Do you drive?

Mrs. P said:

I need to learn how to drive a stick...

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I think learning how to drive a stick in 2016 is probably pretty easy compared to the stick shifts from years ago, but maybe not. There is a funny story about a young kid going to hijack a car. The mom had gone out before leaving to start the car to warm it up. She came back out with the baby and was putting it in the car seat when the kid turns up and says get the kid out of the seat and get away from the car. She did as she was told. The kid gets into the car and doesn't know what to do....by that time she had called the police. He could't get the car in gear so he stops the car, gets out and starts to run and runs right into the police turning the corner. Loved the story....and thought about getting a stick shift.

Heleng said:

Sticks are fun, unless you're in an area with a lot of hills or stop and go traffic, like the DC area where I live. I finally gave in to an automatic with my current car, but do sometimes find myself missing the stick when I just want to accelerate fast!

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There's a lot of cool scenic roads where I live, so I perhaps I should learn just so I can experience the feeling you mention!

Dee4707 said:

I think learning how to drive a stick in 2016 is probably pretty easy compared to the stick shifts from years ago, but maybe not. There is a funny story about a young kid going to hijack a car. The mom had gone out before leaving to start the car to warm it up. She came back out with the baby and was putting it in the car seat when the kid turns up and says get the kid out of the seat and get away from the car. She did as she was told. The kid gets into the car and doesn't know what to do....by that time she had called the police. He could't get the car in gear so he stops the car, gets out and starts to run and runs right into the police turning the corner. Loved the story....and thought about getting a stick shift.

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Yeah, I'm sure I probably can learn it without a lot of difficulty, but just that there hasn't been an opportunity. Maybe someday...

Deliberately chose to drive a stick shift b/c I lived in Boston and was convinced manual transmission autos were difficult to steal. My teacher was a friend from the UK who said that one had to learn on a stick shift in order to earn a license in the UK... Don't know if that was true but he was the best teacher one could hope for; my worst fear was starting/stopping on an incline learning to balance clutch brake without stalling and I was convinced I would never learn. First lesson first day, he had me drive to Summit Avenue in Boston, just as steep as the name implies.... Told me to pull over "for a second" which I did.. The car started to roll backward and I grabbed the emergency brake Fast!! Which was the right thing to do...we spent time starting / stopping on that scary hill but it got rid of my fear. Never had a problem with stalling out since that day. Also, he used to give me one or two word commands as we coasted along or came to a difficult situation. I found myself repeating those same words in my head when driving alone ... He told me those words were like a little bird sitting on my shoulder reminding me to do the best right thing.

My parents' house is on a hill, so learning to start on a hill was one of the first things I learned

elbkup said:

Deliberately chose to drive a stick shift b/c I lived in Boston and was convinced manual transmission autos were difficult to steal. My teacher was a friend from the UK who said that one had to learn on a stick shift in order to earn a license in the UK... Don't know if that was true but he was the best teacher one could hope for; my worst fear was starting/stopping on an incline learning to balance clutch brake without stalling and I was convinced I would never learn. First lesson first day, he had me drive to Summit Avenue in Boston, just as steep as the name implies.... Told me to pull over "for a second" which I did.. The car started to roll backward and I grabbed the emergency brake Fast!! Which was the right thing to do...we spent time starting / stopping on that scary hill but it got rid of my fear. Never had a problem with stalling out since that day. Also, he used to give me one or two word commands as we coasted along or came to a difficult situation. I found myself repeating those same words in my head when driving alone ... He told me those words were like a little bird sitting on my shoulder reminding me to do the best right thing.

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It's the same in Russia. We learn and pass our exams on manual transmission car only. I've heard lately in some schools there are cars with auotomatic transmission, but AFAIK if you learn how to drive on these cars you then got a mark in your driver's license 'automatic transmission only', and basically don't have a right to drive a car with a stick.

And I hate hills, but not because I can't start on them, but because the other drivers often start to roll backward in front of me. I remember one time this young lady almost hit my car because she was very bad at starting on the hill.

I am fine with hills and a manual transmission because of my dad, but combine a hill with traffic, ice on the road, and then rain on top of the ice and you have one of the scariest situations I ever had in a car.

When we lived in Kodiak, Alaska, in 1966-67, we had a place in town, but I worked on the Navy base about 20 miles away. The road to the base was a dirt road that meandered along cliffs that dropped off 200 feet or so preciptously into the ocean. There was no guard rail of any sort. The car I had at the time was a 1964 blue Volkswagen Beetle much like this:
http://www.motortopia.com/cars/1964-volkswagen-beetle-16890

I had two sandbags in the trunk (which was in the front of the car while the engine was in the back) to help the car handle well on ice and snow.

