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Mastering those manoeuvres


Joe in the driving seat

Joe is 20 years-old and lives in Poole, Dorset. He's decided to let us in on his experience of learning to drive, and promises to tell us exactly what happens when he takes his test; minors, majors and everything.
Entry: 3

Joe finally masters the use of the clutch and finds that driving with his dad in between lessons is far more nerve-wracking than he thought it would be.

I've had 25 hours of lessons and it's time for another entry. It's all going swimmingly well at the moment. I seem to have turned a corner (excuse the pun) with the clutch and I feel well and truly comfortable in the driving seat, but most importantly, I feel safe! It's a massive relief.

Any celebrations would be premature, though. I've still got a lot to learn and as I get more competent at the wheel my instructor picks up on the finer details of my driving. For example, when I approach a roundabout I'm supposed to slow down, assess the level of traffic, change gear and decide whether or not to move; rather than just stopping at the roundabout, putting the handbrake on and going through everything very slowly as I had been doing. I also need to be immaculate with when and how I use my gears, the mirrors and the pedals. It's basically a process of trimming away the untidy areas and replacing them with a driver that is patient, safe, and responsible.

Every now and then my instructor will get me to perform one of three manoeuvres. The first one I learnt was a turn in the road. This is relatively simple and involves you paying particular attention to the length of the car and the width of the road. Reversing round the corner is probably the hardest discipline because it demands so much attention to direction, which is hard when you're reversing. And finally, the famous parallel park, which is surprisingly easy. My instructor has given me a handy little routine with which to complete the movement.

"Driving, for me, seems to be more about feeling than thinking. It's incredibly instinctive - it would have to be for the amount of information your brain is processing."

Despite my parents being quite against the idea of me learning in their car, I'm now going out at the weekends with my Dad. I think I was more nervous about going out in his car than I was in my first few lessons. There's so much pressure! I knew that if I completely messed up the first time we went out then I'd have little chance of doing it again. It was, to my relief and surprise, a lot easier driving my parent's car than my instructor's. Even though they're both Fiat Puntos, the clutch in my parent's older car was a lot less sensitive and the 'biting point' was longer. Whenever I go back to my instructor's car I always find it incredibly difficult to adjust.

My Dad is very supportive and sometimes humorously underestimates my ability. For instance, I could pull out of a busy junction without hesitation, while in my peripheral vision I can see him squirming in his seat. I've even experienced what it's like being 'held up' by a learner driver at a roundabout. I was about fourth in the queue and I noticed that it wasn't moving at all. "It's either an early learner driver or an accident," I thought to myself. Slowly but surely, I saw the L-plate on the car pull into the roundabout and snail up the road, while I whizzed past swearing and shouting all sorts of obscenities. I'm joking, of course, I didn't mind at all. I shouldn't get angry because that was me a few months ago and I know how it feels to have a seemingly infinite amount of cars waiting for you after you've stalled for the seventh time.

Driving, for me, seems to be more about feeling than thinking. It's incredibly instinctive - it would have to be for the amount of information your brain is processing. There's no opportunity to dwell on things as every section of the road poses a potential problem. Being a very contemplative person I've found this difficult to deal with. There have been many times where I've wanted to stop the car and say: "So what just happened there?" and go through every step, but you can't. The key is to just to let your brain absorb it sub-consciously and let your instincts take over, as dangerous as that may sound. Perhaps I'm getting a bit too philosophical?


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