That's it, I'm not driving you anywhere anymore.(rant)

[Gawdzillers]

So in the month before I got my driver's license, my dad would often be the one to ride with me while I had my learner's permit.

It was hell.
If I pulled into a parking space awkwardly, he would yell at me to back up and try again, as if I had been working with uranium and dropped it or something.

Once I went up over the curb a bit when making a right-hand turn (a boo-boo on my part) and he proceeded to piss me off and distract me so much, that I changed over three lanes without signaling. Luckily, nobody was close behind me.

I know I made some mistakes, but hell, I was learning. Did he have to rip my head off for every little thing?

/rant

[blas]

I feel mean.

While my mom had her permit, and even sometimes now, my dad and I go a little overboard with her.

While my car was dead for that month, I had to get a ride with her every morning.

But in all fairness, she wouldn't go more than 45-50 on the FREEWAY, if she saw someone half a mile away hitting the brakes she'd rammed her brakes to almost a dead stop, she'd stop 20 feet away from a stop sign.............it was just awful. She's gotten a little bit better but she's one of those petrified drivers who just will not take a chance and always has a row of cars honking madly behind her. She also tends to get lost very easily, even going to and from work (don't ask) and she will make sudden turns and jerks and people go nuts.

[Gawdzillers]

She also tends to get lost very easily, even going to and from work (don't ask) and she will make sudden turns and jerks and people go nuts.
My mom got lost a few times on our way to school. I think she forgot I was in the car, and when she missed the exit and I spoke up, she jumped.

Even though the shred guitar stylings of Buckethead were coming through the speakers instead of her usual John Hiatt or Alan Parsons.

[blas]

I feel for ya though. Learnin to drive is really scary! I remember trying to drive in the big city at 16 when we first moved here. After some time, it becomes totally natural and you don't even realize you've programmed your feet to touch the right pedal and to turn the wheel the right way.

[FuzzyKitten99]

My mom is like your dad, Gawd. And my younger sister (who will be 16 this fall) is learning with her permit. She no longer asks our mom if she can drive places (though mom willingly lets her). My husband, who has infinite patience and a Class A, and he works in an industry that allows him to play in traffic all day. So he takes her out and has her practice turns and parking, and just the basics. Lately they have been getting on the freeway and practicing merging and getting her used to higher speeds.

My dad (whom I lived with at the time) didn't allow me to practice. He was convinced I could just learn by watching and with only 10 hours practice with the driving school. And he wondered why it took me 3 attempts to get my license.

[XCashier]

I know I made some mistakes, but hell, I was learning. Did he have to rip my head off for every little thing?
Sounds like my first driving teacher. (Mom didn't want to get into a headbutting contest teaching me to drive, so she hired Sears Arizona School of Driving to teach me.) The first teacher shrilly nitpicked everything I did and totally made me nervous.

We went on vacation and put the lessons on hold until we got back. When we got back and I called them to resume lessons, I asked for a different teacher, and got a much calmer and more laid-back teacher who gently instructed me rather than screeching. He did his job well; I've been complimented on my driving ability a few times. :)

Maybe that's what you need? Sometimes personal feelings interfere with teaching. I know lessons cost money, but having a calm neutral party teaching you could be very helpful.

[Norton]

I would also suggest getting driving lessons from a professional instructor.

After a few months of practicing with my parents in the car, I had enough. I refused to continue practicing with them. They just exacerbated my nervousness. Instead, I took Driver's Ed in school, and invested in a last minute lesson with a "student driver" car and instructor for my road test.

Being taught by someone professional who was used to new drivers really helped me learn. If I did something wrong, the instructor never seemed panicked, and would calmly (or humorously) correct me. Parents are generally the most convenient option for supervising you, but not always the most beneficial.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Like XCashier, I too had the driving instructor from hell. I took driver's ed when I was 14 (You could get your license at 14 in Idaho in those days). He yelled and insulted and berated me for every little thing while the two other students who were also in the car smirked and giggled at me. I didn't learn a damn thing from him.

Later I had a friend teach me way out on her family's farm in her brother's old dooley.

In December.

In 3 feet of snow.

