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Driving test tomorrow

Deleted user

The anxiety is already setting in for my driving test. Its tomorrow morning and I am scared worried anxious already all at once. I'm learning in an auto so that should make it a bit easier, I can't process doing gears and trying to figure everything else out all at once so thought auto would be easier for me and a lot less hassle.

I wasn't originally going to learn but to get to work and the shops it's three bus journeys and this causes me anxiety to especially when its dark. If the bus is late delayed it causes panic and I don't like the hisss it makes when it stops. That's what pushed me to learn to drive.

But now I'm panicking. I don't want to fail tomorrow or worst have a meltdown. I've gone over a lot of the tips today and watched a few videos but that little self doubt version of me is coming to the surface and leaving me with the feeling -- you're going to fail the test.

Wanted to vent this out.

Parents

  • I'm a "test passer". from cycling proficiency, through motorcycling, driving, flying, I pass those tests.

    Not easily, but I have a few things going for me, almost a "system" as it were of thinking that seems to make it easier. 

    1. It's a test designed fro your safety as much as anything, so a failure just means you need to do more work which you should welcome, as it will improve your chances of being a safer driver.

    2. If you fail it, what is the consequence? Unless you wuss out and give up, it mans more practice and a re-test. That isn't really so bad if you think about it, so where is the real "worry" in this situation? Think about that for a minute...

    3. Always remember that your number 1 priority is "safety". Everything else is secondary to safety, and safety on the road only comes though being aware of your situation. As we all know driving is a mix of being very "busy" in between periods of just "tootling along with not a care in the world" I.E. for new drivers the bit in between the terror where you can relax a bit. "Relax" by all means, but make sure you check all three of your mirrors first, and then fairly frequently. It'll both reassure the instructor (move your head not just your eyes, so he can see that is what you are doing) and more importantly help you build up an awareness of what is around you.

    (In real life, even forty years on, there are certain driving manoeuvers I won't make, like suddenly reducing my speed in order to make a "late right turn" or braking on the motorway to make my exit unless I have full situational awareness. Making such manoeuvers without a full situational awareness is dangerous, not all at once, but eventually when you run out of good fortune.

    The act of "driving" (or operating any other machinery) becomes easy as pie after a while, but driving so as you can GUARANTEE yours and others safety never gets easier. 

    So tell that nasty little self, "So what if I fail?" It'll just mean I wasn't quite ready to begin the second (and much longer) phase of my driver training, learning how to do it well, without any assistance.. 

  • in reply to I Sperg

    I was ticked off, in my first test, for 'Undue Hesitation'. Plus, I stalled quite a bit during tests.

    But, I persisted. And passed the test fifteen years ago. 

Reply Children
  • in reply to Desmond79

    Yeah, my kid failed twice for that before I was asked to intervene...

    HEH HEH....

    I took her driving and swiftly realised that she could drive well enough, she was just over thinking the whole thing, so I just behaved badly.

    I did all the things to her that she used to think was funny to do to me whilst I was trying to drive! After a few rather annoying trips with me, she came to realise that she could drive well enough whilst being punched lightly by an idiot shouting "yellow car!".

    I gave her a couple of workarounds for the more difficult decisions such as when to pull onto a busy island. (it's when the vehicle to your right hand side (if there is a lane and vehicle to the RHS which there usually is at the more challenging islands) pulls out, as he is much closer to the potential accident and therefore has made a decision you can trust and if they got it wrong their vehicle will soften the impact! All you have to do is keep level with them. )

    And of course I made extra sure that she scanned the mirrors and instruments regularly and visibly. 

    Then she passed her test.

    I like to think it was the offer of "more instruction from me if she needed it", that helped!

    (This is the post that appeared to break the site yesterday, I hit "reply" and everything stopped working...)