I am nearing the ripe old age of 30 and as a result have decided to start learning to drive. I have never got round to it as have a full bike license, for last 11 years, and never had the need for a car. The thing is with ageing parents, one of whom has MS, i feel being able to drive will soon be a necessity as i doubt i can ferry them around on the back of me CBR. Also being able to take the pushbike out of the flatlands without the need for a train would be nice.

Now here is the thing…..I suck at it. I tried 2 years or so ago and had 7 lessons and my usual calm demeanour just failed me. I was a stalling master, could never find third and whenever i made one mistake it would be the catalyst for a million more. I do not know whether it is all the years on the bike has made driving a car a complete alien experience to me, pedals for the clutch/gas..whats that all about eh? 😉 , but i need some tips on how to calm the **** down and actually be able to get through my first lesson tomorrow as annoyingly i am panicking already 😐

p.s MTFU will not be accepted as a valid response

As a recently passed driver (well nearly 4 years ago) I can say that as soon as i was 17 that was the only thing I ever wanted to do!

My first lesson didn;t go that well, so after that i just made sure i really listened to what the woman was telling me, and ignoring all the other pressurising people on the road (well not ignoring, bad use of words, but you get my drift) 2 months later i had my pink license 🙂

Main thing is get a good instructor i think, i had a good one, very bossy, but made pass! Some of my mates had poor instructors, as a result took longer to pass etc…

My tip – listen to what the instructor says and don't try and pre-empt what they are going to tell you to do.

If you have any doubts whatsoever ask the dude to explain further. If they cant explain it give me a shout, if I cant explain it take a look at http://www.adiforum.co.uk – they will explain it with bells on.

The stalling and not finding 3rd things occur when you are trying to rush it. Doing it right first time steadily is much quicker than needing a 2nd attempt.

Enjoy yourself.

Just keep trying it'll come eventually, you have years of being a potential organ donor to overcome, but when you do it'll just click!

A good instructor goes a long way to calming nerves. Don't be afraid to tell them you're very nervous and uncomfortable and they should tailor the first few lessons to helping you overcome those nerves. I was very pannicky when I started and it took me a couple of instructors before I found the right one that was able to help me sort my nerves out and guide me at a pace I was comfortabe with. 11 lessons later and 1 test was all I needed due to his teaching methods. I signed up straight away with him for my advanced and I would definately recommend him to friends or family learning to drive.

I don't think you can blame the motorbike. I found the conversion from motorbike to car pretty easy. Already having "road sense", awareness of hazards, knowledge of traffic signals etc. meant it was easier to concentrate on just the mechanics of operating the car. Only had 6 lessons and passed 1st time….

The thing with the instructor may also be an issue as it is a mate who works for BSM. I think this makes me a bit nervous as you never want to **** up in front of your mates…but i think that is more my mental block than anything.

….plus he is sorting me at £15 a lesson mates rates 😀

I don't think you can blame the motorbike

You have never seen how i ride 😉

If you have any doubts whatsoever ask the dude to explain further. If they cant explain it give me a shout, if I cant explain it take a look at http://www.adiforum.co.uk – they will explain it with bells on.

Just looking at adiforum now, very informative…and cheers for offer of help.

I think the biggest thing you miss if you don't learn to drive young is the opportunity to practice between lessons (presuming you have parents who drive)

My mum had only fairly recently learned to drive herself when I was learning, and seemed to have endless patience for being driven around the same backroad circuit again and again and again. Each 5 mile circuit only had two stop and pull away junctions in it, but enough gear changy bends to make it a useful to get a feel for everything without the time pressure of a lesson.

People who have learned themselves recently are good coaches, as they still think about how they drive, and how they learned to.

There aren't many relations / relationships that would survive the learner driver scenario though, so choose carefully.

You might also be pleasantly surprised at the difference the lay-off has had. The biggest jump forward I made came as a result of a break in lessons and practice.

As Druidh says above, it's the mechanics of operating the controls. Any schools that do "early learner" type courses where kids can learn away from traffic near you? You don't need the traffic awareness you need time using the clutch/accelerator/brakes/gears to become accustomed to them.

A friend / family member is good for practice, if you have the right relationship with them, but as you maybe suspect yourself, perhaps having a friend as an instructor isn't so useful.

If its those very specific instances with the gearchange/clutch thats the stumbling block maybe look to another instructor – or maybe some sort of 'crash course' one day thing – to just get those things nailed. Perhaps away from the public roads so that you can focus on them alone. Then go back to you mate to just put in the practice hours prior to a test.

As much as i like to gloat over my 'Pass First Time' i only passed at the age of 32 – never had the need before but once i moved out of town i had to have a car. As people have pointed out, you should have the road-sense / timing / etc from the bike, you just need hours at the wheel to get it together.

Forget the past struggles with Mr Clutch – just need to get some practice in. I remember careering down my road, completely out of control on my 1st lesson – just don't let it bother u. You just have to forget all that macho bo racerr stuff and act like the novice for a wee bit.

And if u have a (Crazy) friend / wife whatever who can let you loose at the wheel to practice in between lessons then that is the best way.

I'm with Druidh, I had a motorbike license for a decade before I attempted to drive a car.
Just chill and breathe deep.
Driving a car must be easy, as a cyclist you must have seen the morons around who somehow passed their tests…

is it because you're a woman?

Working with a lad who has now failed 6 times – in an automatic!!!!! Now I find that amazing as to me the hardest part of driving is clucth control, awareness etc was never a problem as 1) I rode a motorbike before and 2) being a cyclist I'm always thinking and looking ahead and ready to re-act to anything. But this guy has now failed 6 times and each time it's because he's done something dangerous. Last time he pulled out on a motorbike by failing to look right when pulling out at a junction. To me that tells me he has a very bad instructor as he must know he's doing stuff like that in his lessons. So my advice would be make sure you've got a good instructor and all will be fine.

