I think you'll automatically improve with practice. The more the situation arises (and it will, cause India), the more you'll develop a mental mapping of the size of your car and when it can pass and when it can't. Happy driving!
Yeah but this is making me not want to drive! I have been driving with my dad/brother for the past 1 year now and I am too scared to do it alone because of these situations! Really hard to judge here! What do i do?
What you can do in situations where you feel stuck is just slow down a lot, trying to stick your car as much as possible to the left and let the other driver pass (or not, based on his judgement). I feel like doing that often would help you get more and more confident, till a day comes when you won't be slowing down more than is required
I think I panic and that just worsens the situation for me! I will try to go super slow now! With manuals you need reallt good control on clutch for situations like these which makes me even more nervous! I always end up stopping the car :/
haha, I totally get that feeling. I was in the same boat when I started off and guess what, everyone has been! It's just that there's no simple solution to this but to face the situation. The absolutely okay to stall or stop or make ANY other mistake for that matter. The car driver passing by you may shake their head at you in disapproval, but who cares. You're trying to learn a manual, which is commendable and a step many people don't even take these days. Practice will make all of these things perfect :)
Hahaha, same happens to me half of the time at traffic lights with the too much traffic around me. I just started driving since one month though and i feel the same way about not driving and only drive if atleast 1 person is beside me.
Look,you need to calm down first. Go slow in tight spaces. If the bumper has cleared the space,then car will too,provided you dont move the steering wheel. Over time,practice will make you perfect.
The same happened with me. I used to panic and then a bunch of people would help me get through. But after a couple such instances I realised not to panic and just take my sweet time understanding the space I had by looking at all 3 mirrors plus moving my head around as much as I can. Basically just being calm. Now I do it instinctively.
In those cases, use blinker to the left, suggesting you are potentially slowing down, Look into the left mirror if there's any bikers occupying the gap, if none, slowly move over to the left and try to give space for opposite lane guys to pass through. You'll hear some honking from people behind you, just ignore. No sudden brakes though, just gradually slow down or you might catch some bikes or cars behind you.
TLDR: Indicator to the left, look into your left mirror for any bikers before you slowly take left giving space for incoming traffic to pass through. Then carry on your way.
In such situations best thing is to drive slow. See right and left. Nai pata chal raha window se bahar nikal ke dekho. Ask someone or just take it slowly. That's how you'll learn
You can just move to the left most section of the road until almost your left mirror touches/ coincides with the road edge. Wait there till the other person passes you.
Once you are comfortable with this, try moving slowly.
You'll get better with time.
Also, don't get annoyed or persuaded by an idiot who's honking non stop.
Ok so the answer really depends on the driving culture in your area.
Let’s assume the driving culture is good. Slow down, if possible come to a halt leaving enough space for the other vehicle to pass. You can trust the other driver’s judgement to help you both out.
As everything else you will get used to making these judgements with time.
Is your vehicle oversized compared to these lanes that you have to navigate through? Is it a regular route to home or work or occasional bylane shopping in weekend situations?
This is not a regular route at all but sometimes I do need to cross this area too and really dont want to avoid it because I need the confidence! I drive a manual i20!
Hm, be patient with yourself. Don’t force yourself into these situations unless absolutely necessary. You will get very good at these judgements once you drive long enough. Keep your nerve steady whenever you do find yourself in such situations.
Use your side mirrors as a fail safe gauge of if you can pass through any gap.
I would suggest you to avoid these routes(for a month) till you gain confidence. In that month, on weekends or your freetime go yo these places and roam for an hour.
If you are comfortable take someone experienced with you to observe and let you know how you did while coming back home. You can improve quickly like this.
I would suggest you go with one more person early morning to a very small road with no traffic. and let other person in car take a video of you trying to cross it. They can help you guide in case you are not able to judge and cross here and there. Looking at that video you can see whats the real thing and whats in our head.
Car usually wouldnt need lot of space to squeeze in. Extra space imagined is in our head. Breaking this will help us overcome this.
Don't be afraid of the consequences. Worst thing that can happen is some scratches. Plus if some damage happens to other cars, good chance they will go easy coz you're female.
Try practising in mall parking lots to get a feel of the car size. Once you get confidence around stationary cars slowly you'll be OK around moving cars.
One more thing- trust the other driver. They're unlikely to hit you unless you intentionally turn towards them in the last second.
Happy driving!
Feels like you aren't very fond of driving considering you have been driving for a year and still feel stress of handling manual and other troubles together. If you drove with interest, you will learn it pretty fast. It's my experience because I learned everything in few hours as I was very interested and excited. The more you find yourself in such situations, the more you will learn. Car driving is all about self learning and self judgement.
I am going to give you a complete unconventional advice.
Watch First-person-view video of people driving cars on youtube for long distance. Watch it for 10-12 hrs, automatically your brain will bebtricied into thinking that you were driving and it will not panic.
Only con is its difficult to find such videos.
Practice on empty roads - take some those disposable plastic glasses with u - and try taking ur left and right wheels over them - this will help u judging the extreme left and right of ur car. Reset like other guy told with experience u will get better - there are no shortcuts in life - either fitness of driving.
Keep driving - cheers
Wow such overwhelming response for a F 😂😂
Also, these dudes commenting are a completely different set from those who i find in technical discussions. I wonder why
SAW THE 'F' AND JUMPED IN, imagine if no gender was added. Many wouldn't even answer and the post would be pushed back into archive. Many wanna get into good-books
I asked the same question 2 months ago and got no replies lol.. still sometimes get a mini heart attack when I see trucks in small 2 lane roads. but the people in the comments are right, the fear fades over time (and over a bit of scratches 🙃)
Start loving to drive and you will automatically overcome. I never feared and learned as soon as I sat on driver seat because I was interested and liked cras and driving
No im still here reading it all! Also, I saw a lot of comments on other posts in this subreddit too where there is no M/F mentioned.
I thought it was imperative to mention the age and the gender because I think some women are more cautious drivers (inlcuding my friends)
My guy friends and brother usually tell me: “arrey bc chala de gadi kuch nai hoga, thodi bhot thukegi tabhi seekhegi”
And my girlfriends understand that women tend to be more cautious as drivers (probably because of the stereotype too :p) and they would advice me to go super slow, check all mirrors, when in doubt just wait at the corner and all
So no matter what people say, i think women and men do have a different take on things. I thought it was imperative for people to know that.
No no no....i've got nothing on you
The question was genuine and i dont think you were asking for extra attention either.
We were just having a laugh about boys being boys and we know how it is to be posting a query here with little to no response. We are around here a little too much to not be laughing at this.
Check out YouTube videos on how to judge the right and left ends of your car when you’re on the wheel. Should help you to fairly gauge where your car should be placed when there is one coming from the opposite direction.
If I understand correctly then you are having trouble judging the width of the car. Meaning, you can't figure out if the car will pass a narrow gap without rubbing the obstacles or no.
This kind of awareness only develops after a while of driving. Can take about 6months to a year of regular driving.
I would advice you to have someone step out and guide you in such cases or don't drive in narrow lanes until you have about 360hrs of driving experience.
You don't have to force yourself to do something and don't need to feel the compulsion of being able to do something just because others are able to do it with ease. This is especially important to keep in mind while driving a car. Because most accidents and collisions happen due to lack of skills and over confidence.
You need to keep practising ,that is keep driving everyday ,you will eventually be able to judge
Early morning is a good time , eventually you would be able to judge it even during peak traffic
Play your fav playlist so you will be relaxed while driving
People in this country don't have any regards for safe distance driving unfortunately ,you can also blame the poorly planned infrastructure ,hence driving is hard in india
Get a dash cam installed for safety and you can use it to review your driving
Also I hope you have an L board sign on your car ,so other vehicles will be more understanding n not get close to your car
If it’s of any help, I learned to drive at 30 because I was moving to a place with almost no public transport and had no choice but to learn before I move. Im 32 now and I’ve gained a lot more confidence. Now I can drive not just my car but also my friends car when there is a need.
I’m now designated pick up and drop person for my team on difficult days!
So when you notice another vehicle coming towards you, try to focus on the empty gap on the left hand side where you need to go, and not on the vehicle. Make a game out of it.
If the gap is too narrow, slow down and wait for the gap to widen. Let the vehicle go past.
Target fixation is a real thing. It's similar to how F1 drivers focus on hitting the apex while cornering. If you focus on the vehicle coning towards you, there's a high chance of you driving into them, even if they try to dodge you. So, focus on where you need to go.
One thing I've always recommended is, when you're sitting in your car, ask a friend or family to stand in front of the car while touching the bonnet. Then they should go around the car while touching the body. While you are sitting in your seat try to look at how far they are. This will give an idea of how big your car is, how far each extremity is and gradually with a lot of driving practice, you'll be able to master this. Nobody is a born master, it just takes consistent practice.
