First Driving Experience

[Wadders]

First experience? I passed the test without ever driving before. (This is in America, I was driving an automatic.)

Then a week later I drove 250 miles in a manual to Lubbock, Texas with my best friend. That was probably the scariest trip of both of our lives.

-Brad

What the hell?

You can pass your test in an automatic, yet be allowed to drive a manual without doing any kind of test for one? Thats pretty fucking odd. Also surely you need some kind of experience of driving on roads to pass a test, unless your tests over the pond are one hell of a lot simpler than ours :S

I think my first experience was pretty bad. I didn't crash or anything, but I could barely keep the car in a straight line to begin with.

However, I've been driving for a year now, got my own car. I just took a while to get the hang of it all

 

[OldRat]

Well, in here parental teaching isn't all that common, so most people, me included, go learn in a driving school.

My first time was in a parking lot and we started by adjusting mirrors. Then we experimented with the clutch and the gears, and then my teacher made me crawl all over the parking lot without the gas pedal (but still in the car, thankfully). I even got to try driving from one parking lot to another on the other side of the road! And I was so scared I drove on the wrong side of the road.

So yeah, my driving lessons really didn't start with a bang, and they never really got that bang either. Although I was always a bit scared, I never really froze up or anything by the virtue of going slow. Which actually garnered me plenty of praise, since most students apparently either get cocky or just aren't careful in general. I, on the other hand, struggled to actually drive up on the speed limit. So they kind of liked that.

Then I got my license and just about the first thing I did was hitting another car on a parking lot. Or he claimed I did, I was never really convinced. Still, I learned how insurances work right away.

i was pro. i got in the car, put on my coolface, parallel parked flawlessly, got out, and did a fuck yea walk.

seriously though, i almost hit a girl and had to slam on the brakes. my mom got pissed cause she spilled coffee all over her lap and i had a panic attack and had to go back home.

A kid rushing in front of your car is right up there with the scariest goddamn moments of your life. I had one of those during my driving school. Some boy just jumped in front of the car for some reason. My logical and completely calm and collected reaction was to scream, and I quote myself: "FUCKSHITS!" and slam on the brakes so hard I had a limp for a week.
Considering I was going around 30km/h and my teacher was already reacting as well, I think it's safe to say I was a bit jumpy. But still, it was a quick reaction and he gave me some praise for it. Even if he almost pissed himself from it.

 

[Stoic raptor]

Just got my temps (permit) today. So I am going to drive in like 10 minutes.

I did practice a lot before this. I am actually very good. No crashes, no mess-ups, very confident.

 

[Aur0ra145]

First experience? I passed the test without ever driving before. (This is in America, I was driving an automatic.)

Then a week later I drove 250 miles in a manual to Lubbock, Texas with my best friend. That was probably the scariest trip of both of our lives.

-Brad

What the hell?

You can pass your test in an automatic, yet be allowed to drive a manual without doing any kind of test for one? Thats pretty fucking odd. Also surely you need some kind of experience of driving on roads to pass a test, unless your tests over the pond are one hell of a lot simpler than ours :S

I think my first experience was pretty bad. I didn't crash or anything, but I could barely keep the car in a straight line.

However, I've been driving for a year now, got my own car. I just took a while to get the hang of it all

I was pretty good at the manual after the 250 mile intensive practice session. And yes, our driving tests are hella easy.

 

[Gitty101]

Never had the pleasure to drive a car myself. I've got a motorbike if that counts.

First experience with that was in an industrial estate close to where I live, with Dad telling me how to get the thing moving etc. Was a beautiful sunny day and it was fairly easy to get to grips with. After my CBT it was smooth-sailing from then on ^^

 

[Jfswift]

Hmmm, my earliest memory was with my dad having me practice in a parking lot with his car. The car felt a little weird at first since I wasn't used to controlling another vehicle then but I felt more comfortable after playing around with it for a few hours. I remember at one point he wanted me to slam on the brakes and drive erratically just to get used to how the car behaves when you're doing crazy stuff to it.

 

[jesseetc]

Almost got hit by an 18 wheeler, got kicked out of the car. Then nearly a year later my dad and I got into the biggest fight we've ever had about driving shit. Learning to drive was probably the worst experience of my life.

 

[deleted20220820]

DELETED

 

[Wadders]

First experience? I passed the test without ever driving before. (This is in America, I was driving an automatic.)