Working with a lad who has now failed 6 times – in an automatic!!!!!

I do think that there are some people who should just accept it and get used to the bus!

You would have had a similar experiene learnign to ride your motorbike…it takes time, practice and patience…keep a level head and after a wee while things will start clicking into place and get done instinctively…first few lessons will be all over the shop until you get familiar with what you are trying to do i.e. you don't lean when cornering in a car like you do on a bike (unless you are really pinning it!!!).

Give it time and try to stay relaxed, things will fall into place and become easier.

Failing that, MTFU and get it done for your parents and your biking needs!

easy option – get a trike. you know, bike front end, with a bettle back end 😆

Bike controls, but with back seats, perfect.

also with the gears, take it slow. remember from 2nd to 3rd, the gear lever will go in itself, you dont need to physically put it there (doing that you can accidently get it into 5th.)
Try just sitting in a car with your eyes closed, and have someone say a gear, and you select that gear. so… like 1st, 4th, 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 1st…

as lord S said, gears dont need to be forced, try siting in a car (they'r all the same apart from reverse) and flick between the gears, you should be able to do it with the pressure from 2 fingers. I found it hard after beign on a motorbike where changeing up barely required any clutch (or if i was feeling mechanicaly unsympathetic, redline it, blip the thrrottle and no clutch!) If i change up anywhere near as fast in the car it just makes a horrible noise and ends up in neutral.

It took me a good 500 miles after my test ( which was after 20 lessons) to get confident in a car, thinking back it probably took me as long on a motorbike as well, the first few times i coulnt get it round a roundabout at any speed, after a month I was putting scratches on my fairing 🙂

IMHO, it's all about the instructor.

I struggled when I first started, then I went to uni and forgot about it for a couple of years. Afterwards, I tried learning again with a different instructor and there was a world of difference – the second instructor was miles better and I found it far easier and passed very quickly.

I reckon before your next lesson, or at the start, explain to the instructor the problems you are having, and ask if you can find a quiet street – or ideally a nice loop of quiet streets with left-turns only – where you can stop, move away, work up to 3rd/4th gear, pull over and come to a stop, then repeat over and over. You need to develop muscle memory for the action of controlling the clutch and gearstick.

Normally as a learner you have no muscle memory and have to learn from scratch, but you have the wrong muscle memory from being a biker, so your instincts to change gear quickly are holding you back. My instructor said to me that as you progress, pretty much every aspect of your driving gets quicker, except changing gear, which just has a fixed speed (not true if you are hooning about like a twonk, when you want to/can change gear pretty quick, but mostly holds true for normal driving).

Alternatively, convince/bribe a mate to get up at daft o'clock on Sunday morning and drive round and round your nearest supermarket car-park, practicing gear changes. This will be cheaper than doing ti during a lesson.

After a while you'll be able to change gear without having to think about it as much, and will be able to concentrate on things like signs and other traffic instead.

Getting the right instructor is probably the most important thing… It took me 3 attempts to pass, including a 7 or 8 year break when I didn't drive much, if at all. When I restarted, I got an instructor who never told me what I was doing wrong (or right), but a couple of times nearly bounced me off the windscreen because I hadn't stopped quite soon enough (think a foot into the cycle box and the lights were only just on amber!). I complained to BSM and got a different instructor who had me booking the test after my first lesson; when I took the test, the examiner said he'd never had anyone pass with only 1 minor before. If I'd put up with the other instructor, I'd probably still be taking lessons over a year later.

Well i have the first lesson at 4:45pm, yay rush hour, today so will see how it goes and will explain my concerns. I am confident(ish) that my instructor is capable and he never threatened to bounce me off anything yet, even tho he is of the 'throwing them in the deep end' school sometimes.

I second what Lord Summerisle said. The best tip my instructor gave me was remembering that if you take it slow and let the gear stick come into the neutral position it will naturally sit in the middle of 3rd and 4th. So just take your time, let it come across and push straight up or pull straight down, 3rd and 4th are actually the two gears you don't 'need' to find. Sit in the car with it off and the clutch down before you set out and just try it!

While you're learning, the car isn't going to magically explode if you don't put it into the next gear within half a second!

A good instructor is a must. Not a mate, not an uncle, just a really good instructor. It took me 3 times to pass despite my cycle training and motorcycling experience, tough. Slow down, forget the car can accelerate, those who claim it can never rode a 600cc with 2 wheels, relax and try again.
It isn't complicated to pass, driving is easier than MC'ing, all that is hard is having to tap-dance on the pedals.
Good luck!
BTW I still can't drive my mate's Polo, so maybe the car is at fault?

Goan reckoned he could get you to pass the test in something like 6 lessons…worth speaking to him and getting some insider advice on how to settle the nerves and keep your head steady…

Age is a factor. It used to be said that you needed 1 lesson for every year of your age to pass the test.

Lerning to drive for some is a fun experience. Personnaly I totally utterly hated it and so did one of my closest friends. Even after passing my test I would worry for hours before taking the car out. All I can say is, despite the huge level of fear/stress involved (which causes you to get tense and make mistakes) it does get better the more you drive. Try to feel a sense of achievement each time you take a lesson or a drive as it is a big personal achievement when you find it stressful and hard to do. Each time you try, it is one less time before it all becomes 'normal' and stress free. You can do this and it will get better.

Oh and I knew someone in thier 50's who learned to drive and passed first time! Took me 3 goes and I was in my 20's.