One day, I was part of a long line of cars driving to the base. It had snowed the day before, but the temperature had risen and the snow melted, but then turned the road to a sheet of ice overnight. Then it rained. Several of the cars were unable to climb the steepest hill.on the road due to the wet ice and that whole line of cars had to back down the hill.at the edge of the cliff, slipping and sliding every which way because there was no place to turn around.

I was very glad dad had taught me to handle difficult things then!

Kodiak cliffs in summer
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMan6v1fr_Q/TM3LN2GC7vI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/7xwMIqiYFZQ/s1600/Kodiak+Hike++005.JPG


It is scary to contemplate that during WW2, people drove that road in the dark.with no headlights on, due to.war time restrictions to show no lights at night.

We went back to Kodiak five years ago, and the road was now paved, and had been moved well away from the cliff edge, so I was unable to exactly revisit my former daily commute.

Snow63 said:

So many cool stories, thanks for sharing!

Is there anyone who hates driving for some reason? Or just didn't even try for some reason?

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I haven't learnt to drive.

I don't know how it came about, but I never had any interest in learning to drive.

When I was younger, I loved riding my bicycle. And I think it was my intention that I would cycle everywhere when I grew up. Or get a motorbike. But then the amount of traffic on the roads increased dramatically (because practically everybody has a car nowadays), and too many people were driving like madmen, and it got to the stage that I became too scared to go out on the road. So, I stopped riding my bicycle.

And that was not just when I was out on my bicycle. It was also when I was a passenger in a car. But, because so much is in the East of the province, I have to just grin and bear it whenever I am going somewhere with somebody.

I should add a bit of context. Ireland used to have a VERY comprehensive railway network, but most of the lines were closed by the 1950's. There is only one line left within Northern Ireland, and it runs from Dublin to Belfast, and then on to our second city. There are no railway lines whatsoever in my part of the province. The bus service that was intended to replace it was never great, and is getting gradually cut back for financial reasons. So, everybody and everything travels by road.

And because the roads are used so much, they are not in great shape. Particularly in the West of the province (where I live). But, that is largely because the governments here have always invested more money in looking after the East of the province (where most of the population is), and have neglected the Western counties.

But, that is drifting off topic.

I don't think I would make a good driver anyway. I am too easily distracted, and wouldn't be able to concentrate on the road the way you are supposed to. When on a journey, I want to look around at the scenery all the time! Plus, I tend to get sleepy when on motorways.

Funnily enough, until a few years ago, none of my maternal grandparents' grandchildren (of which I am the youngest) had learnt to drive. My eldest cousin has lived in Scotland since she finished school. She had gone over to go to University in Stirling, and then moved to Edinburgh when she finished Uni. And she found that both cities were compact enough that she didn't need to learn to drive. And she never did.

Her brother (who is a year older than me) went to the same University as I did in Belfast (another small city). Although, whereas my subject was on the main campus, his subject was based in a neighbouring town. So, he cycled between his accomodation and his classes. And whenever he wanted to go home, he took the bus (there is a good bus service between Belfast and his hometown, largely due to them being at either end of one of the two main motorways in the province!)

And that continued to work for him for a good few years after he finished Uni. However, then he got a girlfriend, and moved to her hometown (which is a few miles further away from Belfast than where his classes had been). But, because his job was in the middle of Belfast (literally the middle!), he realised it would be better if he did learn to drive. Which he did.

They are now married, and had a baby in March.

elbkup said:

My teacher was a friend from the UK who said that one had to learn on a stick shift in order to earn a license in the UK... Don't know if that was true but he was the best teacher one could hope for

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Snow63 said:

It's the same in Russia. We learn and pass our exams on manual transmission car only. I've heard lately in some schools there are cars with auotomatic transmission, but AFAIK if you learn how to drive on these cars you then got a mark in your driver's license 'automatic transmission only', and basically don't have a right to drive a car with a stick.

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That is right. If you learn to drive in an automatic, then you are only allowed to drive an automatic. If you learn in a manual, you are allowed to drive either.

When I was doing my first excavation after I finished Uni, the site director was from New Zealand. And she was telling us that back home, practically everybody drove automatics. Consequently that is what she learnt to drive in, and that is all she had ever driven in NZ.

