I’m doing the driving lessons and I dread them every time. I don’t feel like I’m improving much and it’s just stressful. I feel like giving up. I’m only going because I passed the theory exam with that school, and i would had to spend more money (that I don’t have) if I start again with other school, basically I’m too deep into it to stop.
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option, one less BIG distraction on the road, especially when you’re new on these things, being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous, watching the road, the signs, the traffic lights, the cars around you, the stupid people with their bikes, while fumbling in the car with the pedals is the worst… (unfortunately you must learn manual where I’m living).
Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option
This is a big problem with people these days. You admitted you suck at driving, you’re just barely learning how to do it, but you think you’re qualified to mandate what is available to everyone else? You do not have enough experience to have an opinion that affects other people. Stick shift is completely intuitive when you know how to do it.
I think you missed my point
Nope. You dont enjoy driving, by your own admission arent good at it but want to deprive people who are good at it of their options.
If your crap in bed do I have to stick to missionary for the rest of my life too?
What
Your logic makes no sense
Not OP, not a bad driver, have a class A (used to drive a school bus), and can drive stick.
I still think automatic is safer just on the merit of being less to think about. Especially when you have an extra large vehicle filled with kids.
See this is so alien to me because I’ve been exclusively driving a manual my entire adult life and I don’t think about it. No more than I think about which pedal is the gas, which is the brake, and which direction the car goes when I turn the wheel this way. I just drive.
The thinking involved in driving a manual is very minimal once you get used to it, so I reckon any safety issues caused by that would be outweighed by a reduction in the unfortunately common situation of unintended acceleration crashes. You are lot less likely to drive through the nearest wall (or kids) if your instinctual reaction to moving when you should not be is to also go for the clutch and cut power instead of just pressing harder on the wrong pedal.
Where do you live that you HAVE to learn manual? Here in Germany you have a choice of either learning manual or automatic. If you learn automatic though you are only allowed to drive automatic cars and if you learn manual you are allowed to drive both.
With enough practice, driving becomes second nature to the point that you don’t really think about it. This goes triple for manual transmission cars because you have so much control over the behaviour of the vehicle that it almost feels.like.an extension of yourself. The learning curve is a pain but the payoff is worth it.
It’s really hard to imagine when you are trying to learn. You just have to trust it will happen. You are basically training unconscious parts of your brain, and at some point all the hardness just vanishes and some unconscious part of your brain just magically does all the hard stuff for you without you thinking about it.
It becomes easy with practice, and driving a manual is not distracting at all once you get the hang of it
I think the roads would be safer everybody drove a manual. It makes it harder for drivers to do other things and be distracted.
Not really, most people here in Germany drive a manual and it doesn’t stop them from using their phone while driving
I don’t have much experience with manual, but I do have severe ADHD. From my experience, it takes about 6 months of driving every day before your brain does most of it automatically. It is really awful at first having to constantly think about every step. Couple random anecdotes that may help. My assumption is you are driving on the right:
- Drive barefoot or with minimalist shoes. You can really feel the car and road this way. Flip flops are a no no. All it took was them getting caught in the pedal once to never do it again.
- Leave lots of space in front of you in high traffic situations. If you are sitting in the far right/exit/slow lane a lot it will help other drivers get around you. If it is a mulilane highway, it may be safer to stay in the middle lane until it is time to exit.
- Look left first. Oncoming traffic hitting your driver side door is bad.
- If you ever ever doubt when looking both ways, just look again. People can wait.
- People get mad or do stupid shit. It is ok. We stop being rational people once “time” enters the equation. At some point, getting mad at other drivers all the time makes you a worse driver. Learn to just let shit go.
- Try to space yourself where you don’t create blindspots for yourself or others.
- Position your side mirrors properly. If you can easily see you car door, they are pointing in too far.
Adjust your seat and steering wheel. You want the steering wheel far away from your face. If you have an adjustable steering wheel, this will be a lot easier. There is a little lever you can pull to unlock it.
- Unlatch the wheel and push it completely away from you.
- Adjust your seat first so you can reach the pedals and feel in control of run. Test how it feels to push the brake, clutch, etc.
- Now, adjust the steering wheel. Put your arms straight out. You want your wrists to touch the “10&2” position of the wheel.
- Keep the steering wheel as low as you can, but still see the instruments, and make sure there is plenty of space between you and the very deadly airbag. You do not want it hitting your face and it needs enough space to deploy to properly protect you
- Make final adjustments as needed and recheck your mirrors.
Completely agreed, with the exception of 10 and 2. 9 and 3 superiority
Ah, so I really did mean the 10 & 2 for figuring out that positioning of the seat/wheel only. I absolutely agree that 10&2 is a terrible position for driving. 9&3 is much better.
I read an article a while back on how to position the wheel, as it is especially a problem for women. Airbags can absolutely kill you and I spent some time readjusting everything to make sure the airbag would not deploy in my face or too close to my chest. Adjusting the seatbelt height thing is also really important, but with breasts the damn thing still drifts to where it shouldn’t. Just not as bad.
Absolutely check with the women in your life about this as a lot of us don’t think about it until we get in an accident and the airbag and seatbelt do more damage than the crash. I am lucky I have only had a minor crash once with no airbag deployed. There are ways to get pedals adjusted by the dealership or swapped with longer ones. I assume mechanics can probably do it too, but I personally do not know how that all works.
Hello, driving enthusiast here.
Driving was stressful for me to learn as well. But i picked it up pretty quick. I learned in an auto and learned manual later which took some practice.This all being said, like anything else, you are only finding manuals distracting because you’re still learning and they aren’t second nature. once you don’t have to think about driving a manual it won’t be distracting. automatics are the distraction problem, imo, because they allow drivers to play on their phone instead of driving.
I’ve only ever fallen asleep while driving an automatic (twice), never a manual.
You are frustrated while you are learning and that’s to be expected but don’t you dare go blaming your problems on others, such as cyclists. Being a poor, distracted, and terrible driver is your fault and your problem. If you can’t handle driving around other people then stop driving.
I’m sorry but cyclists here are horrible. I can blame them all I want due how terrible are at not respecting their space
Think of your favorite video game or hobby, do you have to remember each movement and action? Driving is like that, eventually it’s just an extension of your ability to move about.
Dude, the difference is that with a game nothing happens when you fuck up. I can mess with it All I want. That’s just not possible on the road in any way.
Go to a parking lot and frig around till you get it? I mean e brake turns and slipping and sliding in icy parking lots in winter is how most good drivers get good. In order to be safe accidentally out of control, you’ve got to experience what that feels like in a safe, intentional way.
This also removes a bit of the fear factor and anxiety which imo cause as much or more accidents than anything else. Most friends I have that aren’t great drivers are scared of driving. Thanks to their fears and indecision, they’ve got more accidents and fender benders than anyone.
Confidence is key.
I can’t go anywhere. Nobody here has license to take out the car
Yep! In my experience it’s awful and it stays awful for ever.
But just like with going to work, over time you come to accept that existence is suffering.
One thing that helped me relax when learning to drive: 99% of the time you only need to worry about what’s directly in front of you. Unless you’re changing lanes or backing up that’s your main priority. Yeah it’s good to be a defensive driver and anticipate things and that will come with time. Don’t be overstimulated by every detail around you, know what to focus on. I hope this helps you relax like it did me
