New driver experience + questions for the experienced drivers

Jim Gazebo

Recently got my full licence, got a car and started spinning about.
I had to drive some small roads recently for work.

Reason for the post is to know if my experiences are normal like every other new, young driver. Thoughts below on some stuff that's happened in the last few weeks. I would class myself as confident, but I will not take a risk or try something if I have ANY doubt at all.

1. I drove some of the small roads out there where speed limits are 80km/h. I cannot afford points on my licence for insurance reasons so I am trying to be very careful of the limits not to stray over, there are some people out there who don't appreciate an N on the back window. I drove 80 or a touch above on all straights and I had a fella behind me flashing his lights at me, beeping everything, so much so I slowed more and more down paranoid there was something wrong with the car. He overtook me on a dangerous bend then and I pulled in at the next petrol station. He was just impatient I think but it seemed so ignorant.

2. Why do people get upset about slowing down for a bend on a road I don't know? Of course, I can drive that road faster now but if I'm rattling along at 100km/hr and a bend full of chevron boards appear, I have to brake, I don't know what the bend is like! I don't slow down excessively or break hard but the same guy from 1. beeped at me repeatedly for slowing for a bend.

3. Are all car lights unbelievably bright and how do you deal with this? I felt blinded at times on the narrow roads when a big line of cars coming against me. Do you get used to this?

4. I'm finding myself overrevving a lot and can't seem to settle on a bite point. Will I eventually get there with this? I sound like a formula one car taking off sometimes.

5. Finally, my own headlights I've been told are very bright even when dipped. I have them lowered right down to the road but I had a guy flashing me on the road last week thinking I was on fulls.

So a note from me to any driver out there flashing or beeping an N driver on a small road, back off. I want to get there just as fast as you do, but I want to be careful as well. Have some consideration that the person you are up the hole of, might only be driving there for the first time ever.

Rant over, it's nice to get it off the chest sometimes.

dar83

I myself drive on certain smaller roads with an 80km/h limit and I'm not going to lie, it does my head in the amount of people driving 40-50km/h on the same roads, it's so frustrating. Slowing for corners is somewhat understandable (unless you're already doing 40km/h on the straights Pat/Mary!) but these guys sit at 50km/h the entire way most of the time, it's gotten even worse now that it's dark earlier and god forbid maybe a bit wet sometimes. But aside from trying to help them realise they're holding up a line of cars behind them, most people will sit back patiently and wait it out. Some, like the chap you encountered, cannot do this and react accordingly.

the N plates should technically help you and most people will be a bit more courteous towards you when they spot them, but some people will still feel like you should know the road as much as they do and therefore get impatient when you show signs of nerves at certain corners etc... As OSI has said, you get all sorts and some are just worst than others.

mickdw

're taking off, don't keeping raising the revs until you hit the bit point, just give it a little rev, hold that then slowly keep letting clutch out.
To be honest, it can be terribly annoying to be stuck behind a driver who doesn't know a road and is being super careful. Nothing at all wring with you doing that. It would be very wrong to drive faster than you are comfortable with. That said, if you are travelling slower than the majority, you should make every effort on the straights to let people by. Even if you are doing the speed limit, let faster cars by.

tossy

The trick with the oncoming traffic is don't stare directly at the lights, it sounds like common sense but we all get attracted by shiny things - when someone is coming towards me with their full lights and i get mad i always end up staring directly at them lol then i'm seeing stars all night.

Zubeneschamali

1&2 You drive your car at a speed you think safe. I neither speed up nor slow down because an ass behind beeps or flashes, tailgates or dodges in and out trying to pass. I ignore any such driver completely.

3 Look further left.

4 Comes with practice.

5 Ignore people flashing as long as you are below the limit.

newmember2

Rightly or wrongly...N plates aren't far off L plates in my head, and I like to give them a wide berth.

Samuel T. Cogley

Have you got your fog lights on by any chance? Genuine question.

drunkmonkey

Do you slow down and sometimes break going into bends, that does my nut in, keep a steady pace the car won't fall off the road. Some bends you have to slow but in general not. Try keeping the throttle steady and driving round the bend.

zoe 3619

Don't worry too much.Personally I'd have loads of patience with a learner or new driver.
You shouldn't drive faster than your comfortable with and you shouldn't feel pressured.If you have traffic close behind you it would be polite to pull off the road and let it pass when you get the chance.
Headlights can be dazzling-try looking left and following that edge of the road.

Voodoomelon

Jim Gazebo wrote: »

5. Finally, my own headlights I've been told are very bright even when dipped. I have them lowered right down to the road but I had a guy flashing me on the road last week thinking I was on fulls.

