Friday, October 3, 2008

driving #4

last week, i was circling around the SBST and SMRT bus depot area, doing my left turns. Quite alright, except for speed control and blind spot checking.

today was mainly speed control. He only told me at the end of the lesson, that i was supposed to practice only around St 64, St 65 and a section of YCK Rd. But because of tree pruning and some amount of confidence, he told me to drive in the heartlands around Blk 601-610 instead...

Drove round, round and round...

my main problem is too late in braking, especially near the junction and traffic lights. He had to ebrake at a crossing, as i didn't realise it was green for too long. Other than that, i didn't anticipate yellow boxes and pedestrians. And experienced peeps know not looking out for pedestrians = borderline case.

since it's really on the roads, i had to speed up from my normal 40kmh to 50-65kmh most of the time. Braking distance had to be adjusted too. My right foot felt so tired...

then we went back to circuit 15 mins before time was up. Suddenly my standard dropped. Lane crossed and mounted a kerb while making a narrow turn! Wah lau, very chui!!!

some takeaways as normal:

- brake early at higher speed, keep safety distance

- anticipate yellow boxes, pedestrians and lights turning red

- do not road hog especially after turning, drive accordingly to road limit

- check rear before turning+change lane (a surprise car in the circuit incident)

4 comments:

Mockingbird said...

i got my class 3 driving license in 1995. When i was learning how to drive, my instructor always scolded me for not turning my head to check the blind spots. He derided me as having a square-brain for driving. Anyhow, i managed to pass on my 2nd try. Couldn't have done it witout God's help.

zhiming said...

i'm sure you would have been checking your blind spots dutifully since then :)

for me, i do the turning, but whether i actually check in the midst of all the coordination is another matter. ha..

Eunice�� said...

Hi, zhiming,

Glad to see that you are learning well from every lesson!

Keep it up!

I also failed my 1st attempt due to blind spot, cos the instructor only remind me on the test date itself. Haiz .. i think he meant to earn more of my money .. LOL

But i managed to pass on my 2nd attempt :)

zhiming said...

hi homely guy, i'm enjoying the lessons everytime i go!

your instructor is private? But nvm, the more important thing is you passed and can drive freely! :)