But, when she came over to the UK, most cars were manual. And she needed to be able to drive a manual for her job. So, she had to take driving lessons and do her test all over again to be allowed to drive manuals.

So, the moral of the story is: if you don't fancy having to go through the stress of doing driving lessons and your driving test twice, then do it all in a manual from the start!

CaroLiza_fan

I´ve had 5 cars, all of them Volkswagens with manual transmission (3 beetles, Golf and Polo). Polo was the only one I bought as new. Unfortunately, I don´t drive any more as the eyesight is not good enough, but fortunately one does not need a car in Helsinki as the public transport is good.

i do drive... but a long time ago, i sold my car and never bought another one... living VERY downtown where I can walk everywhere has been a bliss... no need to find parking and worry about having an extra drink or two and of course, i pay for my license every year so I can still rent cars if i want to go somewhere special... I guess needing a car really depends where one lives.

Yeah, I'm sure I probably can learn it without a lot of difficulty, but just that there hasn't been an opportunity. Maybe someday...[/QUOTE]

It's interesting to learn, thanks to these posts, that in countries outside the US your driver's license distinguishes between manual and automatic. The majority of people that I personally know actually don't know how to drive a stick! But, Mrs. P, I've no doubt you can learn It's like learning to ride a bike - it just suddenly clicks in and you're all set. In my experience, some cars (eg Hondas) have clutches that are "softer" and thus easier to drive for beginners than others (eg Toyotas). And I agree that the trial by fire of learning on a hill is the best and fastest way (that is, if you can find a generous friend, like I did, who trusts you won't wear out the clutch in the process, lol!).

Nothing better than a smell of a new car. Leather interior.

Snow63 said:

So, let's entertain ourselves between FS seasons.

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Thanks so much for starting this thread. I love reading the stories. This has been one of the best off season threads in a long time.

Alexz said:

Nothing better than a smell of a new car. Leather interior.

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For some reason I don't like leather interior. Something is wrong with me

Dee4707 said:

Thanks so much for starting this thread. I love reading the stories. This has been one of the best off season threads in a long time.

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:

Okay, now is another interesting (for me) question. Let's talk about driver license tests in your country.

In Russia, for example, we have 3 stages of our driver exams:
1. Theoretical test.
2. Practical exercises.
3. Driving on the city streets.

When you successfully passes one stage, you're going to the next one. And to get the license you have to successfully pass all three of them.

Theoretical test consists of 20 questions about traffic laws, first aid, fines and penalties. You have to answer correctly at least 18 of them to pass the test.

Practical exercises. It's considered essential practical knowledge for any driver. The future driver should correctly execute three maneuvers: backward parallel parking, starting on the hill and detouring series of obstacles in narrow space (snake-like route). You have one shot at each maneuver. The hardest one is, obviously, starting on the hill. Driver should smoothly start his car without any backward movement on manual transmission car. The hill is artificial on the special area. You make one mistake, you're out of it.

And the third stage in driving in the city. The hardest part. Police officer is sitting next to you and gives you directions of where to go next, or what to do (to make an U-turn, or to park at the nearest available spot or something else). It's an extremely stressful experience for the rookie drivers.

So, how it's done in your country?

Driving laws differs from state to state in the US, but in the states where I have had licenses; Connecticut, New York, Alaska, and Vermont; there were two stages to the test, a law test (multiple choice) and a driving test. The driving test included the separate skills you list for the second test, and the most dreaded part was parallel parking.

I took the driving part of the test in CT

The driving part of the test included parallel parking, hill starts, Y turns and city driving. You could pick any car you could get to take the test in. You did not have to have a stick shift, though I did.

Since I had passed a driving test in CT, I didn't have to take it again, but each time I changed states, I had to take a written test.

In Vermont, where the biggest city, Burlington, only has 4[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, Arial, Liberation Sans, sans-serif]2,452 people, city driving is not a big deal.[/FONT]
The whole state has only 626,146 people as of the last census.

However the Vermont written test is very tricky, and many people do not pass it the first time they take it.

The version I took had something like the following question:

Which is the most dangerous:
a. Driving in a snowstorm
b. Towing a boat on a trailer in a high wind
c. Driving on an icy road during a rainstorm
d. Trying to pass a farm tractor on a busy road when it is very foggy.

I felt the need for All of the Above, which was not an option. The answer is the boat and high wind btw.

The Alaska test was the easiest, being practical and straight forward and confined to questions about laws.