She was very patient with me, and I learned it beautifully. Ever since then, I've been able to drive anything on two wheels. I once spent a winter delivering newspapers to the mansions in the hills above Santa Fe in my 4WD truck, and I did it without a single problem. (In Santa Fe it's a status symbol to live way out on a tiny, unkempt dirt road. Driving up in there in the dead of winter is hell.)

I can drive anything. :devil:

[AdminAssistant]

Dad taught me how to drive. Basically he drove out in the middle of the country on a dirt road and said, "Okay, you drive". Started that when I was 12. Took my written and driving tests when I was 14. I studied really really hard for the written (I got a 90...something). When I went to take the driving....The person who rode with me was a former State Trooper. 6'5", 300lbs of former state trooper. I was a teensy little teenager scared out of her ever loving mind. I rolled through a stop sign. Luckily he's also a friend of my dad's. I passed. :D

[sixums]

Bless my father for being the saint he was. I spent more time yelling at HIM then he did at me. I did that a lot as a teenager though :lol:. The reason I was always yelling at him though was because everything had to be overly complicated. He fashioned these wooden poles by himself from scrap wood and made spaces in the high school parking lot so I could learn to parallel park, and made his own makeshift traffic cones so that I could practice turning, weaving, and backing up in a straight line. I think he spent more time setting up all the stuff than he did teaching me to drive! :roll:

I'm so glad I didn't learn from my mother. She taught my brother to drive and it took him 5 times to pass! :ashamed:

I think your dad just wants you to be the best driver you can be, Gawdzillers. It's absolutely not the right way to do things, and you should tell him next time he ever yells at you for something like that to take a chill pill, but at least now you know how not to teach someone to drive!

[MystyGlyttyr]

My mom dropped me in the driver's seat when I was ten years old and said "Drive." It was only on our driveway road (about half a mile), so the worst I could have done was ram the car into a tree. So I had the gist of driving by the time I was 14.

Still got nervous on my first driving test when I was 16 and almost ran over a stop sign. However, the person who'd gone before me had driven into a parked car, and the lady teacher's nerves were so frazzled that she just made my mom promise not to let me drive alone for a while and gave me my license anyway (though the teacher already knew I was just getting the license for ID purposes before I left for Governor's School and wouldn't be driving for the rest of the summer, heh).

[RetailWorkhorse]

When Dad was teaching me how to drive, he took me out to an old factory to practise in the parking lot. Everytime I drove over the lines he said "Thump". Most of the conversations want like this:

Dad: (In passenger's seat, watching the lines on the pavement) "Thump, thump, thump, thump."
RW: "...Dad, why are you saying that?"
Dad: Every thump is you hitting a car.
RW: >.<

I learned, eventually. Passed my exams first try and didn't drive for six months. :roll:

[Soulstealer]

I don't like this thread anymore, it's giving me flashbacks from when my dad taught me to drive. Then a few years ago I learnt that my grandmother can no longer drive because everytime she gets behind the wheel she freezes up. Apperantly my grandfather yelled at her a lot.

Let's just say if I ever have kids I'd rather pay for driving school, I'll consider it an investment in our mutual sanity.

[protege]

Ugh. Too many bad memories. Not so much my parents, but the shitbox cars I had to learn to drive on. The Dodge Caravan that would stall out at *every* stop sign in town, and usually was a pain to get started, or the Ford Tempo that seemed to have no brakes most of the time :eek:

One event really stood out though--as Dad and I are coming up the big hill out of McKeesport (for those who don't know, it's a former mill town that's mostly abandoned. Not much there, in other words...) Anyway, as I'm about halfway up, one of the cars coming *down* the hill is over the line. As in, if I continue on my current path, he'll hit me head-on :eek: Nobody behind me, so I hit the horn and swerve. As soon as I got back in my lane, Dad said that I "shouldn't have done that" :confused: Um :wtf: Apparently, I should have let the guy plow into me at 50mph. Needless to say, my mother was NOT amused when she found out what he'd said...

