Driving Lesson Number One

Ok, let me try and recall my first lesson...

Met me instructor at Bukit Gombak MRT station since I had planned to do my TP at BBDC.
Went to this really secluded place which I'm not even sure where it was, only cars I saw were 'L' platers and the occasionally one or two vans. Here, my instructor went through the different pedals, buttons and switches of the car, and also demonstrated the different ways of holding the steering wheel. When turning, use the hand over wheel method.

Next up, it was me on the wheel. Finally! After a few tries of moving off and braking, next came trying to stop the car at a designated spot and steering the car to the side of the road. I simply couldn't gauge when to stop steering until I found my sighting point, i.e. if I'm to stop on the left side of the road, my sighting point should be at the bottom left windscreen and vice versa.

Once that was mastered, I started going round and round this place, negotiating gentle bends and turns, accelerating slightly to go up mini slopes. You should have seen me trying to do the 'hand over wheel', I was like an octopus, hands everywhere but nothing at the right position.
Note to self: Go home and practice with an imaginary wheel and that's was what I did for the next 7 days. So to anyone who still have a problem with that, trust me after a couple of practices, you will get the hang of it.

Towards the end of the lesson, I got to drive the car back to the station. On the road back, driving at a turtle-speed of 30km/h, I was taught when approaching a traffic light, at the third arrow before the junction, start slowing down by braking on and off to warn the driver behind (which in this case simply didn't apply to me since I was already so sloooow). If the light is still green, speed up at the last arrow and if the amber do goes on, step on the brake firmly and then gradually reduce the pressure so there is minimal jerking.

One and half hour really passed fast and I went home looking forward to the next lesson. I'm finally behind the wheels for once!

A/T or M/T

To kick the blog off, my reason for deciding on learning Auto (class 3A) before anyone say I’m a wimp:-

1. My main purpose of learning to drive is to get me from point A to B at my convenience

2. I have a problem with eye, hand and foot co-ordination and this applies to almost everything other thing I do.
In a nutshell, trying to master another pedal which would be near impossible

So on the day of passing my FTT, I got myself a private instructor which again was one of my dilemma earlier. School or private? Trust me, I really did my research, reading all forums available and there are tons out there and speaking to friends. I had opt to go the PDI way solely because I wanted a fixed instructor, flexible timing mainly due to my job, and of course the dollars and cents was part of the equation.

After reading all the horror stories about PDI, I was kinda worried about the PI I had engaged. Thank goodness, I had the luck of the draw. Got an instructor who's very systematic in teaching (ex-BBDC instructor) and definitely kept tabs on my progress and constantly drilling me on being safe on the road…. check mirror, check blind spot… Anyone there wanting to learn to drive auto, I would be more than happy to give you the contact.

I’m definitely taught well this I’m sure, so why did I fail my tp?? Nerves!! My right leg was shivering non-stop the whole 25 minutes of the test. I swear, I will overcome that in time for the next test!

Hello World

My very first post! I’ve decided to start this blog to track my quest to the illusive driving license. Started learning how to drive beginning of February this year and just had the most disappointing TP test! Nonetheless, I will still persevere on! This will be my sole goal this year!!