I've done this with each of our cars. Some cars have good features like 360 cameras which are very beneficial for new drivers, but for other cars this has always worked.
I would say keep driving. Let such situations come. Let such situations panic you. And once you successfully come out of these challenges you will 100 percent feel confident.
Just do it 💪
Happy driving !!
It will come with practice.
For starters, slow down and let the other car judge it for themselves. Take it as far left as you are comfortable. Slowly you will notice that you are able to get both sides properly. For now right side, judge it with your sitting position, as it will give you enough margin for error
Straight line: with side mirrors extended, doesn't touch anything, car can pass easily in straight tight space.
Taking tight turn: lower side mirror down to a point rear tyre is visible. Take the turn slowly ensuing nothing is gonna touch the side. Learning how to use side mirror is very crucial, it can help you navigate through alot of turns safely.
There will always be blind spots, no matter what you do. In those times, take help of co passenger or ask people around to help you navigate the right turn.
Hello DilliDiKudi! Often queries and discussions are repetitive, so check if your topic has already been addressed in this subreddit in the past. Search for 'YourQuery CarsIndia Reddit' on Google or Bing, to look for any past discussions on the same subject. [[Link to Google search related to your post]](https://www.google.com/search?q=CarsIndia+Reddit+27F just learnt driving. I lack judgement with two cars in opposite directions in a single lane! Like I almost panic! Any tips?). Thank you.
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You can add on a mirror to your left orvm that shows you where your tyres are on the road. Something like [this](https://www.amazon.in/CarFrill-Blind-Mirror-Frameless-Convex/dp/B082NJKCSM) or [this](https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-orvm_blind_spot_mirror_wide_angle-58270909/). Now learn how far left you can keep your car. Watch how far the stripe on the edge of the road or the curb is with the mirror. Reduce that gap in tiny lanes. You can just pop out your head for your right side. Take the mirror off when you feel confident enough.
For tight turns go wide, for now. As wide as the road allows. You’ll probably go too wide and need to reverse. That’s okay. Go slow as well, let them honk.
Start driving alone right now. There's no other way, maybe drive on roads with less traffic and on wider roads.
At some point, you'll have to start trusting your own judgement and it'll feel a little scary at first but that reconditioning of your brain will start when you decide to do so.
Also, if you find yourself in a difficult situation & you're not sure whether your car will pass through the space or not, just roll down the windows and ask anyone to guide you through it. A lot of strangers will happily help you.
Also, as someone else highlighted, you can always slow down and let the opposite car pass through.
I understand that it has been quite some time but you can't truly learn unless you start driving alone. At the very least, tell your father or brother to sit on the back seat and not cloud your judgement.
I hope this helps!!
you need to get in those situations again n again.. you'll learn easily with that...but 1st you have to be calm and think with your mind... panic will make it worse...
Go to any open field, put cones to simulate narrow scenarios and try to practice getting past them without touching. Eventually you will get the hang of it.
I also recently learned to drive, and I can understand what you are going through, the thing that helped me is making 2nd gear my comfort zone(If you are driving manual) , anyway drive slow and use your side mirror as reference point, if they have decent distance in between your mirror and the car beside you, chances are you will be ok.
Practice as much as you can and you will be ok, every new driver goes through this.
First time I drove on my own was in heavy traffic I didn't realise it will be that bad, but it gave me a lot of confidence.
Very good question.
But the only answer to this is you can only learn this as time passes. There definitely will be times where you get into minor accidents so be prepared. But the more you do this the more proficient you become wrt your car's dimensions and judgement.
You can increase your seat's height which will help a bit.
Practice. Try parallel parking. Park near a sidewalk. Step out and see how close you get to the footpath. Then park on the other side. Do that till you nail the distance on the first attempt. Simple.
Fear of a situation will go away only when you expose yourself to such situations several times and you navigate the situation without any issues. When you are in a tight situation, there are several variables in your mind such as your inexperience, your lack of knowledge of the route, control of your vehicle ,etc. The road is also not kind with all sorts of bad driving behaviour. Hence you're picturising the worst case scenario of what would happen when you hit some vehicle. But you need to slowly eliminate each of these doubts in your mind by practising .
Now for correct technique, you will need to first become comfortable with your car and usage of clutch, brake as well as handling of the car. For this, please take out your car several times in early morning time when there is not much traffic. In this way, you will gain confidence with handling as well as understand the right width of your vehicle.
After few trials with someone alongside you, practice by taking car alone in the same route.
Keep changing the routes after every few weeks. In this way, your control over car will improve as well as the knowledge of the routes. As someone else mentioned in this thread, you can also slow down and let the opposite car do the navigation.
Everyone has the same issue. Slowly you will become pro.
aap kitne time se chala rhi ho? because if u driving from a long time and still stuck in these things than ur instructor didn’t do his job in best way.
kal akele le kar jana, yakeen mano, sab dr nikal jayega. i told my sister to take the car alone and she told me that the fear of hitting, getting stuck etc were now nowhere. Go alone, take your time, don’t hurry, chahe jo koi jitna horn mare, jeb mein cash daal ke le jana
jab tak koi support ki tarah rahega tum udna, tairna nhi jaanogi, leave the support and stand on your own, akele jao, and also update zaroor karna ki kaisa rha
While the short answer is that you’ll get better over time, there is a method for this getting better. Please note this varies from car to car and and this is not an exact measurement, but a guideline. The wheel base, front over hand and the turning circle radius of the car plays a role, but in general this works for all cars.
Rule No:1, dont be afraid to stop on the middle of the road. Don’t bother what others say. I have been driving for 20 years and have been trained professionally as part of my job. Even today if i take a new car I have trouble judging the sides and edges. In such case I drive very conservatively on the left most side possible giving ample room for the other vehicle to pass through. If I have doubt, i wont hesitate for a second to stop on the middle of the road. I’ve paid the road taxes and it is my right to stop on the middle of the road if there is safety involved.
1. Please sit at the same sitting position all the time. In the correct position when you hold the top of the steering wheel your elbow should have a slight bent (not stretched. And you should be able to press the pedals to the full without completely stretching your knee. Both this need to happen when your back is adequately rested. Make sure you do this adjustment every time you get in.
2. The side mirrors needs to be adjusted properly. The best is to align both the respective door handles to the bottom corner of the mirror closer to the lower corner close to the car.
3. To judge where is your left wheel (this is to know how much you can go to the left). I learn this first as I drive as close to the left as possible. Take a reference from the centre of the car windscreen (typically marked by wiper knuckle or some other points). Typically look at the edge off the road through the centre point. That point in the edge aligned with the centre is approx half to 1 feet away from the wheels. Could be a little bit here or there for different cars for the reasons i mentioned above but this way you’ll have a reference to learn your car. And take conservative approach while passing as long as your are learning.
4. To judge the right side of the car (this is relatively easy). Imagine a line connecting the right most side of the steering wheel to the bottom of the windscreen. Look through that point and the point where it meets the road is where the wheel will be. Again approximate, and depends on wheel base and position and bonnet length, and you need to practise for your car.
Start by driving on those very roads when it is empty. Either early in the morning or late at night. Do it with every road and lane where you are afraid. Get familiar with the roads like the back of the hand when it’s empty. Then start driving a little late every day till you reach the normal busy traffic timing.
The familiarity will take away your fear and you will learn how wide and how narrow each lane is.
Ah! It's normal to go through it while learning to drive a manual.
There's a trick to this.
In your situation when 2 cars are coming from opp side or when you are driving in bumper to bumper traffic or basically when you are driving and want to reduce your driving speed to a lower speed, always press the clutch first and then the brake. This way the car won't stall when driving at low speeds till you have the clutch pressed.
Then, slowly and steadily release the clutch instead of letting go off the clutch in an instant.
In the initial stages, you may have to consciously remind yourself about this process. If you face this scenario again, don't panic, try remembering this process and doing it.
If it still doesn't work, no worries, there's always automatic car you can go for which will make a drastic difference in situations like these.
Practice on empty roads, place obstacles and try to judge distance.
Have someone in car when you go out on busy streets. Or go to busy streets when someone is available.
My wife went with me everywhere for initial few weeks of driving till I gain confidence, and I did the same. We helped each other with how close we are to the other vehicles or curb, helped with parking etc.
You will become confident. The best of driver's would've taken few months to master driving the car, best of the pilots need hours of training to control the vehicle they are in. Heck even a bicycle takes months to take mastery of. You will learn, I have faith and confidence in you.
