My first driving lesson tonight- what to expect?

Intox

as it says on the tin.

im more eager to get a few under my belt than I am nervous. but thats not to say im not nervous!

I have 2 years road experience through motorbikes. would that be a significant advantage?

I suppose my main worry would be the instructor losing patience or causing an obstruction on the road.

so yeh im fishing for some encouraging words!

Mimikyu

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ha-ya-said-what

Think of it this way, they are there to teach therefore losing their patience is in no way going to help or encourage the learning process & if they were the sort that lost their patience easily they wouldn't be still driving instructors.... that's the way I looked at it and wasn't a bit nervous about the first lesson then.


I only had my first lesson with an instructor 2weeks ago, I had arranged to book a block of ten, but I made sure not to confirm anything until I got the first one over with so see how I got on with my instructor to see was I comfortable in the car with him & I was, thankfully I haven't drove him insane yet lol

LookBehindYou

Intox wrote: »

as it says on the tin.

im more eager to get a few under my belt than I am nervous. but thats not to say im not nervous!

I have 2 years road experience through motorbikes. would that be a significant advantage?

I suppose my main worry would be the instructor losing patience or causing an obstruction on the road.

so yeh im fishing for some encouraging words!

The 2 years Motorbike experience would be a great advantage to you.
It would have made you more aware on the road, and be able to anticipate what other road users are about to do before they do it.
No need to worry, you will be fine, and at least you wont fall off if you drive through diesel or loose stones on the road.
Driving a car is a piece of cake compared to riding a Motorbike.

Intox

cheers for the words lads.

ok everything went 100% better than expected. the instructor said I was very natural and advanced me further by "throwing me in at the deep end"

my only weakness were i was never aware you needed to clutch while breaking when coming to a stop. in my mind it was always brake stop clutch neutral (given ive already dropped a gear or 2 in advance by slowing) so that took a bit of getting used to.

I found the instructor very useful in what he was showing me but my only crit would be it was maybe too much all at once. I felt the the following were maybe too much for a first lesson

put onto busy 2 lane roads within 10 mins
being asked to change gear while turning
hill start
being showing local test route
turnabout + reverse

a few people I talked to beforehand told me a first lesson should generally consist of 30-40 mins of been showing around the car and getting familiar with all the functions and then maybe starting and stopping in an industrial estate

Im not complaining at all as I will be booking more lessons with him and will probably be better off for being "thrown in at the deep end" but I was just wondering is this standard? or should I take confidence that i managed the above well?

Mimikyu

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Midnight_EG

I was the same, although I'd had absolutely no driving experience at all.

He brought me straight out on main roads after ten minutes of explaining what we were gonna do. Only problem was cutting out, but then, I was a noob :cool:

daveharnett

Intox wrote: »

Im not complaining at all as I will be booking more lessons with him and will probably be better off for being "thrown in at the deep end" but I was just wondering is this standard? or should I take confidence that i managed the above well?

That's great news. Two years on a bike is a HUGE head start - your awareness, anticipation and confidence will be much better than people with no road experience. The fast pace suggests to me that the instructor is also happy with your use of the basic car controls.