Driving in England

I am in the taking my theory test the end of this month...am preparing for it now...hopefully that will go well...i just found out recently that they change the questions every two years...so i was studying for the test with the wrong book..man did that suck..

i had just begun driving a stick shift when i came here...i took a few lessons but got stressed out when the woman told me that i did terrible on the turn in the road...i think either she or i had pms...he he..so i quit...

i will take them again after i pass the theory but with a male teacher this time...in fact ive done the turn in the road on my own..its just that they are very picky with how they want it done..

good luck to all the future UK license holders out there...!!

Janet -- just remember... you only have to do the "passing the wheel through your hands" (not hand-over-hand on a turn) on the test.  You're more than welcome to drive any way you want after you have your license!  Just make sure you're extra careful on the test (which I'm sure you will be anyway!)

Personally I prefer driving an automatic...particularly over here...that way I can concentrate on avoiding all the idjits on the road.  Plus with all the start and stop traffic (can you say 45 min to go 5 miles?), it's nice not having to worry about shifting.  

Driving is driving, whether it's an automatic or manual.  


wench

I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there (in very best Office Space voice).  I've driven both and I much prefer a stick, even in stop-start traffic.  When you've driven a stick over 10 years you learn little tricks to cope in stop-start traffic.  You should see me in an automatic in a traffic jam!  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yes, but can you drive a stick while talking on a mobile phone, eating a hamburger, making rude gestures at people who cut you off...all the while beating your kids in the back seat for picking on each other??  (***this is just a joke..I DON'T beat my kids)

Yes.  Laugh if you will, but I have actually taken the wheel with my teeth while juggling something with my hands.  I don't do it OFTEN, but I have done it before.  (Only when I'm going very slow!)  My car has good steering and I get it regularly aligned so I can take my hands off the wheel and the car keeps going in a straight line so I can pick something up or put something down.  I don't generally eat when I'm driving, though.  I don't like to do that.

Ok I don't really do all those things...well not all at once anyway...lol. But I could do those things in an automatic if I wanted to a heck of a lot easier than in a stick shift.

Not if everything is flying to the front of the car because you've slammed on the brakes for the zillionth time because you mistook it for the clutch (which is what I do when I drive an automatic).

I get stuck in a lot of traffic going to and from work so it's really nice at times like that for my automatic to be driving ME. There are times I miss my standard transmission but rush hour definitely isn't one of them.

I encounter bumper to bumper traffic every day and I don't miss my automatic for one split second.

For all of you who are worried because you don't know how to drive a stick shift and are having to learn, you're actually lucky because it means you're learning over there for the first time so you don't have any bad habits to unlearn.

Stick shifts also get better gas mileage...if you drive them properly...than automatics.  

I was very interested to read this thread.  I've been driving in the US since 1967 and learned to drive a stick...and have driven manuals my entire life.  Last Friday, I took my first UK driving lesson and now feel that it's going to be impossible for me to get ready to pass the driving test by my 12-month anniversary as a UK resident...mid December.  For one thing, I don't think I can even get a test appointment in Oxfordshire by the deadline!  And for another, apparently I do a whole LOAD of things incorrectly, by UK standards.  I can identify with the person who said that they were "coasting" too much.  I've been told the same thing.  I've also been told that I cross my hands when making a turn, and that habit of using my hands on the wheel is going to be ENORMOUSLY hard to break.  I was very discouraged but then decided that if I lose my solo driving priviledges for a few months early next year, then so be it.  My Audi can just sit in the garage until the weekends, when my partner is here with me and can be my supervisor.  I hear SO many stories about even the best drivers not being able to pass the practical on their first try that I'm pretty sure I won't manage either.

Good to read the experiences of others!

Janet
Deddington, Oxon

Well...don't TRY to flunk the practical on the first try.  Not everyone does!  It's kind of funny that they're so picky on the driving tests here...but on the whole, drivers here are no better than they are back home, where the test is a LOT easier.

I'm not sure I agree.  I think that the drivers here ARE much better at backing into "parking bays" and dealing with narrow streets and roads than the US drivers I know, and now I know why!

I ALSO now understand why do many of the people I work with in Oxford just don't drive at all!

Janet

I don't think the test has made them better drivers, I think practice has.  

Oh and dunno if it's true over here, but automatics have lower insurance in the states.  

You keep the sticks Stacey and I'll take the automatics.   Deal?  
wench

Yes.  Laugh if you will, but I have actually taken the wheel with my teeth while juggling something with my hands.

The mental image of that is priceless.

I'm not sure I agree.  I think that the drivers here ARE much better at backing into "parking bays" and dealing with narrow streets and roads than the US drivers I know, and now I know why!

I ALSO now understand why do many of the people I work with in Oxford just don't drive at all!

Janet

Try the M62 sometime.

I don't think the test has made them better drivers, I think practice has.  

I dunno bout that...try the M62 on a Saturday, the A59 anytime, or the York ring road anytime during a weekend.  Or for that matter, ANY road in Wales.  :-)

Oh and dunno if it's true over here, but automatics have lower insurance in the states.  

News to me...my insurance dropped when I switched to a stick-shift even though my automatic was 4 years old and my stick-shift was brand new.

You keep the sticks Stacey and I'll take the automatics.   Deal?  
wench

Sure...more fun for me.

The mental image of that is priceless.

My husband thought it was funny too :-)

Let me clarify, I don't think they're better drivers, I think they're better at dealing with backing into bays, small roads etc simply through practice.  (Tho I'm not sure better is really applicaple...I think they're atrocious!).  
wench

OK...I'll be more specific with my comment.  I think drivers here are MUCH more skillful at dealing with narrow spaces and other maneuveurs <sp?>, especially those requiring reversing.  We Americans just don't get the lessons in those sorts of things in the US...at least not where I learned to drive.  I vaguely learned to parallel park, but that was the only thing I was taught other than basic driving technique.

By the time I've taken lessons and have practiced enough to pass the practical, I'm sure the new techniques will have "stuck" to the point that I won't drive any other way.  Might as well.  There's always room for improvement, and we all develop lazy habits over years of driving.

I'm appreciating all of the interesting comments on this and other topics here!

Janet
Oxon

Janet, my instructor told me that she was training me to pass the test. She realized I had much more experience than even she did, so she was telling me all the little "tricks" to just get my license. I think if your instructor can focus on that, you'll pass in a breeze. For studying the theory, I used the AA computer "game". Then I crammed on the way to the test. Passed fine!

How bout a link to that game Lisa?  
wench