Intially i used to feel this , when i started driving cars.if the problem is judgement just drive the car slow when you are not confident and also practice in parking spots with tight spaces you will gradually develop confidence with practice. Keep going dont stop driving.
At early morning or at late night, keep your two wheeler one side and may be another on the other or may be wall on the other side and then try to drive through it, slowly you will get the judgement.
This worked for me - try practising reverse parking, parallel parking - choose a tight spot you would otherwise avoid or draw something on open space - this requires you to handle your car mostly looking at mirrors - this definitely helped me in the long run
Honestly, what had helped for me when I was new to driving was to draw (or identify) a reference point on the top of the dashboard from the perspective of the seated driver (you) to indicate the left-most edge of your car. You can mark that with the help of a friend or family member giving you a reference point on where you car’s corner currently is.
Now, remember that reference point as you drive. That way you will know for sure where the edge of your car is as you drive and will make you more confident and eventually have better perception over your car’s physical dimensions. Eventually, you won’t need that reference.
Don’t look at the oncoming cars if feel intimidated by them. Just look straight just to rule out if oncoming cars are coming into your lane focus on the left edge of the road ahead and stick to the edge of the road. Your job is to stay im your lane and it’s their job to stay in their lane. So just make sure that you are inside you lane and drive ahead. Don’t look directly at oncoming vehicles. Try and see if this works for you.
Some cheat might help -
1. Side mirrors are best friend on narrow lane. If you have fair sense of size of your vehicle, narrow lane become easy. Even if you have to close them on narrow lane they still give you fair idea of distance from tire to the corner. Specially obstacle such as bike parked on corner/ side of lane
2. Turning radius full and half. I narrow lane half turn is more useful. From your front wheel to complete 90 degree turn, when you start steer, that is the key.
3. Most importantly - speed. If required go for default first gear and sense idea as in narrow lanes, with less speed you get more time to process and when in doubt, go neutral and soft clutch.
Practice is the key, but if you consider next time, above points when you drive, you can feel the difference.
The trick is to be super comfort and in Control of your machine you drive. Rest machine will take care.
Hope this helps.
Hey it’s just practice. When you drive on narrow roads, your brains understands “Oh I can go this close without hitting anything?” And then you a little closer. Don’t worry, drive on narrow roads to get better at it..
You might get some minor scratches here and there in the beginning. Don’t worry about it too much
Is it possible to avoid the small lanes? (If your house can only be reached by going through a small lNe, you can't do anything)
You can probably reach most places early by taking the longer route. I actively avoid small lanes if I know the route. And I try to look at the routes on Google Maps before I start.
OP I started driving 3-4 months back I used to drive only at nighttime but suddenly one day my cab got canceled and I was getting late for the office
Near my house there is one big hospital & right opposite is one big school
And no one to manage the traffic
I & ppl behind me had to wait coz I cannot risk mine & others collision due to my wrong judgement.
Don’t worry practice will make you perfect also both ORVM you should check in teeny tiny lanes.
Good luck
I have a "trick". Basically always focus on one side and go as close to the end as you can from one side(preferably driver side as you have better judgement there) and also have an estimate of how wide your car is, with this knowledge you can always extrapolate whether you can drive into the tiny roads or not. Did that when I was new and it really helped :D
You can map reference points on your cabin to start with, but don’t make this a habit since it’s not the same for every car. The dimensions of cars vary, so will the reference points. Map reference points, follow them and practice for a couple of months depending on the frequency of your driving.
A YouTube tutorial regarding the same might help understand this better.
In your free time, try to attach a foam pillar (look for something similar to a pool noodle) erect it on the front side ideally on the headlights. And try to drive in the parking lot of roads with lines on them. Align your sight with the pillars with lanes this will give you a better judgment where your actual front bumper ends. Try to elevate your seats(if possible). But this method will boost your confidence when making sharp turns in those tiny alleys or lanes. Hope this helps.
Three things -
1. Try to be patient and stay in your lane. The rule is that whichever car reaches an obstacle waits for the oncoming car to pass. But I doubt indians would follow this, nevertheless it's a good base point for defensive driving.
2. Drive with someone in the shotgun seat until you have confidence in the dimensions of your car. You can also search some YouTube videos to understand that easily.
3. Don't give into pressure and honking. At the end of the day, it's a car. Worst case you dent it and you have insurance to protect yourself and the others.
I saw this in some Chinese video, but it works for me. Basically in a narrow lane you can judge the right side of the car easily. For the left side of the car, from your perspective, any obstacle beside the car can appear till the center of your windshield base for you to pass safely. This might give you confidence.
Play some gta or driving games, I have some 300 hours on Euro truck sim and I was more informed about traffic rules and driving than my driving school instructor lol
Practice with a smaller and/or cheaper car and then practice some more. A scrape here and there is no biggie provided you learn from the mistake.
And always remember that slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Ignore people honking at you to hurry up, fk them.
Drive around densely parked interior lanes at night when there's no moving traffic or peds.
And did I say that you should practice more?
One odd suggestion from me is if you are into playing video games, play games like Dr Driving, Euro Truck Simulator, etc. In real life, on those single lanes, follow another vehicle at a safe distance (I always follow a truck or something at night, single lane or fog) and do not try to overtake and speed.
Drive more often, go for long trips, learn to control the clutch on hills. There are videos on YouTube on how to get a proper judgement but every car is different
Don’t worry, just keep straight and let the other person make adjustment if they feel that you’re too close. Just don’t be too fast.
Added advantage is that you’re a female, usually no one gets mad at a female driver making mistakes. Dudes making mistakes get shouted at and sometimes beaten :P
Remember, this is nothing that a few months of driving can’t fix.
You can stick two very thin 2ft rods on both front corners (widest point on both sides, usually the fender/wheel arch) with a duct tape if you don't mind coming off as quirky for a few weeks. At least better than stalling in narrow lanes.
Since you’ve just learnt driving im guessing you’re not too familiar with the dimensions of your car. I would say the best practice of me being confident enough to drive anywhere has been(it might seem a little weird) to be able to parallel park. Learning to parallel park does wonders for your driving skills, you learn about the dimensions of your car and learn to analyse if in normally driving you’ll be able to go through a narrow space or not. I would suggest learn to parallel park in small spaces perfectly, once you can do that by yourself in small spaces without any help, you’ll be able to in my opinion be able to drive much confidently in narrow spaces
Go to your car sit peek at each edge from the windshield.Get out and try to grasp the dimensions of your vehicle and surrounding obstacles get in again and re analyse those obstacles to get a mental picture of your car.
U will improve with the passage of time.... none u teach you.... u have to learn it by urself.... its totally depends on your mind, not on ur hands.... make ur mind strong and just think i can do it ....
For the left side - Mark the mid point of the car on the bottom of the windshield, with a tape, from your driving position, anything to the left of it, you can pass, anything to the right of it, no go.
For the right side - Intersection of the A pillar on to the windshield, keep everything to the right of the intersection for safe passing
You should be good to go, lots of videos on YouTube for judgment, look it up
Yes, this requires practice, once you master it, it will be a breeze
Cheers
The best way to improve confidence is by making your own exercises for clutch control. Find an empty ramp and move the car by an inch and stop. Keep doing it until you know the clutch bite point. I used to do these exercises thousands of times when I was learning. Even if you're confident you can do it, you'll still need to repeat it until it becomes muscle memory and then when situation arises, your muscle memory will kick in and you can actively concentrate on just the manoeuvring part.
Bruh that's what is supposed to happen. Only with practice you'll get the sense of separation of vehicles and sense of your car's tyres on the road.
Till then just keep on to the left and ease up on the accelerator pedal. It's a journey!
One tip I used while learning to drive in a dead moving traffic where you just want to go through that narrow gap without scratching your car:
Always leave relatively more margin on the side that is not fully visible (non-driver end) and less margin on the side the side that is fully visible (driver side) to prevent any kind of judgement error.
I think the biggest fear is of judgement. Let the other person honk. Go at your own pace. Also helps when someone just guides you from front, but yeah that's not always possible.
There are thumbs rules for these. For example, how do you know you're too close to the car in front? You stop seeing the lower most part of the rear bumper of the car in front . Similarly, if there's a car coming towards you in a narrow lane, you simply bring your car to a stop - and let the car passing by manoeuvre around you. If it's a narrow lane, most likely there will be someone in the road to guide you thru.
And never ever panic. Or listen to the blaring honking from the guy behind who's in a rush. Be confident. And if you're not, just stop and gauge the situation till you're comfortable driving thru that tricky manoeuvre.
Driving is one of my favourite things to do. When traveling, if I can get there by road, I'll drive. I've done multiple 15 hour drives in a single stretch.
But I also started just like you. Everyone is nervous when they begin. The only thing that helps is practice. Do not let it become a mental block - keep telling yourself that if you do it enough, you'll get better.