Then a week later I drove 250 miles in a manual to Lubbock, Texas with my best friend. That was probably the scariest trip of both of our lives.

-Brad

What the hell?

You can pass your test in an automatic, yet be allowed to drive a manual without doing any kind of test for one? Thats pretty fucking odd. Also surely you need some kind of experience of driving on roads to pass a test, unless your tests over the pond are one hell of a lot simpler than ours :S

I think my first experience was pretty bad. I didn't crash or anything, but I could barely keep the car in a straight line.

However, I've been driving for a year now, got my own car. I just took a while to get the hang of it all

I was pretty good at the manual after the 250 mile intensive practice session. And yes, our driving tests are hella easy.

Heh, yeah I guess you would be To be fair changing gears isnt exactly hard to get used to, I was more surprised at the fact you can be allowed to drive a manual without actually passing your test in one, which is illegal here as far as I'm aware, but hey its not a crime if you don't get caught

 

[OldRat]

Funny, I just got back from my first driving experience. I was being forced to drive stick by my parents, I'm awful at multi-tasking, it was just a series of stalling, nearly crashing, and ruining some poor shop owners land around their parking lot as there are no longer corners to their grass.

Heh, don't worry about that. Manual might feel really weird and challenging at first, but when you get to know it, you'll be happy you did. And really, that's about par for the course. The clutch is a right and proper ***** to figure out at first, and actually shifting gears in speed feels like a suicide.
Just wait till you get to an uphill start, and you'll be cursing the damn thing. And yet, I'm really happy I learned manual and not automatic.

 

[Rareech]

Where I'm from, you have to actually learn to drive a manual before they let you drive an automatic, and you have to pay extra for automatic lessons.

On topic though, my first driving experience was in a closed off practice area, as per law. Basically your driving teacher takes you and 2 - 3 others out into a closed off practice area with some altered cars that can't go above third gear, to learn you the basics of gear handling, the clutch, parking and generally maneuvering, remotely. He sits in an observers box with a radio so he can talk to everyone. He even has a "oh crap" button that can shut off individual cars or all of them and slam the brakes. So yeah, pretty painless experience.

My first ride on the road, well, I got praise for how good I were at managing my speed, albeit the rest was shit.

 

[Wyes]

My first driving experience was when I was 16 (here you get your Learner's permit when you're 16, then need to do a whole series of fun things until you've had your L's for a year, and then you can go for a provisional license to drive unsupervised... which I just got, 2 years overdue...), driving around some quiet streets before any houses had been built. It was in my older sister's car. I wasn't too bad, maybe a little over-cautious.
And then I managed to stall it, via braking while coming up to a T-intersection. I should note, my sister's car was an auto. Her car was THAT shit.
Having only gotten my provisional license recently and lacking a car, I haven't done a lot of driving by myself. I really need a car...

 

[Xenmut]

i really gotta thank Grand Turismo 2 with the automatic cars, the training for driving should be a game xD a realistic car game but with everithing exagerated!

I drove, my father screamed a lot, the car lived, nothing happend =D

 

[Jonluw]

My dad let me sit in his lap and hold the steering wheel while he manned the pedals when I was around the age of 5-8.

If that doesn't count; the first time I was allowed to drive a car on my own, I was 13-15 and it felt unfamiliar and strange, but I wasn't really scared or anything. (My mum in the back seat was horrified though )

 

[kittii-chan 300]

i can drive donuts :3
my first experiance was when i was ten driving around a carpark

 

[Radiantskys]

When I was ten my sister got in the passenger seat and let me drive her car around the neighborhood. That was always fun and my parents didn't find out till recently. Then at 12 I was driving around town and on the highway with my sister fuuun stuff. Never got in trouble, well my parents weren't to happy when they found out but otherwise it was all good. Later got my license at 16 and didn't even have to parallel park.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

First time I drove an automatic range rover dune bashing in the desert. I was 12 so prolly doesn't count as learning to drive. The proper first time was with my driving teacher where I took the wheel and he had the pedals and gears. Went pretty good as I'd had 2 months of theory classes first, but exciting to actually drive.

 

[ilspooner]

Driving a dirt buggy on camp. Thats really the closest I've gotten, being to young to get a liscence. I didn't crash though!

 

[Tsaba]

My first driving experience was with my father in a Dodge Dakota on a beach in Alaska somewhere near Homer. There was a dead Salmon Shark on the beach.