Things got better after that--he soon got to the point that he felt he could trust me. Hell, the first time I went out on the highway...he took a nap. Let me tell you, it's a bit unnerving to be traveling 55mph for the first time--the speed limit where I live is only 25, so to be doing twice that was a bit scary ;)

And no, I didn't pass my test the first time. The steering pump on that stupid Tempo went out, and I clipped one of the cones. Instant failure, and I couldn't take the test again for another month because of the weather :cry:

One thing though, I found it actually easier to handle the Caravan over the Tempo. Once I'd gotten used to driving a larger vehicle, a smaller one was no big deal. Also, the way the van's steering was geared, it was easy to park.

[Sarlon]

I remember my mom teaching me to drive...it was fun...our high school that I went to, had a HUGE back parking lot atop a rather steep hill. Mom drove to the school...less then a mile from the house...parked it at the bottom of the hill, then made me drive around in circles till I was dizzy. but considering how hilly the parking lot was, it was a great way to teach me accerating, and braking on a hill.

2 weeks of that, then mom and I got up really early on a saturday, we drove about 35 minutes down the road to the middle of the highway...nice flat 4 lane highway, and taught me how to handle merging, high speeds, and dealing with 18 wheelers on said highway (don't think she meant for that to happen.)

After we got back from my sister's wedding, and dad managed to drive my sister's old car back from oregon to tennessee...mom would pick me up after school if she got done with work early enough, and let me drive home completely.

as for my permit and actual driver's lisence....passed both on the first try. the tester I had was awsome, and the test was to easy...considering I didn't even study for the written part of it.

course I remember a girl in high school that I knew was a straight A student, ALWAYS studying, that sort of thing...I was getting my new lisence (my wallet had been stolen)...and while I was waiting in line I saw her getting the test results back....she had failed the test completely.....missing 10 out of 30 questions (you could only miss 5 and still pass). Her comment "but I pratically memorized the entire handbook!":lol:

for the record I hated her guts...stole money from me, after I did so much for her...I could help but laugh at her...internally. Karma....you are my friend. ^_^

[powerboy]

I was taught through a driving school. My dad would piss me off everytime I drove. If I went 2 miles over the speed limit, he would go nuts. Now it is my brothers turn. He is being taught by my mom. He does good, but he needs to learn to not get as distracted as much. And also to stay the speed limit.

[Jester]

My oldest niece, Princess, just got her driver's license. And when I say "just" I mean this past Wednesday. Less than 48 hours ago. Yeah, THAT kind of "just."

She's had her permit for some time now, and a bunch of people have helped her learn to drive. Her mom drives her crazy, being over-protective and harping on every little thing. She much preferred driving with me or one of my coworkers....we are both more laid back than her mom. I only yelled at her once.....the SECOND time she went through a red light. Downtown. With traffic coming the other way. Yeah, she knew she had screwed up when Uncle Jester had a conniption. (In my defense, it was a reflex response and, to be fair, she had just gone through a red light with traffic coming the other way!)

One thing that amused and worried me. In New Jersey, where I got my first license, they tested you on parallel parking, though you never really needed it there. In Arizona, where I got my second license, they also tested you for parallel parking, though you almost NEVER needed it there. Here in Key West, where you absolutely have to know how to parallel park, they didn't test for it. Not only THAT, but they also didn't have my niece drive in traffic, deal with traffic lights, nothing. Just had her drive around a bit on the (not often heavily trafficked) road by the DMV. :wtf: And people wonder why I'm nervous about her getting her license? ESPECIALLY since now that her mom is moving to Texas and she will be staying here to finish her last year of high school, she's going to be living several miles up the Keys and will absolutely have to know how to drive. AND, to add to all of this, this summer she's planning on taking a road trip to see her father. In Northern Florida.

Have y'all looked at a map of Florida lately?

Yeah.

[Becks]

I hated practicing with Mommy and my fiance.

I LOVED practicing with my sisters and brother.

I didn't much mind driving with my future FIL.

My only complaint with my driving instructor? He made me go on the Garden State Parkway.

In rush hour.

He had me hit the gas and look out the window at the traffic I would be merging into while he held onto the steering wheel. :eek:

But I passed both the written test (for my temps) on the first try (every try) and got my license on my first try.

[draftermatt]

My mother harped on everything. The last time I drove (with my learners) with her in the car (expect for when we went to get my license) we were driving down the road and I was doing 30 MPH, she starts screaming "you're going to get pulled over, slow down" that kind of thing. Finally I saw the sign showing the speed limit (30 MPH) and I lost it.

