:mad: :mad: :mad:

I HATE DRIVING!

:mad: :mad:

its taking me tooo frikin long to learn how to drive and to pass my driving test its been ayear now:eek: , i passed my theory first time but practicle, they pick up on every little detail and fail you for things like not looking in your mirror every 1 second, how am i ment to remember so many things at once, how do ppl drive everyday reasonably easily!:confused: i find it so difficult, i just am so forgetfull at all the little things and there are soooo many little things to remeber!

ahhh and to top it off my driving instructor couldnt be more mean, he so sooo rude he keeps saying things like 'i dont know how you passed your theory test you must of got the right question' you rude man how dare you say that i revized my little butt off and learned everything i need to. Its just when i actually drive my attention is all over the place and i cant do so many things all at once! its hard!he also says im 'a waste of time' and 'lazy' and that he doesnt think i really want to drive, $#@^*@!!! does he really think i actually enjoy having these lessons being told what a usless driver i am? NO is the answer and he cant tell me i dont want to drive, thats ALL i want, i really want it, more than anything at this moment in time hes so mean, he really doesnt understand ADD im not on meds so learning to drive at the mo is a lobng battle!

i just wanted to know did anyone else find learning to drive quite this hard?:rolleyes: or am i just a bad a driver as my instructor had burned into my head?:mad:

sorry for the long rant, im not usually this worked up and stressy!

Thank you:)

~Maz

Not all driving instructors/testers are created equal. When I went for my driving test, I thought the tester was quite lenient... As long as we got home alive with no obvious mistakes (that could be seen from outside the car, i.e. running red lights, pulling out in front of other cars, etc.), he was quite cool. I didn't have much of a problem with the driving test, though the parking aspect was hard for me.

We actually have another thread like this, if you're interested:
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30108

My main difficulty learning to drive was just getting out to practice. I live in the USA in a state that required me to have 50 hours of on road experience with my driving permit (i.e. required to drive with parent or other qualified person) before even taking the driving test. I never wanted to drive with my parents because I made so many mistakes and they wouldn't let me drive half of the time anyway because they thought I was going to get them killed. I definitely never drove at night because I was afraid of being yelled at for totally misjudging distances and so forth.

Parking was always another issue. I couldn't seem to park very well either, miscalculating the turn radius of the vehicle almost every time. Don't even ask me to parallel park... Or park in reverse, as I mix up left and right trying to look in my mirror backing up. Not to mention pulling into the parking spots too fast, something I was criticized for, but I tend to park better moving faster for some reason. Perhaps it is more natural to me? I actually made someone angry one day when I was younger, pulling into a parking spot to fast, supposedly cutting someone else off trying to pull into that space, and in my normal state of mind, thinking about something else, with a smile on my face. Others figured that I had cut the person off on purpose as I was smiling, but I knew the real story to that one....

In short, I ended up taking the driving test with probably under 5 hours experience, and I was very lucky to pass the test. Perhaps the excitement is what made me do well? In the end, I pretty much learned to drive on my own, and I almost never let other people ride with me for the sheer distraction they provide.... Most of the near accidents that I've been in have been with others in the vehicle, distracting me.

Oh, and there's another thread in this section about driving as well, just remembered that one.

But anyway... good luck! It could be very well the instructor, or a combination of you an the instructor (him being distracting), so don't purely blame yourself.

wow under 5 hours experience and you passed, thats excellent you must be a natural!

thats very very true!he does distract me very much, when driving i need to fully concentrate on just that, he always brings up small talk, mostly trying to make himself seem cool and with it when hes about 60 for christ sake! and when he does this i get invovled more in what he is saying than the dirving and then there are other times when he tells me horror stories ie i was driving and he was getting angry with me because i missed small things like not keep looking in my rear mirror and he started a story that went like this....

'i knew a girl just like you who i learnt to drive, she was beautiful and very popular she was just starting her life and a little overly confident in her driving and missed some of the details, it was her prom and she was coming home she was happy as she had just finished her exams, then she tried to overtake another car and a truck was coming from the other direction at high speed, her body was found un-recognisable in the back of her car, her head was decapitated'

well thank you mr instructor you have given me great hope in my future driving, i feel really good now! and for the record i am completely un-confident behind a wheel of a car, driving is far to dangeriouse if its not me not being aware of something its all the other idiots on the road!Anyway like telling me something horrorfying like that is really going to help me whilst i was driving, of course not, so yes i missed a speed sign and was doing 40 mph in a 50, what did he expect after telling me that!grrr! today he was ment to phone me at 9am it is now 2.16pm and i havnt heard from him, AGAIN!Now i havnt driven for about 4 weeks, im going to have to start from scratch if he doesnt get his **** in gear and ring me to arrange a proper time for another lesson, i keep ringing him but of course he is always busy!

thank ypu very much for the good luck, im gunna need all the luck i can get!

YEAP,

One more like you here-
I took my theory in january 2005. still don't drive- have to interupt due to pregancy, small baby too....but I took around 14 hours of lessons with 2 instructors, and a friend. I'll try again medicated...

I was told that my main problem is not the lack of attention but my anxiety- I am very self aware of my driving issues. I had an opportunity to learn how to drive in my home country-I come from Eutope- but I considered it would be safer for everybody for me to take the bus or trolley. The problem is that I do not have the same public transportation choices here....

