"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/07/2018 at 22:57 • Filed to: None
29
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"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/07/2018 at 22:57 • Filed to: None | 29
| 18 |
My son’s first day behind the wheel. He did well.
RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> ttyymmnn
07/07/2018 at 23:04 |
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Kudos! Always an exciting time! :)
smobgirl
> ttyymmnn
07/07/2018 at 23:14 |
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Sounds like good teaching, too. It makes all the difference!
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ttyymmnn
> smobgirl
07/07/2018 at 23:21 |
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Brake, turn in, drive out. You can control the car with both the gas and the brake. Brake, turn in, off brake, drive out. When you turn, look where you are going; right turns mean you might be looking out the passenger window.
What is fascinating to me is that teaching him to drive is very much like teaching him to play trumpet. There are a lot of analogies that work for both situations.
gettingoldercarguy
> ttyymmnn
07/07/2018 at 23:28 |
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Autocross! Autocross!
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ttyymmnn
> gettingoldercarguy
07/07/2018 at 23:34 |
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Well, we spent the evening driving in parking lots. He doesn't have his learner permit yet so he can't be on the road.
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smobgirl
> ttyymmnn
07/07/2018 at 23:59 |
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I’m pretty sure I stopped the car and walked home once in the middle of an early driving lesson. Now I realize that people who don’t actually focus on driving (my mother) probably have a really tough time explaining what to do.
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ttyymmnn
> smobgirl
07/08/2018 at 00:06 |
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What I discovered is just how much one takes for granted after driving for 35 years. It becomes such a natural thing, done by feel and not by thought. The trick to teaching is getting them to do things without thinking at a time when they have to think so hard about what they are doing.
merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 09:14 |
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i was helping teach my niece because her parents couldn’t deal with it. I let her drive for about a mile and realized she didn’t have a clue as to where she was in space on the road. She’d put herself in the middle of the lane, so subsequently, the car was way too far to the right.
Anyway, that was it for her driving on the road that day, we did some parking lot stuff that day. But I got a handful of cones and some of those Fiberglas sticks they use in drivers ed, ( and for lot markings up here in the winter). We went to this huge empty lot and I setup cones in a decreasing width to have her drive through. Started slow and with a wide berth. After a bit of time she was able to hit cones with 6” clearance on each side at 35mph. I was impressed. After that we went back on the road and it was a much more pleasant experience.
Cones in a parking lot are an awesome way to learn driving skills.
The times I was driving and her as a passenger, I would just say all the stuff I’m thinking and where I’m looking and all that to give her an idea of what’s going on in a drivers head.
It is truly amazing what we take for granted and do by feel and without much thought while driving, amazing.
Good on you for getting your boy behind the wheel... that’s a big deal nowadays. Well done!
shop-teacher
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 09:31 |
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Its all about breaking things down into steps. Some people have a really hard time with that.
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shop-teacher
> smobgirl
07/08/2018 at 09:39 |
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Long before I became a teacher, it fell to me to teach my little sister how to drive. My mom was horrible at breaking things down into steps. Her instructions were things like, “Just turn!” Dad just made sis c ry . My favorite lesson was when we got 6" of snow, and I tossed her the keys to my RWD, open diff S-10 on all seasons (I had never heard of these exotic “snow tires”) and announced, “Let’s go. We’re not coming back until you can drive this piece of shit in the snow. If you can drive this damn thing in the snow, you can drive anything.” I think that was something like a 2-1/2 hour lesson, but she got it!
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ttyymmnn
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/08/2018 at 10:28 |
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Thanks. My son was also tending to the right. We stopped and had a discussion about how he is not in the center of the car, but the car must be at the center on the road. We were in a parking lot with arrows in the center of the lanes so I had him put the car over the arrows. He got a lot better. He still doesn't have his learner permit yet so we can't (legally) go on the road. That will be later this week.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 10:39 |
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The trick my mom taught me to get the car centered in the lane was to watch where the right white line “intersected” the hood. I started too far right, then moved left until she told me I was centered in the lane. Then I looked at how the line aligned with the hood. From then on, I always had a good reference point for centering my car.
Every car is different and every driver is different. Seat height, hood length, car height, and person height all play a role, but once you know it, it’s easy.
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ttyymmnn
> TheRealBicycleBuck
07/08/2018 at 11:51 |
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My dad told me the same thing, and I remember driving home from the DMV on the interstate after getting my license and looking at almost nothing but the white line going into the headlight. It was pretty white knuckle, probably for both of us. It's funny how now, after 35 years, you just don't give a thought to any of that. That said, having to explain something that come so naturally has caused me to reevaluate how I do some things, and I have to remind myself that when I'm driving it's still a lesson. Interestingly, it's very much like teaching trumpet.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 12:03 |
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It will continue being a lesson every time you are on the road with him. My daughter has been driving on her own for a while now and I still offer correction when she does something sketchy.
My approach and my wife’s approach to making those corrections is very different. Hers is a bit more panicky. It’s why my daughter prefers to drive with me as copilot. :)
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ttyymmnn
> TheRealBicycleBuck
07/08/2018 at 12:51 |
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The last thing I want him to do is drive scared. I never got heated, even when things were a little dicey. But he’s a careful kid to begin with, and not one to jump into pushing boundaries. I think he’ll do well.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 21:40 |
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Good luck to you. And to him as well. It’s an awesome time.
I still remember my dad taking me out before I had my permit to a snowy church parking lot to teach me how skidding feels, no abs on the van I learned to drive in. And he taught me how to do snonuts too. It’s a great memory that sticks with me. Same as the other parking lot lesson with his Skoal can on the dash of our K-car. He had me doing slaloms through parking spaces and had me accelerate and brake without moving the can. Definitely gave me a feel for a light touch and good car control. It’s what I like to call the chauffeur driving style, cause it keeps the passengers happy. Then there’s my normal driving style that’s taken a few years driving in and around metro Detroit, that’s a bit more, shall we say, aggressive.... I definitely wear out my rear brakes as quick as my front brakes nowadays ;). But I can still roll into chauffeur mode when required.
These are lasting memories, have fun with them.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> ttyymmnn
07/08/2018 at 21:46 |
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Yeah, the calm voice and positive encouragement go a long way. No need to focus on what they do wrong, but what they can do better and what they’re doing right. Got to build their confidence and keep them calm. And teaching them to be looking ahead and anticipating other drivers actions will pay huge dividends down the road. That was a game my dad and I would play in the years before I was driving age. A lot of stereotyping based on the vehicle and what the driver was doing. You know when you need to give someone a wide berth. Good times for sure.
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ttyymmnn
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
07/08/2018 at 21:49 |
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Stereotypes wouldn’t be stereotypes if there weren’t some truth to them.