Don't know what to do

Orlee

Hello All

I applied for my test in May to the Rathgar Centre in Dublin, and going by the indicative waiting times I expected to wait up to 40 weeks! I figured I had loads of time to learn how to drive but I just got a date for my test and it's the 19th of September.

That's only about 16 weeks!

Which in one sense is great but the only problem is I CAN'T DRIVE!!!! At all!!!

I just booked 15 lessons

but what I want to know is ..... Do I have a hope in hell of passing?

If I ring and cancel saying I'm on holidays or something that week would I have to reapply all over again or would they give me the next available appointment? I think I need to buy myself some more time!

Or should I just cancell and give up my slot to some poor punter who's been waiting months?

What have I gotten myself into?

PeakOutput

Orlee wrote:

I just booked 15 lessons

i should hope so that is a hell of a lot of money to learn to drive.

get your parents/ bf / friend to bring you to dollymount or a car park to show you the basics so that you dont waste your first few lessons learning how to use the clutch. If you cant get stuck straight in with the instructor with the technicalities of actually passing the test then you have a good chance with what 30hours? of instruction

Orlee

It's 15 1 hour lessons and yeah it's a hefty whack of money but neither my mum or boyf are willing to let me into their cars! I'm getting paraniod! I don't think I'll be a bad driver but i think they do!

eve

First off, you should have started before now. If I had applied in May I still would have assumed that the test would be before the end of this year. Most people at least do some driving/lessons before applying. Others use actually applying for the test as the date to start learning. That said you could be one of the rare people who pick it up straight off with no bad habits.

They will listen to requests if you say you can't make the date due to being out of the country, hospital appointment, you're pregnant and the baby's due the next week, etc. Soemtimes this can put you back a few days or weeks. Sometimes it'll put you back further.

hardCopy

I think you'll probably need access to a car to practice outside of lessons. 15 hours wouldn't be enough time for most people to pass, but if you can get out on your own/with mother/boyfriend for an hour or 2 every day then you could probably do it.

Start begging them to take you out!

easyontheeye

just hope the driving school has 15 free slots between now and september 16th! i used had to book 3 one hour sessions 3 weeks in advance :eek:

PeakOutput

i think its a bit unreasonable for your mum or boyfriend not to teach you in an empty car park but it is their choice.

unless you can practice outside of lessons i dont think you will have a chance of passing

edit; the driving school i used only booked 2 hour slots <edit>

tuxy

Lucky you, I applied in April and no sign of getting a test yet.

Orlee

tuxy wrote:

Lucky you, I applied in April and no sign of getting a test yet.

See that's what I mean! I just don't get how I got "lucky"!!!

just hope the driving school has 15 free slots between now and september 16th

I rang and booked each lesson already - one every saturday and thursday and then an extra one thrown in somewhere!

First off, you should have started before now

I know - I'm such an idiot but there were always more "important" things to spend my money on and I jsut kept putting it off

i think its a bit unreasonable for your mum or boyfriend not to teach you in an empty car park but it is their choice.

I completely agree - I can kinda inderstand the boyfriend though cause his car is his baby, it's a VDub Corrado and I think he's affraid I'll break it or something!

pow wow

I applied for a cancellation 4 weeks ago and they've given me a date next week. To say I am panicking is putting it mildly!

Anyway OP, there is nothing to be nervous of. Everyone had to start somewhere and at least if you are starting with a clean slate with an instructor there are no bad habits to beat out of you. You'll save yourself a bit of money if you can get a relative/friend to teach you how to stop/start/change gear in a carpark or similar. Once the instructor has shown you the basics you should try and get some practise time in with the relative/friend so you can get used to the roads.

Don't panic. Keep calm. Worst case scenario you don't crack it first time. There is always a second chance.

rain on

Yeah as detailed at length elsewhere, I had a 7 week wait for my test in a centre that usually takes 4-6 months. Did the test anyway, failed but didn't fail badly, and I think it was worth doing for the experience and at least now I won't be nervous when I do my next one.
With a load of practice and pre-test lessons you'd have a moderately good chance of passing I reckon. If I hadn't made a bit of a hames of overtaking a JCB I would've passed and I'd only been driving a few months.

Orlee

Thanks for the pep talk guys!!!!!!

I just checked drivingtest.ie for the waiting times - it has Churchtown/Rathgar down as 19 weeks! I swear when I applied it was 40!

