Ah Pao’s blog

Updates/First Driving Lesson 21 Jul 2009

Not been updating the blog for a while. Nothing very worthy to update, and blogging is not very high on my priority list.

I had my first driving lesson yesterday evening, and to say the experience was fun was pretty much an understatement. The idea of learning to drive was hatched almost a decade ago, but I never got around doing it – constrained either by money or time. This year, I resolved to get my driver’s license.

Before that, let me make some mental notes of driving a manual transmission car. These are mental notes, so it will be understood pretty much only by myself.

• Car inspection – boot, car plate number, L plate, tires [not deflated...signs being the rim too close to the road and bottom is 'bloated'], bonnet.
• Driver’s seat – side mirror: “one-fifth car body and half-road, half-sky” rule; rear view mirror: the whole rear windscreen; headrest not touching and directly behind head; backrest – comfortable, steering wheel – comfortable; seat depth – use the clutch to gauge…should not cause the left leg to stretch completely, strength should come from the thigh instead of the kneecap.
• Windscreen controls – on the left. Pull forward to activate windscreen spray. Push upward for one-time wipe. Turn for intermittent, slow and fast.
• Signaling – Direction signal follow steering direction. Pull forward for high beam flash. Turn for instrumental, low and high beam.
• Steering wheel – ALWAYS two hands on the wheel when turning. Hands do not go beyond bottom half of the wheel. Horn.  Approximately one and three-quarter rounds before reaching limit of turn.
• Starting the engine – gear at N, just turn ignition. Depress clutch and change to 1st gear. If engine stall, i.e. gear other at N, depress clutch, then turn ignition.
• Moving off – With clutch depressed, step on brake, release handbrake. Release brake, step on accelerator gently (revving it at below 2 on the tachometer) and half-clutch until vehicle moves off. Once vehicle is moving then release clutch all the way.
• Braking and stopping – at 1st gear, depress clutch before the brake to prevent engine from stalling. At 2nd gear and above, depress brake to slow down and then depress the clutch. Keep brake depressed throughout. Do not depress too much – just hold position. Stop at half car length away (rear wheels of car in front ‘sits’ on the bonnet).
• Turning and returning – slow down (brake), wait until the bonnet touches the corner, then turn. Don’t return too quickly.
• Street awareness – look far and wide, keep in the middle of the lane (divide the lane into 2, keep on the centre of the  right half). Use side mirrors and front car to gauge. Glance the sides when approaching pedestrian crossing and junctions.

OK…back to regular programming…it was a very interesting experience and my instructor was very approachable and patient.  Good that he was chatty, otherwise it would be a boring ride.  It was nice that he complimented that I had a very good control of the clutch for a first-time driver.  I can’t wait for the next lesson this Friday!