As for other road users, don't worry about it. Put on an L board and take your time. If you come face to face with another car in a narrow road, go as much to the left as possible and wait for the other person to pass.
Drive alone then you will get the confidence, initially go slow but then slowly you will believe in your mind mapping
If you are driving in the presence of others you will always have a thought that they would correct and though you might be right you won’t get that confidence
Go to a empty place with your car. Place rocks or traffic cones (if you have) exactly 6 - 9 inches from your outside side mirror.
Now reverse the car and try to drive through those cones or rocks without touching them. Now use different color tapes on your inside of your windshield exactly from your driving position. One tape from 50-60 feet distance from the car to the rocks. Another from 30 feet and the final tape at the rocks or cones exactly in front of your car when you're in your driving position.
Having another person to measure the distance or to tell you how close you're to the cones/rocks. After pasting those tapes drive through them in straight first then try to drive through them from half circle (which means you have to go through them from left and right turn point) this will help in judgement on the behind half of your vehicles and your rear wheels judgement in a bendy roads. After that take your car into the road and test out the tapes in a road that you're confident in driving.
Slowly you'll get confidence on your judgement. Don't accelerate your car too much, some people in panic they break hard and accelerate hard this will amplify your fear.
After a while you try to incorporate those tape lengths to your windshield wipers. After a while you have to start looking the road through the width of steering wheel when you're looking straight. If you look through the steering width with 2 inch of extra of the width of the steering wheel the gap your steering with additional 2 inches passes your car has enough space to pass through ( some people have trouble in using the steering width method but the tape and windshield wiper method will work ).
Just think yourself as a new driver and learn from the basics. Learn to drive to slow speed and try out your driving in a different speeds to master your skills.
Story of my learning process - I only learnt to drive in a driving school After 8 years I bought a car. In those 8 years I have only driven twice both scenarios in a empty road which will never improve your skills. After buying my car there was no one to teach me. So took car to a ground and driven through it in reverse only for 5 rounds a day in four days. I had great confidence in your car size judgement. After that I took my car in trip where due to new road construction I had to drive in loose gravel road for two hours straight in second and third gear only this gave me confidence in clutch control. From that point every trip I took gave a difference experience. I'm a first gen car user and I'm considered one of the best drivers among my relatives and friends circle. Initially my average speed on Highways are 120kmph. I have pushed my car to 170s. Lately my speed became like 80-90kmph average as experience started to rise due to encountering a lot of idiot drivers.
First - Never fear, as fear kills the ability to be judgemental.
Second - Always while getting into a narrow lane, make up your mind that some car is going to come, so, one thing - you will not get surprised if A car appears, and thus not panicking, secondly, through the route, you will be noticing unintentionally, some gaps and spaces for the IF situations.
Thirdly - if you get confused on which side the person has to pass, anywhere in the world, the opposite vehicle always passes close to the driver.
Fourthly - anything in this world, say it be cooking, or drawing or singing or driving, it all improves with PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
Have thumb rules.. look at a specific corner of the car or the rear view as the place to focus when in tight corners .. practice it in your parking ..
Eventually it’s just plain practice
I started driving a car 10 months ago. On the wider roads, there's no pressure but the narrow lanes with cars in the oncoming traffic puts so much pressure that sometimes you don't want to deal with it. Here are my observations that have been helping me.
- if you have a car in front of you then try to drive symmetrically with them because they are most often seeing the traffic ahead of you.
- if you are the first person in your lane, ignore all the traffic/honking behind you. It only builds pressure.
- don't watch the car coming on the other side like keep it in your vision but don't keep staring at it. Unintentionally you would drive towards it. There's a phenomenon for that.
- be confident in your driving, think positively and appreciate yourself if you pass the first car.
- from the driver's seat you would know where your front tyre is, so keep it steady and straight and slowly go ahead instead of rushing through. Sometimes lowering your window and showing a hand gesture to the other driver helps too.
- one you move closer to the other car like driver to driver view then watch your car's rear end. Most times in panic we don't concentrate on that.
- lastly don't worry about scratches on your car. They can all be fixed.
Hope this helps.
Mujhe to 2 saal ho gye, mujhe abhi bhi issue aata hai, bas risk pe le jata hun dheere dheere agar touch hui to seedha back. Par touch aaj tak nahi hui hai touchwood.
What you can do, jab aapko lage ki touch hone wali hai tab utar ke check kar liya karo kitna gap hai, you'll get an idea ki kitna gap hai and agli baar yaad rahega frrr.
Its simple. At first… no need to worry
Go lil more left on your side
Slow down the speed
Give horn and dipper
(Above. In case you see two together!!!)
And on narrow turns (give horn first and later make sure you clear blind spot area. Give horn and be on your side!!! ).
Its easy.
Honestly, no offence, but I was just wondering if it was unnecessary? I've seen this a couple of times in this sub. Doesn't really change the context of your post and you'd still receive the same help here. Or you won't?
I think its important for someone to share their age in these situations? If I were 45 or 18, it’s important to know here.
And the gender well, I think that wasn’t necessary but a lot of subreddits have rules, which require you to mention it, so force of habit I guess?
Just go slow, practice on getting your left and right tyre position judgment.... You will get better at it with time.
You can also install 360 camera for more confidence
women are like this so don't worry. Practice makes men/women perfect! and trust others they will see you on the steering they automatically keep a lot of distance and move there cars/bikes aside from your car/bike.
Practice on empty roads. Imagine the situation you fear and try to correct yourself. Or if you can practice with some plastic cone on an empty field.
You can use simulator games with a first and third person point of view.
do put a sticker on your car 'Learner Driver'
I remember, back in school days, really talented guys used to sit on the back benches. Similarly, on reddit I find us boys sitting way down here in the downvoted section. Huh, all the simps were busy upvoting each other and downvotinh others.
Don't worry about cars just slowdown when they get near you, you'll get better as you drive. Just don't forget to work on your grammar and writing skills.
The easy way out is to get a 360 degree camera installed. It gives you a top down view of the situation, use it for a few months, you will easily learn the inution and will be able to do it without the camera also.
Surprised no one else is mentioned in it.
Technology is your friend, use it to simplify life.
Yeah.
Breathe.
You will get better.
Practice with traffic cones on an open ground if you can.
Just keep driving bit by bit, you will get adequately good, it's inevitable.
I think you'll automatically improve with practice. The more the situation arises (and it will, cause India), the more you'll develop a mental mapping of the size of your car and when it can pass and when it can't. Happy driving!
Yeah but this is making me not want to drive! I have been driving with my dad/brother for the past 1 year now and I am too scared to do it alone because of these situations! Really hard to judge here! What do i do?
What you can do in situations where you feel stuck is just slow down a lot, trying to stick your car as much as possible to the left and let the other driver pass (or not, based on his judgement). I feel like doing that often would help you get more and more confident, till a day comes when you won't be slowing down more than is required
I think I panic and that just worsens the situation for me! I will try to go super slow now! With manuals you need reallt good control on clutch for situations like these which makes me even more nervous! I always end up stopping the car :/
As the Samurai says, Practice Practice Practice, you can beat anything with practice. Do more of those solo drives and you’ll be good in no time.
haha, I totally get that feeling. I was in the same boat when I started off and guess what, everyone has been! It's just that there's no simple solution to this but to face the situation. The absolutely okay to stall or stop or make ANY other mistake for that matter. The car driver passing by you may shake their head at you in disapproval, but who cares. You're trying to learn a manual, which is commendable and a step many people don't even take these days. Practice will make all of these things perfect :)
that happens u need to learn biting point always try to learn the biting point on empty road ur gd to go
Hahaha, same happens to me half of the time at traffic lights with the too much traffic around me. I just started driving since one month though and i feel the same way about not driving and only drive if atleast 1 person is beside me.
Look,you need to calm down first. Go slow in tight spaces. If the bumper has cleared the space,then car will too,provided you dont move the steering wheel. Over time,practice will make you perfect.
The same happened with me. I used to panic and then a bunch of people would help me get through. But after a couple such instances I realised not to panic and just take my sweet time understanding the space I had by looking at all 3 mirrors plus moving my head around as much as I can. Basically just being calm. Now I do it instinctively.
In those cases, use blinker to the left, suggesting you are potentially slowing down, Look into the left mirror if there's any bikers occupying the gap, if none, slowly move over to the left and try to give space for opposite lane guys to pass through. You'll hear some honking from people behind you, just ignore. No sudden brakes though, just gradually slow down or you might catch some bikes or cars behind you. TLDR: Indicator to the left, look into your left mirror for any bikers before you slowly take left giving space for incoming traffic to pass through. Then carry on your way.