At least they're doing something about the waiting lists!

tuxy

WOW they updated the site for the first time in 2 years.

Chakar

That's great stuff. I had like the OP applied for my test last week. I should get my letter in the next two weeks. My driving is good but I need to practice letting the clutch up to breaking point before I put down my handbrake so the car doesn't roll back.

I'll get a pre-test done and start practicing my hill-starts, reversing and parallel parking.

tuxy

Chakar wrote:

parallel parking.

Do you need this for the test?

Chakar

tuxy wrote:

Do you need this for the test?

I think so. But you should check.

Orlee

Parallel parking isn't included in the driving test.

There’s two sides to this - first off it's great cause you don't have to do it but 2nd people are so bad at parallel parking probably because it isn’t tested!

IamMetaldave

You don't have to parallell park in the test.

Gregor Samsa

Orlee wrote:

If I ring and cancel saying I'm on holidays or something that week would I have to reapply all over again or would they give me the next available appointment? I think I need to buy myself some more time!

You can cancel up ot 10 days before your appointment and you will not forfeit the fee or reapply. You can only do this once for each application. They won't give you the next available appointment, but they will reschedule it for a later date.

Why not see how you go with the lessons for 5 or 6 weeks, and if you feel then that you will need to cancel to give yourself more time, you can always decide up to 10 days before the test.

MrPudding

You will be fine. That is plenty of time and plenty of lesson. Once you get 4 or 6 lessons under you belt, assuming you are doing OK, get you mum to let you drive her car round a carpark or something to show her you are not too dangerous.:D

With a but of luck and loads of whining, hopefully she will let you driver her car, accompanied obviously. Once she does drive as much as you can and be very strict with yourself, making sure you drive the way your instructor asks you to.

Driving is not that hard if you concentrate and listen to the people that are teaching you. Any issues you have with stuff you are not so good at or confidence will be fixed with practice and experience.

Don't panic.

MrP

Orlee

Starting my lessons at the weekend and will give the whole thing a good bash!!!

I'll let you know how I get on

John R

phutyle wrote:

Why not see how you go with the lessons for 5 or 6 weeks, and if you feel then that you will need to cancel to give yourself more time, you can always decide up to 10 days before the test.

That's great, except her test is in less than 4 weeks. If she needs to cancel it would have to be done in less than a fortnight.


Without the benefit of being able to practice with family/friend in between the lessons I think that it will be very difficult to pass in that space of time.

Good luck Orlee, if you pick it up quckly and have a good instructor it can be done.

su_dios

tuxy wrote:

Lucky you, I applied in April and no sign of getting a test yet.

I applied to finglas in november and STILL haven't gotten a date!!!!

kaimera

Kinda in the same boat myself.

Applied for the test cos my second provisional was up end of Feb.

Now I find my test is Sept 19 in portlaoise. I haven't driven in about 2 years, no driving tests in the same period and last time I was in a car I managed to mangle the front bumper off a lamp-post [sorry Al].

As it is, I won't be home till after Graduation; followed by the EP at home which doesn't leave me a lot of time to pick up much driving.

I start a job Sept 17 in Dun Laoghaire as well.

Basically, does anybody think it's worth my while even attempting to take the test?

meathstevie

Hello Orlee,

I think you have a fair enough chance of passing, even a better one then you would have had with the "Dollymount style" of learning. You should be able to get in a bit of practice though beside the 15 hours of tuition.

Assuming that your instructor is the real thing you will be thought how to do things properly. You might not believe me but even what looks like minor stuff like checking the position of your mirrors when you get in the car before you drive of, having a proper seating position with your hands correctly positioned on the wheel and so on and so on all have a major influence on you passing your test or not. Remember, you haven't driven or started the car at this stage yet. Other aspects of driving like proper use and manipulation of the controls and indicators, correct use of roundabouts, lane discipline, proper use of traffic lights ( difference between full circle + arrow and arrows only etc, etc,.. ) come in to the picture later.

All that sort of important information is what your instructor makes you aware of and that's why you pay them good money. More often then not you will not even think about that sort of stuff with a friend or a relative on Dollymount strand ( on which you can't drive without a properly insured car or without a licence anyway ).