I did horrible on the driving tests. Here we have to pass two different road tests. They both took me two attempts. My first time ever I turned left when they right (not because I didn't know how to turn I just mixed up which way is right) but the lady started yelling at me "right! right! I said turn right!!!". Then I was doing a three point turn and forgot to put the car back in drive at the end :o - I only moved backwards a few inches but she freaked out and pulled up the parking break and failed me for "dangerous action".

The first time I did the second test I only failed by 1 or 2 points. I lost 9 of those points for driving with one hand even though I wasn't driving along like that. She said that she could tell that when I'm not being watched I'm a onehanded driver. She was right.

The second time I did the second test the lady critisized and lectured me the whole time. I said "ok I'll remember that" and stuff to that effect. I passed.

I was pretty nervous about driving for a while. I had dreams about accidently running people over. But now I've gained a lot more confidence.

**** ok I got this far with writing and now I see the thread is about driving instructors and not examiners...I have more to add

I went through two driving instructors. The first one wasn't very helpful. One time she grabbed the steering wheel while I was driving and then said "wow you really have a death grip on that"...what do you expect when someone grabs the wheel? And she would get me to say "now" as I passed the point of no return (where it would be unsafe to stop when the light turns yellow). Then she would say "do you understand what I'm asking you?" after I answered. She never told me whether I was underestimating or overestimating though. She would just say "whatever you think is safe." We did two practice tests which I had no problem with. When it came to the real test to pass drivers training she failed me and said I had to take more lessons before I could try again. I'm pretty sure that was a scam for her to make more money off me. I've heard of it happening to other people. I did the extra lessons with another guy - he was cool.
Long story short - the instructors/examiners can really freak you out but driving gets easier and the anxiety will subside as you get more experience.

Don't even ask me to parallel park...


I can’t parallel park either, still can’t.



Or park in reverse, as I mix up left and right trying to look in my mirror backing up.

It does seem like if one is going in reverse then it all should reverse. The first time I backed up a trailer though I was natural. I remember telling Gary I wish I had a trailer hooked to the back of my car in drivers ed. I would have looked so much more intelligent because that is exactly how one backs in a trailer when you want it to left you steer to the right and vise-versa.




he also says im 'a waste of time' and 'lazy' and that he doesnt think i really want to drive, $#@^*@!!! does he really think i actually enjoy having these lessons being told what a usless driver i am?

Are you paying this jerk? I would find another instructor who knew how to instruct properly, without all the commentary. You wanna learn how to drive with people cursing? You could do what I did learn to drive in Dallas . . . . you get lots of cursing for free and it is even considered socially acceptable to flip them off!


I took part of drivers ed don't know why I did complete it, actually can't remember if I completed it. Any way I drove about without a license (this was before the insurance requirement scam) for about six months a year? I didn't get a license until we bought a new car and because we had to make payments we had to have insurance. Those insurance company's are funny about not wanting to insure un-licensed 17 year old drivers, so I had to take my driving test in the new car that I had never driven before (the I was uninsured no license thing) I remember the new car smell, having to remember to shift gears, it was four on the floor, I passed any way (even though I couldn't parallel park.)

i just took my theory test in february this year and have my road test scheduled very soon but i am sure am nt ready for it. thanks to god that the monitor is sucha gentle person he never shouts or yells. had he been like yours, im sure id have already given up on driving let alone do the test. why dnt you change to another monitor, this guy's discouraging to me!

lol he's out of it now, he hasnt phoned and if he phones again i shall just politly tell him he was rubbish lol and that i have a new and much better driving instructor!hehe how cheeky!

Hey goodluck Stubble!

loloutsider dont worry about talking about examiners, examiners, instructers all the same thing its ppl critisising how you drive and trying to put you off lol!it was nice to hear that im not the only one!

im planning on phoning up a new one today! My first one dies tho :( he was excellent, so lovely and i was doing really well i was all booked to do the test, then he died and i got this meany for a driving instructor and everythings gone backwards, i am now a terrible driver! so nervouse, i never used to be!

owell ill keep u all updated with the new instructer :) hopefully itl all go well for me this time!fingers crossed!

oh and anamari, yes i am too a very anxiouse driver! thinking about it sends me into a bit of a panic now, its horrible because i never used to be like this!

~Maz
xXx

I failed my 'temp' exam, the first time I took it.

The instructor claimed I failed to properly 'yield' to oncoming traffic.

When I finally took my driver's exam, I had to rent a car, because the only available one we had was a huge Ford truck. I know for a fact that I couldn't use it, because of its size, and the fact that it was a stick.

During the driver's ed. course, we only learned briefly how to get on and get off, the freeway....from one exit to the next. So when I got my license, I didn't drive on the freeway, for many years. I used regular streets, to get to wherever I was going- which took an average hour or so, to get to another suburb.

The only thing I still can't do, is parallel park. I'll continue to pay for parking in a lot, rather than attempt that. We didn't learn how to do that in the driver's ed. course I took...but I believe it's my own issue...one that I wouldn't know how to do, even if it was taught back then.


I've come a long way, in being able to drive efficiently, everywhere, since those days. On the freeway, and learning how to drive a car
that's a 'stick'. (0:


Nova