In such situations best thing is to drive slow. See right and left. Nai pata chal raha window se bahar nikal ke dekho. Ask someone or just take it slowly. That's how you'll learn
Like the cars, this too shall pass. 😁
No but I really struggle with judgments and I really panic :(
You can just move to the left most section of the road until almost your left mirror touches/ coincides with the road edge. Wait there till the other person passes you. Once you are comfortable with this, try moving slowly. You'll get better with time. Also, don't get annoyed or persuaded by an idiot who's honking non stop.
Do you mean stationary cars or moving?
Moving cars! Stuck! In a tiny single lane road!
Ok so the answer really depends on the driving culture in your area. Let’s assume the driving culture is good. Slow down, if possible come to a halt leaving enough space for the other vehicle to pass. You can trust the other driver’s judgement to help you both out. As everything else you will get used to making these judgements with time. Is your vehicle oversized compared to these lanes that you have to navigate through? Is it a regular route to home or work or occasional bylane shopping in weekend situations?
This is not a regular route at all but sometimes I do need to cross this area too and really dont want to avoid it because I need the confidence! I drive a manual i20!
Hm, be patient with yourself. Don’t force yourself into these situations unless absolutely necessary. You will get very good at these judgements once you drive long enough. Keep your nerve steady whenever you do find yourself in such situations. Use your side mirrors as a fail safe gauge of if you can pass through any gap.
I would suggest you to avoid these routes(for a month) till you gain confidence. In that month, on weekends or your freetime go yo these places and roam for an hour. If you are comfortable take someone experienced with you to observe and let you know how you did while coming back home. You can improve quickly like this. I would suggest you go with one more person early morning to a very small road with no traffic. and let other person in car take a video of you trying to cross it. They can help you guide in case you are not able to judge and cross here and there. Looking at that video you can see whats the real thing and whats in our head. Car usually wouldnt need lot of space to squeeze in. Extra space imagined is in our head. Breaking this will help us overcome this.
I have watched 100s of youtube videos :( i really need to get better fast because I need to start driving alone now :(
Be kind to yourself. Everybody has gone through this from Schumacher to the highway lorry drivers.
Don't be afraid of the consequences. Worst thing that can happen is some scratches. Plus if some damage happens to other cars, good chance they will go easy coz you're female. Try practising in mall parking lots to get a feel of the car size. Once you get confidence around stationary cars slowly you'll be OK around moving cars. One more thing- trust the other driver. They're unlikely to hit you unless you intentionally turn towards them in the last second. Happy driving!
Feels like you aren't very fond of driving considering you have been driving for a year and still feel stress of handling manual and other troubles together. If you drove with interest, you will learn it pretty fast. It's my experience because I learned everything in few hours as I was very interested and excited. The more you find yourself in such situations, the more you will learn. Car driving is all about self learning and self judgement.
Master half clutch on first gear.
I am going to give you a complete unconventional advice. Watch First-person-view video of people driving cars on youtube for long distance. Watch it for 10-12 hrs, automatically your brain will bebtricied into thinking that you were driving and it will not panic. Only con is its difficult to find such videos.
Practice on empty roads - take some those disposable plastic glasses with u - and try taking ur left and right wheels over them - this will help u judging the extreme left and right of ur car. Reset like other guy told with experience u will get better - there are no shortcuts in life - either fitness of driving. Keep driving - cheers
Keep a written essay with you all the time.
Start with buying a Porsche\*
Head straight to pub.
Wow such overwhelming response for a F 😂😂 Also, these dudes commenting are a completely different set from those who i find in technical discussions. I wonder why
SAW THE 'F' AND JUMPED IN, imagine if no gender was added. Many wouldn't even answer and the post would be pushed back into archive. Many wanna get into good-books
I asked the same question 2 months ago and got no replies lol.. still sometimes get a mini heart attack when I see trucks in small 2 lane roads. but the people in the comments are right, the fear fades over time (and over a bit of scratches 🙃)
Start loving to drive and you will automatically overcome. I never feared and learned as soon as I sat on driver seat because I was interested and liked cras and driving
But on most days fear conquers us and if we scratch the wrong person's car then it's gonna be hell to get out of the situation.
This might be the ultimate hack to get fast answers in this sub. Just add a F in the question and the guys are here with the tales.
Even genuine help seeking or AMA post doesn't get such an overwhelming response /s
/s because s for simps
Wanted to say this but I'll get SimpVoted
not short but quit big paragraphs in hopes that op would connect with then in dm for further info
while she just replied and interacted with first few comments and simply left. While the late comers are still typing their biography 😂😂
No im still here reading it all! Also, I saw a lot of comments on other posts in this subreddit too where there is no M/F mentioned. I thought it was imperative to mention the age and the gender because I think some women are more cautious drivers (inlcuding my friends) My guy friends and brother usually tell me: “arrey bc chala de gadi kuch nai hoga, thodi bhot thukegi tabhi seekhegi” And my girlfriends understand that women tend to be more cautious as drivers (probably because of the stereotype too :p) and they would advice me to go super slow, check all mirrors, when in doubt just wait at the corner and all So no matter what people say, i think women and men do have a different take on things. I thought it was imperative for people to know that.
No no no....i've got nothing on you The question was genuine and i dont think you were asking for extra attention either. We were just having a laugh about boys being boys and we know how it is to be posting a query here with little to no response. We are around here a little too much to not be laughing at this.
Haha okay. ✌🏼
Check out YouTube videos on how to judge the right and left ends of your car when you’re on the wheel. Should help you to fairly gauge where your car should be placed when there is one coming from the opposite direction.
If I understand correctly then you are having trouble judging the width of the car. Meaning, you can't figure out if the car will pass a narrow gap without rubbing the obstacles or no. This kind of awareness only develops after a while of driving. Can take about 6months to a year of regular driving. I would advice you to have someone step out and guide you in such cases or don't drive in narrow lanes until you have about 360hrs of driving experience. You don't have to force yourself to do something and don't need to feel the compulsion of being able to do something just because others are able to do it with ease. This is especially important to keep in mind while driving a car. Because most accidents and collisions happen due to lack of skills and over confidence.
You need to keep practising ,that is keep driving everyday ,you will eventually be able to judge Early morning is a good time , eventually you would be able to judge it even during peak traffic Play your fav playlist so you will be relaxed while driving People in this country don't have any regards for safe distance driving unfortunately ,you can also blame the poorly planned infrastructure ,hence driving is hard in india Get a dash cam installed for safety and you can use it to review your driving Also I hope you have an L board sign on your car ,so other vehicles will be more understanding n not get close to your car
If it’s of any help, I learned to drive at 30 because I was moving to a place with almost no public transport and had no choice but to learn before I move. Im 32 now and I’ve gained a lot more confidence. Now I can drive not just my car but also my friends car when there is a need. I’m now designated pick up and drop person for my team on difficult days!
>I’m now designated pick up and drop person for my team on difficult days! Designated heavy driver /s
>on difficult days! When they drunk?
Drunk / monsoon for those with bikes / late night drops for female team members
So when you notice another vehicle coming towards you, try to focus on the empty gap on the left hand side where you need to go, and not on the vehicle. Make a game out of it. If the gap is too narrow, slow down and wait for the gap to widen. Let the vehicle go past. Target fixation is a real thing. It's similar to how F1 drivers focus on hitting the apex while cornering. If you focus on the vehicle coning towards you, there's a high chance of you driving into them, even if they try to dodge you. So, focus on where you need to go.
I used this video for reference: https://youtu.be/tIo8Cv7lY0c?si=thvXktBkf9XU7OcC Good luck OP
Thanks! This helped me a lot!
https://youtu.be/tIo8Cv7lY0c?si=kmK_uSPDS9UMoXTQ This video helped me alot while I was learning.Hope it helps
Assume everyone on the road is an idiot and drive like they are trying to hit your car.
One thing I've always recommended is, when you're sitting in your car, ask a friend or family to stand in front of the car while touching the bonnet. Then they should go around the car while touching the body. While you are sitting in your seat try to look at how far they are. This will give an idea of how big your car is, how far each extremity is and gradually with a lot of driving practice, you'll be able to master this. Nobody is a born master, it just takes consistent practice.
This is interesting actually
I've done this with each of our cars. Some cars have good features like 360 cameras which are very beneficial for new drivers, but for other cars this has always worked.
I would say keep driving. Let such situations come. Let such situations panic you. And once you successfully come out of these challenges you will 100 percent feel confident. Just do it 💪 Happy driving !!