About the driving test itself : the tester is not looking for perfection, they know they're dealing with inexperienced drivers. What they're looking for is a decent by the book safe style of driving with a 100% compliance with the rules of the road and you showing enough proficiency to keep up with normally paced traffic while being observant to what happens around you AND BEHIND you ( use of mirrors and checking blind spots is essential ) .

Best of luck and don't get too nervous, the tester is a passenger with a clipboard who gives you directions where to go and will not try to trip you up because they can only give road legal instructions. If the chap or lassie seems a bit unsociable in the car don't worry they're not allowed to have a bit of chat during the test.

Orlee

kaimera wrote:

Kinda in the same boat myself.

Applied for the test cos my second provisional was up end of Feb.

Now I find my test is Sept 19 in portlaoise.

My test is the same day!!!!

Seinas

Orlee wrote:

Hello All

I applied for my test in May to the Rathgar Centre in Dublin, and going by the indicative waiting times I expected to wait up to 40 weeks! I figured I had loads of time to learn how to drive but I just got a date for my test and it's the 19th of September.

That's only about 16 weeks!

Which in one sense is great but the only problem is I CAN'T DRIVE!!!! At all!!!

I just booked 15 lessons

but what I want to know is ..... Do I have a hope in hell of passing?

If I ring and cancel saying I'm on holidays or something that week would I have to reapply all over again or would they give me the next available appointment? I think I need to buy myself some more time!

Or should I just cancell and give up my slot to some poor punter who's been waiting months?

What have I gotten myself into?

oh god calm down, you've loads of time. My friend has his test on Tuesday of next week and he only got the telephone call yesterday! my test is Monday and i got called 2 weeks ago..

Wishbone Ash

Seinas wrote:

oh god calm down, you've loads of time. My friend has his test on Tuesday of next week and he only got the telephone call yesterday! my test is Monday and i got called 2 weeks ago..

Perhpas you and your friend are already driving and have some experience. Orlee hasn't driven at all yet.

Orlee

Well .............. Had my first lesson last night!

Nothing too major and all the usual problems -

• Bad clutch control
• No observation skills and
• Moving off didn't always go to plan!
• Fear of God in me when vans and cars started overtaking me!

Started to get comfortable about an hour into it untill the so and so brought me on to the Walkinstown Roundabout (dublin) and I nearly had a heartattack! I hate that roundabout even when I'm in the passenger seat and of course we're not taking the first or even the second exit - He wants me to take the fifth! The man must have a death wish!

At the end he said I wasn't the worst but we have alot to work on - Surprise Surprise!

All in all - I didn't kill anyone and it could have been worse but I don't know if I'm ever going to get the knack of concerntrating on what my feet are doing while feeling like a headbanger! I mean - How are you supposed to be able to keep you eye on the road and your speed and be looking from one mirror to the next every 5 seconds!

TwoShedsJackson

Next lesson tell him you don't want to be taken around Walkinstown Cross!! That roundabout is a disaster at the best of times - tell him you want some nice estate driving instead

Bad clutch control
No observation skills and
Moving off didn't always go to plan!
Fear of God in me when vans and cars started overtaking me!

Everyone was like this after their first hour in a car, practice is the only thing that will help you improve. And hopefully a good instructor.

All in all - I didn't kill anyone and it could have been worse but I don't know if I'm ever going to get the knack of concerntrating on what my feet are doing while feeling like a headbanger! I mean - How are you supposed to be able to keep you eye on the road and your speed and be looking from one mirror to the next every 5 seconds!

You will get the hang of it, the first few lessons you'll need to concentrate on what your feet are doing and your left hand for the gear shifter but in time and with practice this will come naturally and you will do all this subconsciously, giving you more time to concentrate on the road ahead and general observation.

You don't need to look from mirror to mirror every five seconds, that'd mean you're not paying attention straight ahead. Check your rear view mirror every 7 or 8 seconds when on the straight, check the side mirrors when you're turning, parking, pulling off from a stop etc. and check them periodically otherwise when safe to do so or if you hear a motorbike, ambulance etc. so you can better assess the situation.

Practice is the only thing that will improve you, I know I was scared of the prospect of driving down to the shops only eight months ago and now I'm driving from Dublin to Donegal tomorrow and am looking forward to it They say it takes up to a year of daily driving before most people will feel fully comfortable in most or all road and driving situations so keep at it. Good luck

mini Maple

so how did you do??? im trying to get a few last minute lessons before my test next week!