Driving is a whole lot more than the mere ability to operate this car machine---that is the easy part even a trained monkey can do. Driving is one of the most complicated things one can ever do, even more than flying. It involves all your senses and a great deal of your brain power. The penalty for failure is so enormous that it is the most serious business you can be engaged in on a day-to-day basis.
First, get the mechanical part under control. Make sure you know how to make the car work the way you want it to. A trained instructor will shorten that process.
Then learn to drive. The ability to drive should be as natural as breathing--it should become second nature with very little conscious thinking involved. What make it difficult is that you will become a part of this swirling world of constantly changing uncertainty. You will have to know exactly what is happening all around you, and to make constant and instantaneous judgment and to take action. You'll have to calculate in your mind the various speeds of other cars, bicycles, pedestrians, animals relative to yours and to make adjustments; and you'll have to predict their actions and to provide an escape route for yourself. You'll also have to do that in reverse when you look into your rear-view mirrors. So it is not an easy task.
There is no substitute for experience. Whenever you can, try to sit in the front passenger seat and pretend you're the one driving. Anticipation is the key. Constantly scan the scene looking for tell-tale signs of the unexpected. We call them snipers who are out to get you: Around every street corner lurks a hidden danger; behind every parked car a potential running child. Be prepared for them.
When you're comfortable in all that, then you're ready to advance, to become a mature driver by working on your attitude. That you'll have to develop on your own. When that happens, I'll be happy to share the roads with you.
Meanwhile, please, PLEASE, don't go for a quick solution. A driver's license is no license for disaster. It's a deadly serious business.
First, get the mechanical part under control. Make sure you know how to make the car work the way you want it to. A trained instructor will shorten that process.
Then learn to drive. The ability to drive should be as natural as breathing--it should become second nature with very little conscious thinking involved. What make it difficult is that you will become a part of this swirling world of constantly changing uncertainty. You will have to know exactly what is happening all around you, and to make constant and instantaneous judgment and to take action. You'll have to calculate in your mind the various speeds of other cars, bicycles, pedestrians, animals relative to yours and to make adjustments; and you'll have to predict their actions and to provide an escape route for yourself. You'll also have to do that in reverse when you look into your rear-view mirrors. So it is not an easy task.
There is no substitute for experience. Whenever you can, try to sit in the front passenger seat and pretend you're the one driving. Anticipation is the key. Constantly scan the scene looking for tell-tale signs of the unexpected. We call them snipers who are out to get you: Around every street corner lurks a hidden danger; behind every parked car a potential running child. Be prepared for them.
When you're comfortable in all that, then you're ready to advance, to become a mature driver by working on your attitude. That you'll have to develop on your own. When that happens, I'll be happy to share the roads with you.
Meanwhile, please, PLEASE, don't go for a quick solution. A driver's license is no license for disaster. It's a deadly serious business.
