Driving Lessons

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Biff
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Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

I've finally started to learn how to drive. Just wondering how long it took you lot to get into it and how many lessons you had?

How are your lessons going Gal? Have you passed yet?
skybluearmy
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by skybluearmy »

I think I had 12 lessons at 8 quid a lesson! But that was in a different era, when I think it ws a lot easier to pass. My other halfs learning and she's been told the average nowadys is about 40 lessons which sounds horrendous. Best tip from me would be to do as much practice as you can with someone else between your lessons. Best of luck!
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Keane16
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Keane16 »

I think i had about 30 lessons, £12 a pop, although i think i was able to 'drive' fine after about half of them, the rest was just getting the general rules of the road in check i.e. mirrors, not speeding etc. Like Sky says if you can get someone to take you out on your own then shouldnt take you anywhere near 40. I hear its like £20 an hour now too, glad i got it out of the way when i was young!
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Ronaldinosa
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Ronaldinosa »

i had twelve lessons at £8 a pop and passed first time when i was 17 - although back in those days there werent many cars on the road , you had to avoid the horse and carts and a kindly man with a flag walked in front of you
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

Yeah, it's a joke now and I wish I did it earlier. It's £22 an hour, I've only had 3 lessons so far and I'm not too bad. I have driven a wee bit in the past with my dad though. I just keep going too fast and my steering is a bit dodgy. I've improved a fair bit over those few lessons so hopefully I will get it down soon. Like you say there is a lot more traffic these days and there seems to be even more about this time of year when the sun is out. I personally think they should ban all women from driving until they are 30, that would limit the traffic!
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Rossi
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Rossi »

I've had 10, the last few were double lessons - I'm on my mum's insurance as of today too to practice :) I'm doing well, pretty much smashed driving just the manouevres and a few little things to look at - £20 a go though it's not cheap!
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

Nice one Rossi, let us know how you get on. I've got that driving test software which has apparently got the same questions you get in the actual test. I got 44 out of 50 - you need 43 to pass - and just scrapped through in the hazard perception on my first go, so it bodes well. There are 900 odd questions though so I'm going to try to do them all so I'll have covered the ones I'll be given in the actual test.

I wish I could drive with my dad still but his eyes are now dodgy from diabetes complications and he can no longer drive. My mum doesn't drive at all and I don't want to ask anyone else. I'm sure I would pass pretty quickly if I could get some extra practice though.
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

How's the lessons going Rossi? I've now had 15 and like you have pretty much got the driving down, just need more practice on the manouevres and I need to pay attention to road signs better. I'm also pretty lax at blind spot checks and all that shizzle.
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Effendi(GER)
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Effendi(GER) »

Are you driving after having a spliff, Biff? lol
Btw you brits driving on the wrong side.
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

Almost, I've still been a bit wasted on morning lessons from the previous night! It's a waste of a lesson though as my concentration is shit. I've now quit for a few weeks so hopefully it won't take too long now. I think I'm on schedule anyway.

We drive on the original side. Apparently Europe drives on the right because of that French Napoleon fag.
Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.

Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.

Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.

From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.

In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.

The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial past

Once America drove on the right, left-side driving was ultimately doomed. If you wanted a good reliable vehicle, you bought American, for a period they only manufactured right-hand-drive cars.

From then on many countries changed out of necessity.

Today, the EC would like Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe, but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round.
The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. While everyone was getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties.

From September 2009 Samoa now drives on the left instead of the right.
The main reason for this is that they want to use right-hand-drive cars, for instance from Japan and New Zealand, which both drive on the left.
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Rossi
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Rossi »

Biff wrote:How's the lessons going Rossi? I've now had 15 and like you have pretty much got the driving down, just need more practice on the manouevres and I need to pay attention to road signs better. I'm also pretty lax at blind spot checks and all that shizzle.
Similar to you mate, been doing the reverse round the corner and pretty much perfected that. Reverse parking behind a car is tough but as long as you put the full left lock on quickly its definitely doable. My blind spot checks are the thing that I reckon I'm weakest at but he always tells me to slow down and says it feels like someone has pressed the fast forward button - not just in speed but I rush the gear changes and stuff too, so need to work on that.

We're going on the driving test route next week and he's gonna see how I get on without him saying owt, bit of a mock test minus the manoeuvres as the pair of us are bored to death of them!
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

It sounds like we are pretty much the same, especially with the blind spot checks. I've done a few runs without him saying nout, he just says drive to so and so whichever way I want to go. He hasn't mentioned anything about a driving test route though. The main thing letting me down is not concentrating enough and missing road signs, it is starting to come as I'm getting better at driving. Once you can drive without thinking about what you are doing you can concentrate better on stuff outside the car. I fecked up today on a roundabout, he said take the second exit and I took the third! I totally missed the first as it was almost going back the way we came.
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Gavster1987
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Gavster1987 »

Alright Biff & Rossi

I've been doing my lessons now since middle of January now having 1 hour lesson a week after work, and am at stage now where I can drive on the road without many problems! I still do have a tendancy of driving too quick and my instructor is always saying to me "Start Early" "Slow Down"

That would be most helpfull and obvious tip is to "start early" to allow yourself prepare early enough for them junctions,roundabouts, etc....

I have a site that you might be interested in that has helped me out now alot

http://www.drivinghelp.com/

If you click on lessons, Its gives you a real in-depth tutorial of each individual aspect of driving and even step by step guides too!
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Biff
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by Biff »

If you can I'd get two lessons a week. I think with one hour a week apart you forget stuff. I've done one a week a couple of times but I mainly do two a week. I started at the end of May and I honestly reckon I'm not far off being good enough to take the test. Hopefully another month and that will be it, making it 3 months in total and around 26 lessons.

Cheers for the link by the way.
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Re: Driving Lessons

Post by TheMoonRat »

I did driving lessons years back and failed test twice; my downfall was just lack of time on the road. You can learn everything you need pretty quickly; it's just experience of being on the road, and being comfortable in new situations on the road after that. What I needed wasn't more lessons, but a car and someone to sit in the passenger seat whilst I clocked up miles. If you can find someone to do that with you, it'd help your chances of passing your test greatly.
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