Running out of things to practice

clo4cb · 11-08-2010 5:14pm #1

So, my dad is teaching me how to drive in empty car parks. By the way I'm a 16 year old girl. All we've been doing is starting and stopping to get used to the clutch - he told me I've mastered the clutch. Also done the same with reversing. He's getting fed up of taking me out so I need ideas of things we can practice in the car park. I can get to 2nd gear in the car park.

af_thefragile · 11-08-2010 5:18pm

Handbrake turns...

11-08-2010 5:20pm

any corners you can reverse around

clo4cb · 11-08-2010 5:20pm

Done them as well

sentient_6 · 11-08-2010 5:33pm

Relax & wait till your 17 & can get insurance? There's no panic like.

cosmic · 11-08-2010 5:33pm

Do you have your learner's permit? Why not get him to take you out on the roads so you can practise being out and about?

Mint Sauce · 11-08-2010 5:38pm

turn in the road, reversing round corners, road positoning (if car park has stop/yeild/central line markings within it), hill starts if any gradients.

paralel parking, not part of test but also handy for clutch/fine controls, reversing in and out of spaces, again also not part of test but good practice for the future

all your controls, safety checks, engine bay checks, theory, rules of the road

thats off the top of my head

Permabear · 12-08-2010 9:47am

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cosmic · 12-08-2010 9:54am

donegalfella wrote: »

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Ah, I thought the age was 16. Whoops! Thanks for the info

cantdecide · 12-08-2010 10:56am

There's really no end of things to be practising. Parking, reversing, mirrors, stopping. The up and down through the gears bit is one of the easier parts of the learning process.

Cookie_Monster · 12-08-2010 11:15am

observation, observation, observation. DOn't even need a car to do it. lift you vision, get used to looking much further in front of you, that kind of thing

Permabear · 12-08-2010 12:29pm

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bad2dabone · 15-08-2010 12:32am

and it'll be a minimum of 6 months after she has the Learner Permit before she can do her test.

Some good pieces of advice on this thread btw, especially the one regarding observation. When you're a passenger in a car take the opportunity to start reading the road, looking for hazards, planning how you would control the car in that situation etc.

there are hazard perception videos on Youtube.

spurious · 15-08-2010 7:51am

In the UK, they have a hazard perception test as part of the driving test. I think it's a great idea. You can buy DVDs to practice this on.
I know you won't be asked it in the Irish test, but it's a good skill to improve.

Here's one example of a DVD you can buy:
http://www.learnerstuff.co.uk/software-cd-roms/hazard-perception-success-cdroms.htm

daveharnett · 16-08-2010 12:11pm

First of all, kudos for your enthusiasm! Parking seems to be the only low speed maneuverer left to cover. It will help with your general driving too - knowing where the corners of the car are helps a lot with narrow lanes.

This might be a little pedantic, but are you legally allowed to drive in a car park? I know it's private property, but if it's open to the public, I believe that the Road Traffic Act applies?

Running out of things to practice

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