Driving classes - Session # 5.

Posted by Sandeep Kulkarni | 8:03 AM | 0 comments »

Yesterday was my fifth session. It went partly well and rest of the part went horribly wrong. I had problem in shifting gears the previous session. This time around I was quite confident on them, 1st 2nd, 3rd 4th, I did it all. I was so happy I could do it with ease. But my happiness did not last long.

I faced huge problem while downshifting. I could not shift the gears down as easily I did it the other way round. The car felt like it was over sensitive. It refused to pickup speed in second gear and hence stalled 3 times. (my bad, I had to press the gas pedal hard on an ascent or I had to downshift.)

Never did I feel scared, but my instructor told me "Its not the correct way to drive. You are not following my instructions." And yes he was visibly upset, very upset.

When I thought about what had happened when I came home, I quickly realised what had gone wrong.

1. The car did not have power steering, I was nervous while downshifting on curves and turnings, waiting for them to pass before I actually shifted the gear down. In order to shift gears while making a turn I needed to control the car single handedly. I was quite held back with this approach. (the width of the car seems to be bothering me.)

2. 80% of the time I was trying to steer the car amidst traffic people that I hardly noticed the drop in speed, which made the car to stall. I do not even look at the odometer. I keep looking straight on to the road. I mean, the car looks huge, maneuvering needs to be precise else there will be a scratch. I keep on concentrating on this forgetting about gear shifting.

I am hoping I will drive more confidently tomorrow. Lets see..

Cheers.

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