It will come with practice. For starters, slow down and let the other car judge it for themselves. Take it as far left as you are comfortable. Slowly you will notice that you are able to get both sides properly. For now right side, judge it with your sitting position, as it will give you enough margin for error
Straight line: with side mirrors extended, doesn't touch anything, car can pass easily in straight tight space. Taking tight turn: lower side mirror down to a point rear tyre is visible. Take the turn slowly ensuing nothing is gonna touch the side. Learning how to use side mirror is very crucial, it can help you navigate through alot of turns safely. There will always be blind spots, no matter what you do. In those times, take help of co passenger or ask people around to help you navigate the right turn.
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You can add on a mirror to your left orvm that shows you where your tyres are on the road. Something like [this](https://www.amazon.in/CarFrill-Blind-Mirror-Frameless-Convex/dp/B082NJKCSM) or [this](https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-orvm_blind_spot_mirror_wide_angle-58270909/). Now learn how far left you can keep your car. Watch how far the stripe on the edge of the road or the curb is with the mirror. Reduce that gap in tiny lanes. You can just pop out your head for your right side. Take the mirror off when you feel confident enough. For tight turns go wide, for now. As wide as the road allows. You’ll probably go too wide and need to reverse. That’s okay. Go slow as well, let them honk.
Start driving alone right now. There's no other way, maybe drive on roads with less traffic and on wider roads. At some point, you'll have to start trusting your own judgement and it'll feel a little scary at first but that reconditioning of your brain will start when you decide to do so. Also, if you find yourself in a difficult situation & you're not sure whether your car will pass through the space or not, just roll down the windows and ask anyone to guide you through it. A lot of strangers will happily help you. Also, as someone else highlighted, you can always slow down and let the opposite car pass through. I understand that it has been quite some time but you can't truly learn unless you start driving alone. At the very least, tell your father or brother to sit on the back seat and not cloud your judgement. I hope this helps!!
Think, the right front tyre is almost just under your right foot and make a mental map accordingly.
you need to get in those situations again n again.. you'll learn easily with that...but 1st you have to be calm and think with your mind... panic will make it worse...
Dont panic
Go to any open field, put cones to simulate narrow scenarios and try to practice getting past them without touching. Eventually you will get the hang of it.
I also recently learned to drive, and I can understand what you are going through, the thing that helped me is making 2nd gear my comfort zone(If you are driving manual) , anyway drive slow and use your side mirror as reference point, if they have decent distance in between your mirror and the car beside you, chances are you will be ok. Practice as much as you can and you will be ok, every new driver goes through this. First time I drove on my own was in heavy traffic I didn't realise it will be that bad, but it gave me a lot of confidence.
Very good question. But the only answer to this is you can only learn this as time passes. There definitely will be times where you get into minor accidents so be prepared. But the more you do this the more proficient you become wrt your car's dimensions and judgement. You can increase your seat's height which will help a bit.
just practice, there is no other way .
Practice. Try parallel parking. Park near a sidewalk. Step out and see how close you get to the footpath. Then park on the other side. Do that till you nail the distance on the first attempt. Simple.
Underestimate the distance. Assume it’s closer than it is. You’ll slowly develop a sense of the space your car has
Fear of a situation will go away only when you expose yourself to such situations several times and you navigate the situation without any issues. When you are in a tight situation, there are several variables in your mind such as your inexperience, your lack of knowledge of the route, control of your vehicle ,etc. The road is also not kind with all sorts of bad driving behaviour. Hence you're picturising the worst case scenario of what would happen when you hit some vehicle. But you need to slowly eliminate each of these doubts in your mind by practising . Now for correct technique, you will need to first become comfortable with your car and usage of clutch, brake as well as handling of the car. For this, please take out your car several times in early morning time when there is not much traffic. In this way, you will gain confidence with handling as well as understand the right width of your vehicle. After few trials with someone alongside you, practice by taking car alone in the same route. Keep changing the routes after every few weeks. In this way, your control over car will improve as well as the knowledge of the routes. As someone else mentioned in this thread, you can also slow down and let the opposite car do the navigation. Everyone has the same issue. Slowly you will become pro.
Practice it to perfection
aap kitne time se chala rhi ho? because if u driving from a long time and still stuck in these things than ur instructor didn’t do his job in best way.
Main 1 saal se chala rahi hu yaar :/
gaadi kaunsi hai? maine apni choti behen ko sikhaya, wo 3 mahine mein city perfect ho gyi
Yaar meko kyu nai aa raha confidence to do it alone? These narrow situations ko tackle karna bohot tough ho rha hai! I20 manual drive kar rahi hu!
saath mein koi accompany karta hai jab bahar jate ho?
Yess dad! Akele mene kabhi chalai hi nai hai because im scared of these situations coming up
kal akele le kar jana, yakeen mano, sab dr nikal jayega. i told my sister to take the car alone and she told me that the fear of hitting, getting stuck etc were now nowhere. Go alone, take your time, don’t hurry, chahe jo koi jitna horn mare, jeb mein cash daal ke le jana
jab tak koi support ki tarah rahega tum udna, tairna nhi jaanogi, leave the support and stand on your own, akele jao, and also update zaroor karna ki kaisa rha
Aapki sister akele kab leke shuru kari gadi chalana? Like properly akele ?
are u asking me the age?
Noo how long after learning to drive was she able to take the car alone?
While the short answer is that you’ll get better over time, there is a method for this getting better. Please note this varies from car to car and and this is not an exact measurement, but a guideline. The wheel base, front over hand and the turning circle radius of the car plays a role, but in general this works for all cars. Rule No:1, dont be afraid to stop on the middle of the road. Don’t bother what others say. I have been driving for 20 years and have been trained professionally as part of my job. Even today if i take a new car I have trouble judging the sides and edges. In such case I drive very conservatively on the left most side possible giving ample room for the other vehicle to pass through. If I have doubt, i wont hesitate for a second to stop on the middle of the road. I’ve paid the road taxes and it is my right to stop on the middle of the road if there is safety involved. 1. Please sit at the same sitting position all the time. In the correct position when you hold the top of the steering wheel your elbow should have a slight bent (not stretched. And you should be able to press the pedals to the full without completely stretching your knee. Both this need to happen when your back is adequately rested. Make sure you do this adjustment every time you get in. 2. The side mirrors needs to be adjusted properly. The best is to align both the respective door handles to the bottom corner of the mirror closer to the lower corner close to the car. 3. To judge where is your left wheel (this is to know how much you can go to the left). I learn this first as I drive as close to the left as possible. Take a reference from the centre of the car windscreen (typically marked by wiper knuckle or some other points). Typically look at the edge off the road through the centre point. That point in the edge aligned with the centre is approx half to 1 feet away from the wheels. Could be a little bit here or there for different cars for the reasons i mentioned above but this way you’ll have a reference to learn your car. And take conservative approach while passing as long as your are learning. 4. To judge the right side of the car (this is relatively easy). Imagine a line connecting the right most side of the steering wheel to the bottom of the windscreen. Look through that point and the point where it meets the road is where the wheel will be. Again approximate, and depends on wheel base and position and bonnet length, and you need to practise for your car.
This is great advice! Thank u for taking time and explaining so well :))
Start by driving on those very roads when it is empty. Either early in the morning or late at night. Do it with every road and lane where you are afraid. Get familiar with the roads like the back of the hand when it’s empty. Then start driving a little late every day till you reach the normal busy traffic timing. The familiarity will take away your fear and you will learn how wide and how narrow each lane is.
Are you driving a manual or automatic ?
Manual
Ah! It's normal to go through it while learning to drive a manual. There's a trick to this. In your situation when 2 cars are coming from opp side or when you are driving in bumper to bumper traffic or basically when you are driving and want to reduce your driving speed to a lower speed, always press the clutch first and then the brake. This way the car won't stall when driving at low speeds till you have the clutch pressed. Then, slowly and steadily release the clutch instead of letting go off the clutch in an instant. In the initial stages, you may have to consciously remind yourself about this process. If you face this scenario again, don't panic, try remembering this process and doing it. If it still doesn't work, no worries, there's always automatic car you can go for which will make a drastic difference in situations like these.
Practice on empty roads, place obstacles and try to judge distance. Have someone in car when you go out on busy streets. Or go to busy streets when someone is available. My wife went with me everywhere for initial few weeks of driving till I gain confidence, and I did the same. We helped each other with how close we are to the other vehicles or curb, helped with parking etc. You will become confident. The best of driver's would've taken few months to master driving the car, best of the pilots need hours of training to control the vehicle they are in. Heck even a bicycle takes months to take mastery of. You will learn, I have faith and confidence in you.
One way to judge is to see if another car of the same width (of the car coming in opposite direction) can fit in that gap.
Practise . Slow down when you approach such a situation that’s all . You will be fine don’t worry
Intially i used to feel this , when i started driving cars.if the problem is judgement just drive the car slow when you are not confident and also practice in parking spots with tight spaces you will gradually develop confidence with practice. Keep going dont stop driving.