You can have the brightest headlights in the world and not cause a problem for oncoming traffic. If people are flashing you, they are not aligned properly, get them checked. And if you're carrying people in the back, use the dial on your dash to lower the height of the headlight beam.

soups05

all of the above is sage advice from experienced drivers, totally correct and if you follow it you won't go far wrong. the only thing i will add, and this cannot be stressed enough, buy a dashcam.

it will give you an independent witness should you ever crash. you don't want it to be your word against someone else's and hope for a good judge. i have a yi dash cam, cheap but very good quality. some have both front and rear ones.

if my budget would stretch i would have them on both sides too for all the people who indicate but don't turn.

check out the dash cam question thread, then the video thread. worth it in the end.

H3llR4iser

If you are slow or indecisive it can annoy some drivers, but believe me - it can happen after you've been driving for 10 years, all it takes is going somewhere you're not familiar with or not knowing which exit to take in a roundabout

All in all, it sounds to me like yours are common "beginner" issues - I wouldn't worry too much about them, as long as you keep the right mentality: every time you get in the car it has to be the opportunity to be learning something new, perfecting something, getting better in some way.

I have been driving for 20 years, and still apply that - each day, each drive is a chance to find something I think I can improve with my style/skills and work on that - could be something minor, such as improving the speed and precision of your gearshifts, or some important stuff like reading road conditions and other drivers more effectively.

Far too many people on the roads are just being "carried around by the car" and have no attention nor effective control over what they're doing; And don't get me started about mobile phones and tablets. For this reason, you must strive be a couple of steps ahead, alert and ready to take preventive action and know your and your cars' limits inside out. One day it will make the difference between ending up in the ditch or saving that slide on a patch of ice inches to spare, or between having an head-on collision and narrowly avoiding that one genius who thought overtaking just out of a blind bend was an excellent idea...

Last but not least - the being blinded by headlights part: I've grown used to it, but it always hits me how much less blinding other car's lights are whenever I go to continental Europe and had the exact same realization driving in the USA recently. I have a suspicion the NCT test for dip beams alignment to be set a bit too high.

garv123

Are you sure people are flashing you? sometimes, on rougher/hilly roads, cars tend to bounce a bit and it looks like the person is flashing you, this can be from oncoming traffic, or traffic behind you.

I rarely get to drive on good roads so I experience that a lot :pac:

Jim Gazebo

Many thanks to you all for your thoughts. Noted about the pricks on the road, that's what friends and family said as well. I've gotten over it now, but it did drive me insane at the time.
To the person who wants to avoid N's and L's, perfectly fine with me, that's okay, it's what the plates are for, as long as you're not up my hole beeping and flashing if I brake into a bend I don't know and cannot see around. I am not talking about a gentle bend drunkenmonkey, I am talking about bends on an R road I've never travelled that you cannot see around if that makes sense.

Will get the lights checked out, I've noticed the left one seems higher when I have them on close to a wall when parked if that makes a difference?

No the flashers were definitely flashing although I know what you're saying about bouncing on road seen that too.

drunkmonkey

Yea I get you new bends it's not a thing with just learners think older women are unreal at it, one went from 110km this evening to 50km in front of me around the bend and still managed to end up with her wheels in the ditch. Test should be 2 parts, one during the day and one at night.
Only met 1 learner plate today, crossing on the zebra crossing I had a green light and she decided to keep coming, she stopped right in front of me, then someone was crossing behind me and she decided she'd try and mow them down as well while her light was still red, 50+ woman.

Jim Gazebo

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Yea I get you new bends it's not a thing with just learners think older women are unreal at it, one went from 110km this evening to 50km in front of me around the bend and still managed to end up with her wheels in the ditch. Test should be 2 parts, one during the day and one at night.
Only met 1 learner plate today, crossing on the zebra crossing I had a green light and she decided to keep coming, she stopped right in front of me, then someone was crossing behind me and she decided she'd try and mow them down as well while her light was still red, 50+ woman.

I know, that is shocking to be fair. A whole new world of madness has opened up to me since I started driving. It's unreal what some people are at out there. I make mistakes, I am new to it, openly admit that, but some people make purposeful, dangerous manoeuvres for an advantage in traffic / to save 3-4 mins off a journey

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Just drive your own car and dont worry about other people. Respect faster drivers and let them pass where possible. Some people want to drive faster than you feel would be safe, but just let them off. They are better in front of you than behind you. On a back road there may only a few safe areas to pass, if you see an oppertunity for the faster driver to pass, slow down a bit and take a more left road position to allow the driver behind to see the oppertunity.

Look to the left of the road and follow it there to avoid being dazzled, this also works very well in fog.

Remember also, if you meet one dick driver once in a while then you met a dick driver. If you meeting them all the time then maybe your the dick. Be introspective about your driving style. I found as I got better as a driver I met a lot fewer bad drivers because I learned to drive in a way that is not annoying anyone or getting in anyone's way.

dmc17

Jim Gazebo wrote: »

4. I'm finding myself overrevving a lot and can't seem to settle on a bite point. Will I eventually get there with this? I sound like a formula one car taking off sometimes.

You shouldn't have gone for the V10 in your first car :pac: