an empty curb, look straight ahead of you. You will see that the curb line meets your line of sight at the horizon way up the street.

That's why it works...........at first you may fight it, but will eventually learn to trust your brain......lol

As well as looking straight ahead, once you feel you are aligned with the curb, make a few quick glances in the passenger side mirror to see that you are also straight.

Also check any vehicle ahead of you to see how wide they are compared to you and how far that vehicle is from the curb. You may have to make adjustment for that too.

I hope that helps. Email me if you have any other questions!

Enjoy your lessons!

Answer 3

Yes...........with time and practice you will become a good drive as long as you always follow the rules of the road........good luck.

Answer 4

Absolutely.  The manual skills required to direct a vehicle take some practice.  Don't get upset over not being perfect the first time out.  The only thing I know of that has to be perfect the first time is a parachute jump.

I think I drove my mother nuts when I was learning to drive but she instilled in me to be safe and to be careful.  I guess it stuck.  I have about 900,000 miles behind the wheel and have yet to damage a car while on the road.  I also have about 130,000 on motorcycles and haven't destroyed one of them either.

Practice and caring about safety is all you need to do and you will be an excellent driver.

Answer 5

yes learning to drive takes time and patience, just take it slow and listen to your instructor and you will slowly gain experience and confidence.