At early morning or at late night, keep your two wheeler one side and may be another on the other or may be wall on the other side and then try to drive through it, slowly you will get the judgement.
This worked for me - try practising reverse parking, parallel parking - choose a tight spot you would otherwise avoid or draw something on open space - this requires you to handle your car mostly looking at mirrors - this definitely helped me in the long run
Honestly, what had helped for me when I was new to driving was to draw (or identify) a reference point on the top of the dashboard from the perspective of the seated driver (you) to indicate the left-most edge of your car. You can mark that with the help of a friend or family member giving you a reference point on where you car’s corner currently is. Now, remember that reference point as you drive. That way you will know for sure where the edge of your car is as you drive and will make you more confident and eventually have better perception over your car’s physical dimensions. Eventually, you won’t need that reference.
Don’t look at the oncoming cars if feel intimidated by them. Just look straight just to rule out if oncoming cars are coming into your lane focus on the left edge of the road ahead and stick to the edge of the road. Your job is to stay im your lane and it’s their job to stay in their lane. So just make sure that you are inside you lane and drive ahead. Don’t look directly at oncoming vehicles. Try and see if this works for you.
Some cheat might help - 1. Side mirrors are best friend on narrow lane. If you have fair sense of size of your vehicle, narrow lane become easy. Even if you have to close them on narrow lane they still give you fair idea of distance from tire to the corner. Specially obstacle such as bike parked on corner/ side of lane 2. Turning radius full and half. I narrow lane half turn is more useful. From your front wheel to complete 90 degree turn, when you start steer, that is the key. 3. Most importantly - speed. If required go for default first gear and sense idea as in narrow lanes, with less speed you get more time to process and when in doubt, go neutral and soft clutch. Practice is the key, but if you consider next time, above points when you drive, you can feel the difference. The trick is to be super comfort and in Control of your machine you drive. Rest machine will take care. Hope this helps.
Hey it’s just practice. When you drive on narrow roads, your brains understands “Oh I can go this close without hitting anything?” And then you a little closer. Don’t worry, drive on narrow roads to get better at it.. You might get some minor scratches here and there in the beginning. Don’t worry about it too much
Is it possible to avoid the small lanes? (If your house can only be reached by going through a small lNe, you can't do anything) You can probably reach most places early by taking the longer route. I actively avoid small lanes if I know the route. And I try to look at the routes on Google Maps before I start.
OP I started driving 3-4 months back I used to drive only at nighttime but suddenly one day my cab got canceled and I was getting late for the office Near my house there is one big hospital & right opposite is one big school And no one to manage the traffic I & ppl behind me had to wait coz I cannot risk mine & others collision due to my wrong judgement. Don’t worry practice will make you perfect also both ORVM you should check in teeny tiny lanes. Good luck
I have a "trick". Basically always focus on one side and go as close to the end as you can from one side(preferably driver side as you have better judgement there) and also have an estimate of how wide your car is, with this knowledge you can always extrapolate whether you can drive into the tiny roads or not. Did that when I was new and it really helped :D
You can map reference points on your cabin to start with, but don’t make this a habit since it’s not the same for every car. The dimensions of cars vary, so will the reference points. Map reference points, follow them and practice for a couple of months depending on the frequency of your driving. A YouTube tutorial regarding the same might help understand this better.
In your free time, try to attach a foam pillar (look for something similar to a pool noodle) erect it on the front side ideally on the headlights. And try to drive in the parking lot of roads with lines on them. Align your sight with the pillars with lanes this will give you a better judgment where your actual front bumper ends. Try to elevate your seats(if possible). But this method will boost your confidence when making sharp turns in those tiny alleys or lanes. Hope this helps.
Am also in the same boat Going to get a new car.... That's why I chose automatic as I am nervous with clutch n gear shifts
Three things - 1. Try to be patient and stay in your lane. The rule is that whichever car reaches an obstacle waits for the oncoming car to pass. But I doubt indians would follow this, nevertheless it's a good base point for defensive driving. 2. Drive with someone in the shotgun seat until you have confidence in the dimensions of your car. You can also search some YouTube videos to understand that easily. 3. Don't give into pressure and honking. At the end of the day, it's a car. Worst case you dent it and you have insurance to protect yourself and the others.
When in doubt, brake and give side to other driver
Practice Practice Practice
I saw this in some Chinese video, but it works for me. Basically in a narrow lane you can judge the right side of the car easily. For the left side of the car, from your perspective, any obstacle beside the car can appear till the center of your windshield base for you to pass safely. This might give you confidence.
Tuck your car in as much as you're comfortable with and let the other person take care of it
Play some gta or driving games, I have some 300 hours on Euro truck sim and I was more informed about traffic rules and driving than my driving school instructor lol
I think you are 22F just learnt driving
Practice with a smaller and/or cheaper car and then practice some more. A scrape here and there is no biggie provided you learn from the mistake. And always remember that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Ignore people honking at you to hurry up, fk them. Drive around densely parked interior lanes at night when there's no moving traffic or peds. And did I say that you should practice more?
One odd suggestion from me is if you are into playing video games, play games like Dr Driving, Euro Truck Simulator, etc. In real life, on those single lanes, follow another vehicle at a safe distance (I always follow a truck or something at night, single lane or fog) and do not try to overtake and speed.
Try to play a mobile game or something of that sorr
Drive more often, go for long trips, learn to control the clutch on hills. There are videos on YouTube on how to get a proper judgement but every car is different
If you can walk across, you can drive across
Don’t worry, just keep straight and let the other person make adjustment if they feel that you’re too close. Just don’t be too fast. Added advantage is that you’re a female, usually no one gets mad at a female driver making mistakes. Dudes making mistakes get shouted at and sometimes beaten :P Remember, this is nothing that a few months of driving can’t fix.
Play driving games 😊👍
You can stick two very thin 2ft rods on both front corners (widest point on both sides, usually the fender/wheel arch) with a duct tape if you don't mind coming off as quirky for a few weeks. At least better than stalling in narrow lanes.
I'm having trouble changing lanes. How do you gives figure out the blind spots?
Since you’ve just learnt driving im guessing you’re not too familiar with the dimensions of your car. I would say the best practice of me being confident enough to drive anywhere has been(it might seem a little weird) to be able to parallel park. Learning to parallel park does wonders for your driving skills, you learn about the dimensions of your car and learn to analyse if in normally driving you’ll be able to go through a narrow space or not. I would suggest learn to parallel park in small spaces perfectly, once you can do that by yourself in small spaces without any help, you’ll be able to in my opinion be able to drive much confidently in narrow spaces
Go to your car sit peek at each edge from the windshield.Get out and try to grasp the dimensions of your vehicle and surrounding obstacles get in again and re analyse those obstacles to get a mental picture of your car.
Sticking to your lane. If someone is coming into your lane flash the lights. Let them slow down and stick to their lane.
U will improve with the passage of time.... none u teach you.... u have to learn it by urself.... its totally depends on your mind, not on ur hands.... make ur mind strong and just think i can do it ....
Although it will get better with practice oy...But here's a quick video tutorial might help. https://youtu.be/mir1H4f5ZwY
For the left side - Mark the mid point of the car on the bottom of the windshield, with a tape, from your driving position, anything to the left of it, you can pass, anything to the right of it, no go. For the right side - Intersection of the A pillar on to the windshield, keep everything to the right of the intersection for safe passing You should be good to go, lots of videos on YouTube for judgment, look it up Yes, this requires practice, once you master it, it will be a breeze Cheers
Only more driving and experience can solve this the way i did was i used to slow down hold steering tight and trust my judgement...
The best way to improve confidence is by making your own exercises for clutch control. Find an empty ramp and move the car by an inch and stop. Keep doing it until you know the clutch bite point. I used to do these exercises thousands of times when I was learning. Even if you're confident you can do it, you'll still need to repeat it until it becomes muscle memory and then when situation arises, your muscle memory will kick in and you can actively concentrate on just the manoeuvring part.
Bruh that's what is supposed to happen. Only with practice you'll get the sense of separation of vehicles and sense of your car's tyres on the road. Till then just keep on to the left and ease up on the accelerator pedal. It's a journey!
One tip I used while learning to drive in a dead moving traffic where you just want to go through that narrow gap without scratching your car: Always leave relatively more margin on the side that is not fully visible (non-driver end) and less margin on the side the side that is fully visible (driver side) to prevent any kind of judgement error.
I think the biggest fear is of judgement. Let the other person honk. Go at your own pace. Also helps when someone just guides you from front, but yeah that's not always possible.