"THERE IS THE SPEED LIMIT MOM, SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!"

I was kind of like Mysty when it came to learning to drive. I started driving a tractor when I was about 6-7, a mini bike shortly after. Then I would back the car out of the garage and down the driveway.

My Dad's co-worker has a farm and when we went there to cut firewood I'd drive the truck while Dad drove the tractor with the splitter hooked to it.

I even drove home from the MVA the day I got my Learner's. Unfortunately it was with my mother so it was a cluster.

Maryland just has a course. You drive forward, back up. Parrallel park, three point turn, stop at stop sign, and you're done.

I bumped a stick parking but the guy says "oh, you didn't hit it hard, but remember if that was a Volvo you'd be out a lot of money" and then he passed me.

[protege]

I was kind of like Mysty when it came to learning to drive. I started driving a tractor when I was about 6-7, a mini bike shortly after.

Grandpa used to let me drive his tractor when I was about that age. Not really much trouble I could get into, sitting on his lap, and going in circles in the yard. What can I say, other than cutting the grass was fun...especially with the bush-hog (a device for cutting and picking up lawn clippings) on the tractor. Sadly, I didn't get to do that very much before he died, and it was sold :cry:

But, you haven't lived until you've driven a locomotive :) Seriously--I got to drive a little ("little" when compared to a GP7 or F unit, anyway) 25-ton Plymouth at a local museum, about 20 years later. I was down there helping clean up their steam engine for the weekend's harvest festival. The steamer no longer ran, so the Plymouth was used to pull it out of its shed. Anyway, after the steamer was put away for the night, one of the volunteers was trying to drain the diesel's fuel tank. As he's reaching the end of the line, I asked for a cab ride. About halfway up the line, he stopped, jumped down, and told me to take over. It was like driving a big truck--huge gear lever, brake pedal on the floor, lots of noise, using the mirrors to back up, etc. Freaking awesome :D

[Gawdzillers]

Since my car's getting new brakes, my dad had to drive me places today.
He did 60 in a 30 zone, ran stop signs, and didn't use his turn signals.

I'm going to murder him.

[Dreamstalker]

My stepfather used to (and as far as I know still does) drive like that. No turn signals, little if any warning given when changing lanes (he hasn't sideswiped anyone yet that I know of, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time), etc. Sometimes I wonder how I ever survived having him drive me to school (and what in the hell I could have been thinking when I asked him).

My dad does some odd stuff, but nothing like that. I think living in NM with the sneaky tribal police weaned him off of the tricky maneuvers (well, that and the fact that it seems like a large percentage of the state's drivers are either uninsured so don't care who they hit or got their licenses out of a cereal box).

[blas]

If it makes you feel any better, whenever I get stuck driving my father places, he still treats me like I'm a 15 year old with my permit.

"Oh honey, we don't need to be going this fast....ease off a bit.".....when I'm going 35 in a 35.

"Now honey, there's a stop sign there....make sure you stop." ....no shit, right? The only time I ever blew a stop sign, I got caught.

"Now honey, you're gonna wanna be careful at this intersection.".....Dad, we've lived here for 5 years, I know this!

[Tanasi]

This year my baby daughter (10) made her debute in the hay field. While driving the smaller tractor John Deere 2040 she raked the majority of our hay. They boys took turns baleing and I directed the whole thing from my truck with my CB radio. DD was so proud of herself, she raked over 40 acres of hay and only had a few problems. Drove the tractor from the tool shed to the field, put the rake in gear and took off raking. I rode with her on the first few laps but I saw right away she's a lot smarter than her sisters. We needed some parts for "her" tractor so I took her with me to the store and she told all about her raking hay. They gave her a John Deere cap and a offered her a chew of tobacco. She declined the chew.
All my kids started on tractors and soon graduated to the farm trucks.

[Gawdzillers]

My mom just yesterday bitched at me about not pulling out far enough to see both ways down one particular road.
Had I pulled out any more, I would have been blocking the right-hand lane. It's not my fault that near everyone on that particular road had bushes and fences and shit in their front lawn.

:hairpull::banghead: