The driving experiences thread

[charlietheowl]

I didn't get my license until I was 22; I was not ready at 16-17 to behind the wheel of a car. The first time I went driving, which was with my mother in a parking lot, I actually was so frightened I was shaking, and the second time I broke down in tears over not being able to pull into a parking space correctly. Time helped me feel more comfortable, and I overcame my anxiety to get my license. I don't drive a lot now, as I carpool to work and don't really have a ton of places to go when I'm not at work.

 

[D'Snowth]

Again, the main thing that finally pushed me to get my license was simply my parents being fed up with me still not driving. Like Charlie said, at 15-17, I wasn't ready to get behind the wheel of a car either, and even now I still get nervous when I drive, but I had no other choice - I insisted on taking buses, but my parents wouldn't have it. Honestly, I kind of feel like legal ages for these kind of things should be bumped up, because I can see I wasn't the only one who felt they weren't ready to get their license at 16. I mean, that's still a young and foolish age. Funnily enough, this is why Loni Love said it's best that legal drinking in the U.S. is 21, "because at 18, you still a lil' foolish!"

And don't sweat it, Charlie - parking is a big hang-up for me too. And you know what's ironic? When practicing in an empty parking lot, I could never park correctly in a spot, but somehow, I was actually able to park correctly when there actually were cars in the other spaces. Go figure. I still don't park perfectly though: I usually end up crooked, or too close to either side.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Heck, my parents have been driving for thirty years and they still have trouble parking!

 

[charlietheowl]

And don't sweat it, Charlie - parking is a big hang-up for me too. And you know what's ironic? When practicing in an empty parking lot, I could never park correctly in a spot, but somehow, I was actually able to park correctly when there actually were cars in the other spaces. Go figure. I still don't park perfectly though: I usually end up crooked, or too close to either side.

I'm better at parking now, but I still prefer to park far and away from other cars just to be safe, and I'll pull in as opposed to backing in. I think that it might be easier though to park when cars are around, because they give you benchmarks and force you to be more precise in parking, while when there's no cars around there's less to worry about, but no way to measure things.

 

[D'Snowth]

Can I just say I feel so much better know that I'm not the only one who didn't get their license until they were into their 20s. MC continues to amaze me - I swear, you guys understand me better than most people who know me in person, lol.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Fear. I can understand not wanting to drive for some of you.
It's not the manual dexterity it takes to drive. Some of you use the same level of concentration, and hand-eye coordination playing your video games.
I can see where fear can prevent some from wanting to drive, or even trying (fear of trying is so crippling). But the only way to conquer fear is to face up to it, not run away from it.
Snowthy, remember the M*A*S*H episode with Potter and Rizzo?
"I've been driving since I was SIX!!! Now let me at that vee- hickle!!"

 

[D'Snowth]

Vaguely - I tend to avoid Seasons 8-11 like the plague: too dark and preachy.

 

[Schfifty]

Can I just say I feel so much better know that I'm not the only one who didn't get their license until they were into their 20s. MC continues to amaze me - I swear, you guys understand me better than most people who know me in person, lol.

Well, then thank lord Jim this website exists!

@charlietheowl - I went through almost the same situation as you. I didn't officially receive my license until my 22nd birthday. I started out practicing in a parking lot just getting accustomed to using the brakes and gas pedal, and was nervous taking it to the streets when I was 14-15, but I don't recall having any anxiety or emotional aches. I also like to park in parking spots with more space, because of two reasons: 1) I hate parallel parking, and 2) I accidentally caused a tiny scratch on another car while trying to park between two cars about a month after I got my license. Fortunately the lady wasn't so angry.

I'm pretty comfortable driving now, but I still should practice going miles on the highway, and get a little more used to driving on the freeway. I do get a little nervous when I drive on the freeway, since y'know, you're going 55-65 mph and you have to merge lanes sometimes to let oncoming vehicles come in; any wrong move could result in a loud honk at you, or worse, an accident...

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Vaguely - I tend to avoid Seasons 8-11 like the plague: too dark and preachy.

I guess that happens to a lot of long running shows, either they become way too silly and stray too far from the original concept or they become more dark and depressing as time goes on.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, to be fair, M*A*S*H was never intended to be "just another sitcom," it always managed to find a good balance of comedy and drama (well, the first couple of seasons or so are a bit sillier, mainly because the network interfered too much in the beginning), but in those final seasons, the comedic aspect was severely shafted while the drama was turned way up. And ironically, former SST writers Thad Mumford & Dan Wilcox produced and wrote for those last few seasons.

But I digress. Another thing that gets me are one-way streets, and our downtown area is chock full of them - save for the main streets, just about every road downtown is one-way, it can get confusing, especially if there's road work going on (which there always is in this state) and you have to figure out detours to get to where you need to go.