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Is driving a car this awful all the time? (lemmings.world)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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I'm doing the driving lessons and I dread them every time. I don't feel like I'm improving much and it's just stressful. I feel like giving up. I'm only going because I passed the theory exam with that school, and i would had to spend more money (that I don't have) if I start again with other school, basically I'm too deep into it to stop.

Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option, one less BIG distraction on the road, especially when you're new on these things, being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous, watching the road, the signs, the traffic lights, the cars around you, the stupid people with their bikes, while fumbling in the car with the pedals is the worst... (unfortunately you must learn manual where I'm living).

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[–] jadedwench 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don't have much experience with manual, but I do have severe ADHD. From my experience, it takes about 6 months of driving every day before your brain does most of it automatically. It is really awful at first having to constantly think about every step. Couple random anecdotes that may help. My assumption is you are driving on the right:

Drive barefoot or with minimalist shoes. You can really feel the car and road this way. Flip flops are a no no. All it took was them getting caught in the pedal once to never do it again.
Leave lots of space in front of you in high traffic situations. If you are sitting in the far right/exit/slow lane a lot it will help other drivers get around you. If it is a mulilane highway, it may be safer to stay in the middle lane until it is time to exit.
Look left first. Oncoming traffic hitting your driver side door is bad.
If you ever ever doubt when looking both ways, just look again. People can wait.
People get mad or do stupid shit. It is ok. We stop being rational people once "time" enters the equation. At some point, getting mad at other drivers all the time makes you a worse driver. Learn to just let shit go.
Try to space yourself where you don't create blindspots for yourself or others.
Position your side mirrors properly. If you can easily see you car door, they are pointing in too far.

Adjust your seat and steering wheel. You want the steering wheel far away from your face. If you have an adjustable steering wheel, this will be a lot easier. There is a little lever you can pull to unlock it.

Unlatch the wheel and push it completely away from you.
Adjust your seat first so you can reach the pedals and feel in control of run. Test how it feels to push the brake, clutch, etc.
Now, adjust the steering wheel. Put your arms straight out. You want your wrists to touch the "10&2" position of the wheel.
Keep the steering wheel as low as you can, but still see the instruments, and make sure there is plenty of space between you and the very deadly airbag. You do not want it hitting your face and it needs enough space to deploy to properly protect you
Make final adjustments as needed and recheck your mirrors.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Completely agreed, with the exception of 10 and 2. 9 and 3 superiority

[–] jadedwench 3 points 3 months ago

Ah, so I really did mean the 10 & 2 for figuring out that positioning of the seat/wheel only. I absolutely agree that 10&2 is a terrible position for driving. 9&3 is much better.

I read an article a while back on how to position the wheel, as it is especially a problem for women. Airbags can absolutely kill you and I spent some time readjusting everything to make sure the airbag would not deploy in my face or too close to my chest. Adjusting the seatbelt height thing is also really important, but with breasts the damn thing still drifts to where it shouldn't. Just not as bad.

Absolutely check with the women in your life about this as a lot of us don't think about it until we get in an accident and the airbag and seatbelt do more damage than the crash. I am lucky I have only had a minor crash once with no airbag deployed. There are ways to get pedals adjusted by the dealership or swapped with longer ones. I assume mechanics can probably do it too, but I personally do not know how that all works.