right o.k 3rd lesson down, heres a progress report…
did my gears & reversing excercises today, gears involved moving from a stop, then shifting from 1st to 5th using all the gears, then back down again, to a stop… easy… reverse excercise was to park in top right corner of an oblong yard, and reverse into an imaginary bay in the bottom left… even easier…
the instructor said to me today, and i quote, “you can drive the wagon, easy,”. which gave me confidence, I still however am making 2 mistakes, again and again…
Mistake 1; Gear selection, I am apparently using the wrong gear frequently, it doesn’t feel wrong to me, but either revs too high, or too low
Mistake 2; approaching hazards I know what im supposed to do, but I just cant do it!!
for example (remember us left side of road drivers!!), i’m approaching a parked car on left, and wiil have to cross the white lines onto the right side of the road… I know i’m supposed to check both mirrors, then indicate right, then position myself, then slow to appropriate speed selecting correct gear (which normally involves flicking the range switch and changing to fourth), then assess oncoming traffic, then either stop (again change down gear), or go through… I just can’t make myself do it correctly
with only one more lesson to go i’m not confident of passing, i’m confident in my driving, and have not put the wagon in a position which may cause an accident…
I’m just too full of habits (bad?) from 10 years professional van driving…
sigh