These days, it is providing proof of your identity that can be the most difficult part of the license getting procedure.

When I renewed my license this year in CT, I was surprised to find that my current CT driver's license plus my passport were not enough! The state considered that that proved my identity but not my CT. address.

I had to have two letters addressed to me with the following characteristics:

1. Mailed within the last 90 days, as shown by a US post office postmark, which includes a date. (most letters I receive are bills, and so have undated postmarks) (And who sends snail mail much any more?)

2. Had to be in the name on my other proofs of identity, so Mr & Mrs. Ski Pulaski will not do. It must be Doris P. Pulaski. The snippy young thing at the desk informed me my name was not Mrs. Ludwig Pulaski.

I had to come back a second time to get the new license.

dorispulaski said:

Which is the most dangerous:
a. Driving in a snowstorm
b. Towing a boat on a trailer in a high wind
c. Driving on an icy road during a rainstorm
d. Trying to pass a farm tractor on a busy road when it is very foggy.

I felt the need for All of the Above, which was not an option. The answer is the boat and high wind btw.

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Oh my, great question. I had to do a. and c. and it wasn't funny. And I guess there can be situations where you have to do d.. b. seems to be so random, because you simply don't have to do it. I guess that's why it is the correct answer. There isn't really a situation where you have to do it. Just stop, you can leave the trailer behind anytime you want to if you have to get somewhere.

We distinguish between auto and manual as well. My father taught all four of us to drive in a manual because he was insistent that it was better. My last car was an automatic.

I like manuals because I find them fun to drive - perhaps I drive a little...hmm...aggressively, but I have racing blood. No speeding, though. But I had an automatic for the last six years, and that was a good car. I found some other advantages during that time..autos are much easier to drive when you have a sprained ankle and crutches, or one wrist in a cast! If I had had a manual I would have been housebound during those two injuries, but with an auto I was still able to go out and about and have some independence.

As for doris' answer above, I can state that the closest I've come to any of those is was towing a car trailer in hideous torrential rain with near zero visibility - on a 100km/h stretch of road. Oh, that was nasty. My father was in the passenger seat that day (I was still on my provisional licence) and he said that he probably would have pulled over, so clearly I was crazy to keep going! (Not doing 100, of course!) There were cars all over the side of the road that day, pulled over to wait out the storm.

Here we had a logbook. You do your theory at school and get your L's at 15ish. Then you can either rack up hours, or take logbook lessons with a certified instructor and check off the various competencies. At 17 you can get your P-plates (I got mine about two months after), and you're on those for three years before graduating to your full licence.

Snow63 said:

Okay, now is another interesting (for me) question. Let's talk about driver license tests in your country.

In Russia, for example, we have 3 stages of our driver exams:
1. Theoretical test.
2. Practical exercises.
3. Driving on the city streets.

When you successfully passes one stage, you're going to the next one. And to get the license you have to successfully pass all three of them.

Theoretical test consists of 20 questions about traffic laws, first aid, fines and penalties. You have to answer correctly at least 18 of them to pass the test.

Practical exercises. It's considered essential practical knowledge for any driver. The future driver should correctly execute three maneuvers: backward parallel parking, starting on the hill and detouring series of obstacles in narrow space (snake-like route). You have one shot at each maneuver. The hardest one is, obviously, starting on the hill. Driver should smoothly start his car without any backward movement on manual transmission car. The hill is artificial on the special area. You make one mistake, you're out of it.

And the third stage in driving in the city. The hardest part. Police officer is sitting next to you and gives you directions of where to go next, or what to do (to make an U-turn, or to park at the nearest available spot or something else). It's an extremely stressful experience for the rookie drivers.

So, how it's done in your country?

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Forgot to add that before the exams you have to go to driving school for approx. 3 months here, where they teach you a theory of driving and traffic laws, and then you have to do 52 hours of driving in total with a professional instructor on the passenger seat.

I think, for America, it's a vision test, 25-question knowledge test, 40 hours of driving instruction, and then a practical test?

Nope. It is individual between states.

Vermont for example does not require professional instruction,
http://dmv.vermont.gov/licenses/drivers/OPR
you have an eye test, id requirements, and a written test to qualify to get a Learner's permit
http://dmv.vermont.gov/licenses/drivers/LRN

Then you can make an appointment for your driving test.

and a driver's test.

or does Alaska.
http://doa.alaska.gov/dmv/akol/original.htm

But Alaska requires that you take an alcohol and drug awareness test in addition to the law test.