While you learn to drive, you will find some driving skills come easily to you, while others will require more work. You may also find that what was easy for you was tough for your friends, and vice-versa.
That’s completely normal. People are different in how they learn, and these differences affect the ease of learning. Even so, your driving school instructorin Nashua, New Hampshire can tell you that some skills and aspects of driving just naturally are harder than others.
Because driving involves the coordination of many skills—all at the same time—the process of learning takes time. Knowing what other people have struggled with will help you in two ways. First, you’re not alone. Second, you can focus on those items ahead of time, hopefully making them easier for you. Your instructor will help you get through all these difficulties as you learn to drive around Nashua.
Parallel parking
Parallel parking seems to scare people more than any other driving skill. Some people will even choose to walk a mile before parallel parking close to their destination if they can’t find a spot with two or more curbside spaces.
Remember, though, that parallel parking is a process—something you can do step-by-step. One each step is completely successfully, you can go on to the next. Also remember that if you find yourself in a difficult situation, you can always start over—just remember to let people behind you proceed before you do.
Your Nashua driving school instructor will spend a fair amount of time with you as you learn parallel parking. You’ll be learning both off- and on-the-road, and you won’t need to worry that someone is watching. When you’re done with the course, you will be able to parallel park alongside the best drivers, and will only need to take long walks if you want to.
Manual transmission
You may be lucky enough to learn to drive in a manual transmission car. Stick shifts present a challenge to learning because of the required coordination between both feet and your right arm. Transmissions and clutches can be sensitive, and bad coordination leads to the jerking and bucking of the car when shifting.
The clutch will get extra work because of this, although it won’t go while you’re learning. The clutch will probably not last as long, but don’t worry about it—one student’s father said, “A clutch going earlier is just the price of having a student driver in the house”.
With practice, however, you will learn to smoothly shift the car into gear both to get moving and while driving. The road examiner will expect you to shift smoothly.
If you’re asked to park, make sure that you shift the car into reverse if you’re pointing downhill, or first gear if pointing uphill (and turn the front wheels into the curb). The New Hampshire Driver’s Manual does not discuss manual transmissions much, but if you can start smoothly, make turns and upshift while you accelerate, and show you know how to use the manual transmission, you will do well.
Your Nashua driving school andinstructors will help you learn to drive your manual transmission car smoothly and cleanly. We will make sure that you have the skills to use this equipment well.
Night driving
Night driving is a problem—you can’t see everything you need to see, even with high beams. Night dims the human color sense, and peripheral vision is not as helpful as it is during daylight. Relying on other drivers to drive with lights on is not always perfect—some people forget to turn them on, especially around dusk and dawn.
While you will not need to demonstrate night driving on the road test, it is necessary to be a safe driver. Following a few key trickswill make you a safe nighttime driver. One thing worth noting—in New Hampshire, at least 10 of your 40 hours of required supervised driving must be completed and logged at night.
As you learn to drive around Nashua, make sure you practice night driving with an experienced driver. Family members and your driving instructor can provide you with the practice needed to become an excellent driver.
Conversations without eye contact
In many cultures, eye contact during a conversation is considered very important.It gives the people you’re with feedback, and you show both your interest and understanding in what they are saying.
Eye contact for the driver, however, should be on the road ahead and to the sides, not on the family members or friends in the car. It may seem weird not to look at the people you talk with, but it is a crucial skill for the good, safe driver.
Your eyes should be actively looking—ahead, to the sides, and into the mirrors. Check one or two blocks ahead. If you’re in a residential neighborhood around Nashua with your driving school instructor, be aware of the children playing in the yard in the next block. On the highway, notice the cars both behind you and ahead of you. Your peripheral vision is as important as your central vision—train yourself to be aware of things off to the side.
Paying attention to your passengers is another form of distracted driving, like texting or changing radio stations. Your Nashua driving school instructor will help you practice this skill. As they give you instructions, practice not looking at them. It’s OK to ask for an instruction to be repeated. Keeping your eyes on the road and not your friends will ensure that you’ll be driving with them for a long time.
Learning to drive
As you learn to become an excellent driver in Nashua, New Hampshire, and the rest of New England, you will find that some driving skills come easy to you, and others are tough. There’s no rule about it. Your driving instructorin Nashua will help you work through the difficult ones, and congratulate you on the easy skills.
Going into your driver’s education course, keep the fact that some things won’t come easy in mind. At the end of it, you will have it all put together, however, and be an excellent driver—the roads will be safer because of you.