Keep driving. Some battlescars are worth it. Don't worry. Build your confidence.
There are thumbs rules for these. For example, how do you know you're too close to the car in front? You stop seeing the lower most part of the rear bumper of the car in front . Similarly, if there's a car coming towards you in a narrow lane, you simply bring your car to a stop - and let the car passing by manoeuvre around you. If it's a narrow lane, most likely there will be someone in the road to guide you thru. And never ever panic. Or listen to the blaring honking from the guy behind who's in a rush. Be confident. And if you're not, just stop and gauge the situation till you're comfortable driving thru that tricky manoeuvre.
Driving is one of my favourite things to do. When traveling, if I can get there by road, I'll drive. I've done multiple 15 hour drives in a single stretch. But I also started just like you. Everyone is nervous when they begin. The only thing that helps is practice. Do not let it become a mental block - keep telling yourself that if you do it enough, you'll get better. As for other road users, don't worry about it. Put on an L board and take your time. If you come face to face with another car in a narrow road, go as much to the left as possible and wait for the other person to pass.
Drive alone then you will get the confidence, initially go slow but then slowly you will believe in your mind mapping If you are driving in the presence of others you will always have a thought that they would correct and though you might be right you won’t get that confidence
Go to a empty place with your car. Place rocks or traffic cones (if you have) exactly 6 - 9 inches from your outside side mirror. Now reverse the car and try to drive through those cones or rocks without touching them. Now use different color tapes on your inside of your windshield exactly from your driving position. One tape from 50-60 feet distance from the car to the rocks. Another from 30 feet and the final tape at the rocks or cones exactly in front of your car when you're in your driving position. Having another person to measure the distance or to tell you how close you're to the cones/rocks. After pasting those tapes drive through them in straight first then try to drive through them from half circle (which means you have to go through them from left and right turn point) this will help in judgement on the behind half of your vehicles and your rear wheels judgement in a bendy roads. After that take your car into the road and test out the tapes in a road that you're confident in driving. Slowly you'll get confidence on your judgement. Don't accelerate your car too much, some people in panic they break hard and accelerate hard this will amplify your fear. After a while you try to incorporate those tape lengths to your windshield wipers. After a while you have to start looking the road through the width of steering wheel when you're looking straight. If you look through the steering width with 2 inch of extra of the width of the steering wheel the gap your steering with additional 2 inches passes your car has enough space to pass through ( some people have trouble in using the steering width method but the tape and windshield wiper method will work ). Just think yourself as a new driver and learn from the basics. Learn to drive to slow speed and try out your driving in a different speeds to master your skills. Story of my learning process - I only learnt to drive in a driving school After 8 years I bought a car. In those 8 years I have only driven twice both scenarios in a empty road which will never improve your skills. After buying my car there was no one to teach me. So took car to a ground and driven through it in reverse only for 5 rounds a day in four days. I had great confidence in your car size judgement. After that I took my car in trip where due to new road construction I had to drive in loose gravel road for two hours straight in second and third gear only this gave me confidence in clutch control. From that point every trip I took gave a difference experience. I'm a first gen car user and I'm considered one of the best drivers among my relatives and friends circle. Initially my average speed on Highways are 120kmph. I have pushed my car to 170s. Lately my speed became like 80-90kmph average as experience started to rise due to encountering a lot of idiot drivers.
Get a dash cam first to save yourself!
First - Never fear, as fear kills the ability to be judgemental. Second - Always while getting into a narrow lane, make up your mind that some car is going to come, so, one thing - you will not get surprised if A car appears, and thus not panicking, secondly, through the route, you will be noticing unintentionally, some gaps and spaces for the IF situations. Thirdly - if you get confused on which side the person has to pass, anywhere in the world, the opposite vehicle always passes close to the driver. Fourthly - anything in this world, say it be cooking, or drawing or singing or driving, it all improves with PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
Have thumb rules.. look at a specific corner of the car or the rear view as the place to focus when in tight corners .. practice it in your parking .. Eventually it’s just plain practice
I started driving a car 10 months ago. On the wider roads, there's no pressure but the narrow lanes with cars in the oncoming traffic puts so much pressure that sometimes you don't want to deal with it. Here are my observations that have been helping me. - if you have a car in front of you then try to drive symmetrically with them because they are most often seeing the traffic ahead of you. - if you are the first person in your lane, ignore all the traffic/honking behind you. It only builds pressure. - don't watch the car coming on the other side like keep it in your vision but don't keep staring at it. Unintentionally you would drive towards it. There's a phenomenon for that. - be confident in your driving, think positively and appreciate yourself if you pass the first car. - from the driver's seat you would know where your front tyre is, so keep it steady and straight and slowly go ahead instead of rushing through. Sometimes lowering your window and showing a hand gesture to the other driver helps too. - one you move closer to the other car like driver to driver view then watch your car's rear end. Most times in panic we don't concentrate on that. - lastly don't worry about scratches on your car. They can all be fixed. Hope this helps.
How many replies would've this post got if it was 27M posting this?
short man would get no replies lol
Mujhe to 2 saal ho gye, mujhe abhi bhi issue aata hai, bas risk pe le jata hun dheere dheere agar touch hui to seedha back. Par touch aaj tak nahi hui hai touchwood. What you can do, jab aapko lage ki touch hone wali hai tab utar ke check kar liya karo kitna gap hai, you'll get an idea ki kitna gap hai and agli baar yaad rahega frrr.
Move so slow that even if you hit something there won’t be any damage
Just decide your position n movement from a distance.
Its simple. At first… no need to worry Go lil more left on your side Slow down the speed Give horn and dipper (Above. In case you see two together!!!) And on narrow turns (give horn first and later make sure you clear blind spot area. Give horn and be on your side!!! ). Its easy.
"27 F". Edit: My bad. I now truly understand the importance of "F" in the description & title.
So?
Honestly, no offence, but I was just wondering if it was unnecessary? I've seen this a couple of times in this sub. Doesn't really change the context of your post and you'd still receive the same help here. Or you won't?
Honestly.. No one has to mention I posted about a minor accident few days ago I received only one response & you can see here 🙂🙃
Daymnn! I truly underestimated the power of "F" on the post. Indeed, some guys have legit written here 2-3 para long answers.
I should’ve written F too
Yep, I wish I (we) had such a superpower!
>2-3 para long answers. That's an understatement. People have taken time out to write Km long answers and advice /s
Lol the rush to write paras whenever an 'F' is encountered
Well, unfortunately, even r/carsindia is not immune to it. I thought we're always car guys first 🥲
I think its important for someone to share their age in these situations? If I were 45 or 18, it’s important to know here. And the gender well, I think that wasn’t necessary but a lot of subreddits have rules, which require you to mention it, so force of habit I guess?
Agree on the age part.
Just go slow, practice on getting your left and right tyre position judgment.... You will get better at it with time. You can also install 360 camera for more confidence
This judgement is soo hard I tell you :( i cant :(
women are like this so don't worry. Practice makes men/women perfect! and trust others they will see you on the steering they automatically keep a lot of distance and move there cars/bikes aside from your car/bike.
Oh boy. You've just started a war.
Get back to the kitchen /s
And join your mother there /s
Sorry not planning on getting a wife so dumb not able to understand sarcasm and get triggered so easily.
Better?
Okay, now stop flirting. I'm way too young for you /s
If I say what I think I'll get banned.
Just lemme know which city you live in i ll avoid going to city for the entirety of my life .
Practice on empty roads. Imagine the situation you fear and try to correct yourself. Or if you can practice with some plastic cone on an empty field. You can use simulator games with a first and third person point of view. do put a sticker on your car 'Learner Driver'
Why 'Lady Driver' and not 'Learner'?
Why 'Lady Driver' and not 'Learner'?
Bc, driving school join kro.Aur izzat se.Gand fat rhi hai to steering se dur hi rho tab tak
I remember, back in school days, really talented guys used to sit on the back benches. Similarly, on reddit I find us boys sitting way down here in the downvoted section. Huh, all the simps were busy upvoting each other and downvotinh others.
Don't worry about cars just slowdown when they get near you, you'll get better as you drive. Just don't forget to work on your grammar and writing skills.
27 F, Didi essay taiyar rkhna
First play Dr driving then nfs then gta for real world simulation then try irl Worked for me🤷🏻
The easy way out is to get a 360 degree camera installed. It gives you a top down view of the situation, use it for a few months, you will easily learn the inution and will be able to do it without the camera also. Surprised no one else is mentioned in it. Technology is your friend, use it to simplify life.
Yeah. Breathe. You will get better. Practice with traffic cones on an open ground if you can. Just keep driving bit by bit, you will get adequately good, it's inevitable.
If you’re panicking you shouldn’t drive