How long does it take to be able to drive decently (1 Viewer)

[mysterymarkplz]

I just got my L's a few days ago, I drove for the first time today tho in a quiet street and just basic steering, braking and slight acceleration nothing major, when i was doing this i felt pretty nervous behind the wheel, i was going at like 5-10km/p and still was really paranoid i was going to hit a car that was like 10 meters away from me lol. Just wondering how long did it take you guys to feel comfortable driving around like from home to school since you got your L's?

 

[madharris]

Hahaha! I remember driving at about 15km and thinking "shit, i'm going way too fast! How am I going to deal with 100km!"

But honestly, it depends on you.
I know people who have done 30 hours and were confident enough that they were able to pass their p's test.
Whereas I know other people who have done like 120 hours and still can't drive.

I reckon personally it took 10-15 hours for me to start being comfortable whilst driving

 

[mysterymarkplz]

Thats interesting, i'll just try practice a couple of nights every week, ceebs doing instructor lessons atm cause of hsc. I just really want my P's when uni starts so i'm not that guy who calls his friends at like 1am asking for a lift :L

 

[Recondit]

Like madharris pointed out, natural driving ability is dependent on each person; the persons method or feel for steering, braking and accelerating; how you perceive road obstacles, reaction time, how you respond etc. 10 hours of solid driving lessons felt enough for me

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Depends on natural ability, but also it takes slightly longer if you are driving manual imho because you have more things to take care of RE: vehicle control.

 

[enoilgam]

I've been on my Ls since 2008 and I'm still horrible.

 

[kimjuliana]

Like other people said, it depends on you. I got my L's in Jan and I'm still not able to drive by myself (well not very confidently) and I've had ~10 hours of driving experience. And the driving isn't the hard part! It's all the checks you have to do whilst you drive (I keep forgetting)...

 

[bangladesh]

I had my L's for around 1.2 years and didn't drive much during the hsc, however i have been on my P's for around 4 months now and i really do consider myself a decent driver as I haven't had any crashes and have only made 2 major driving mistakes since i started driving.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Vehicle control for me was one of the simplest things to develop (5 hours), but at low speeds (tight carparks, general parking) takes longer to develop (probably 50 hours to get good).

Learning to understand traffic conditions took a while (about 20 hours to get better). However nowadays if I'm not paying attention I might miss a few signs simply because I'm not paying attention (this happens when you drive often, and happens more when you think you are not tired, but you actually are).

I still would not say I am an awesome driver. I would say I'm decent (vehicle control is good, but I still succumb to little errors of observation which could cause a little confusion to other drivers) (I have about 150 hours of experience), but given a few years of mistakes (say about 5 years from now) and I will be 99% on the scale of good.

 

[nerdasdasd]

Parking is a pain in the butt

Even after many hours of driving, failed my first go.

 

[mysterymarkplz]

Do alot of people fail their first P's?

 

[anomalousdecay]

^The people from my school usually got them first go (about 50%).

Then again we had people failing 5 times before finally getting them.

 

[madharris]

Do alot of people fail their first P's?

It depends where you go (and obviously how prepared you are)
Some places have high failing rates where others have lower ones due to things such as varying route difficulty, varying degrees of harshness from markers and of course there are many other unforeseen things that could happen

 

[seremify007]

I was really only confident after I had done a proper 50 hours. Some of the tips which I had was learning to drive with background distractions (e.g. radio, background noise, etc) once I was able to control the car properly. This made the jump to P's and driving in the real world a lot easier. I passed first time with about 60 hours.

 

[anomalousdecay]

I was really only confident after I had done a proper 50 hours. Some of the tips which I had was learning to drive with background distractions (e.g. radio, background noise, etc) once I was able to control the car properly. This made the jump to P's and driving in the real world a lot easier. I passed first time with about 60 hours.

I've been doing that recently and it helps with experience. There were moments where I adjust the mirror, open windows, talk to passenger, etc in quiet areas and now I have been able to do that on low traffic conditions in highways and stuff from the experience.

Though talking to passenger's is definitely one of the hardest on that list above because of the distraction you get from a simple argument.

 

[JohnMaximus]

depends on gender

 

[seremify007]

I've been doing that recently and it helps with experience. There were moments where I adjust the mirror, open windows, talk to passenger, etc in quiet areas and now I have been able to do that on low traffic conditions in highways and stuff from the experience.

Though talking to passenger's is definitely one of the hardest on that list above because of the distraction you get from a simple argument.

With experience you learn to balance it, and where needed, prioritise the important things (e.g. driving in a complex situation or difficult conditions) and shut out the distractions (e.g. by just not replying).

 

[User5555555]

I had a good sense of how to drive before I got my Ls. Got my Ls on my 16th birthday, clocked 30 hours within the 2 months. Had 2 lessons with a driving instructor who told my parents that 'He's definitely going to pass, he doesn't need any more lessons from me. Just need to have better speed management'. 3 months before my 17th birthday, I foolishly took up driving my mate's manual Skyline. I dreaded having an automatic restriction on my red Ps because I longed to drive manual against my parents' wishes (they both owned automatic/tiptronic cars). I thought 'hey, I'm pretty good at manual' (not really due to my boy-racer behaviour) and decided to book a manual test. Old habits die hard, I redlined the first and second gear as soon as the test started, examiner told me not to do that again. I scored 103/105 but still failed due to my foolish behaviour at the beginning.

Parents raged and told me to never drive a manual until I get my full license (which I think is ridiculous). I took a break and got my Ps on an automatic car, scoring 110/111. Its a pretty good score for the place I did it at which was notorious for a low pass rate (Merrylands). Ever since, I've been driving automatic. In terms of driving skills, most people gain it after a while. Turning left/right, indicating and roundabouts come naturally, after a few hours practice. Parking takes a bit longer. Different cars have different steering wheel rotations for a perfect reverse/45 degree parking so its best to do the test (Ps test) in your own or instructor's car.

 

[Havox]

Its a pretty good score for the place I did it at which was notorious for a low pass rate (Merrylands).

Did mine at Merrylands, didn't think it was that hard.

 

[User5555555]

Did mine at Merrylands, didn't think it was that hard.

Depends which route you had and which instructor. I had the Hilltop Road route, which had a hidden 40 speed limit sign amongst other things that warrant an instant-fail. But there's an article that does say that Merrylands has a low pass rate.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...ute-for-p-plates/story-e6freuzi-1225813991994