Sorry in advance for the wall of text! Some background…
Enter me, someone who usually gets around by bicycle or public transport. I’m about 200 miles away from anyone close (besides my partner) and the trains, while fast and convenient, are expensive and quite limited at some times of the day.
So, as a solution, I decided I’ll pick up some driving lessons so I can drive to friends with a rental or my own vehicle, on much more flexible terms. Since I had some existing experience in various driving simulators (almost 200h combined), I decided why not?
Now, about the lesson.
The instructor was absolutely amazing, got me up to speed with all kinds of things I wasn’t familiar with, like adjusting the mirrors, wheel and stuff.
The car is a stick shift/manual, as that’s the norm here. To be honest, changing gears was the easiest part - it felt really familiar because of the simulators. However I really struggled with how much information you need to take in from around you during the actual driving, literally had to try so hard to not make my mind wander for even a second, because I’d lose track of the environment and stuff. It was dark too so that made things a little challenging.
I’d say a major stress point too is the fact that i’m operating a 2000kg SUV, not an agile 20kg bicycle.
On one hand I’m hoping things improve with time, on the other I really wish we had good, affordable public transport to begin with.
What are your thoughts?
I managed to get a license, but have barely driven in the 10 years since. If I ever need to drive again, I’ll probably take some lessons again since I have 0 confidence. The car I learnt to drive in could just pull away from standstill (even on a hill) with only using the clutch. My parent’s cars could not, which made me constantly stall in stressful situations and forced me to basically relearn many tricks. It ruined the little confidence I had. Add to that the fact that I struggle with reading other people’s intentions, which can get stressful when zooming around in a car at 60+ kph. The final nail in the coffin is that I have no car and want no car. I can get everywhere I want with my bicycle and public transport just fine.
Maybe at one point I will have to force myself to drive, since it can be pretty handy to be able to drive when I need to move houses or help family or something.