Audience: Women especially short ladies.
Driving is necessity and its thrilling:
Situation makes you do wonders. Don't believe, here you go. Exactly one year back, I didn't know driving. I was completely dependent on my cab/brothers if I had to go out. Either I was not interested or I didn't dare to.
I always have heard men saying girls cannot ride or drive, specially gear one. I believed it somehow. But now probably I wouldn't agree for it:-). Driving is very simple and I suggest go for gear one. Its a necessity and also its fun.
How to drive? Follow this
1. First thing, get into a car at the driver seat and understand the system. (Go to coaching if needed. Have a driver beside you.)
2. Adjust the seat accordingly for a proper leg room. You will find a liver below the seat which is used to adjust the distance of your seat from the pedals. You can also adjust your seat for proper seating position. This is similar to the seat adjustment in any push back seat buses you might have travelled. Few high end cars provide seat' height adjustment also, but low end cars it doesn't support, and its not really necessary as it hardly makes any difference and it depends on the car that you are driving. If you ask me its not so important.
3. Adjust the mirros, center mirror, side mirrors. You need to look into these mirrors only when you are changing your lane, else you can go your way looking forward. Understand how much wide you car is and go ahead.
4. The wheel is called the steering wheel, which is used to control the direction of the wheels. Try rotating it and see how the wheels move when you rotate the wheel. This will give you fair idea on how much you need to turn your steering wheel to move your car in particular direction. This is the first thing you should know to control.
4. At your legs, you see three pedals. Left pedal is the clutch, middle pedal is the brake and the right one is the accelerator. Adjust your seat in a way that you are able to press these three pedals to the floor.
5. Now understand the gear shift knob. The knob looks as below.
Neutral : By default the gear will be in neutral position. Test it by moving the gear knob around. You should be able to move it freely.
First Gear: Move the knob to left and then upwards. This gear is used to move the vehicle. Remember this gear is only to move your vehicle for short distance. Once the vehicle moves, change the gear to second.
Second Gear: Press the clutch to floor, pull the gear knob back from 1st gear, it will come to neutral. Now move the gear knob to left, then downwards and slowly release the clutch. This gear you need for driving as the first gear is only to move your vehicle. Rest everything can be controlled by second gear. Its safe and it goes in minimum and manageable speed. So if you are a learner, then always be in first and second gear. Once comfortable go for higher gears.
Third Gear: Press the clutch to floor,get the gear back to neutral from second. Push forward(straight), you will be in third gear.This gear should be used once the vehicle picks up the required speed in second gear.
Fourth Gear: Press the clutch to floor, pull the gear knob to neutral and then downwards(straight). Use this gear once you are used to speed.
Fifth Gear: Press the clutch to floor, get the gear knob back to neutral . Now move the knob to your right and then forward. Use this gear very strictly if you are comfortable handling the speed. .
Reverse gear: This gear is used to take your car in reverse direction. Move the knob to right and then downwards(straight)
You can see how to move the gear knob on knob itself, but you need some basic to understand that signs also.
Now you are all set to drive. Ask someone to accompany you till the play ground in car, where you have ample space to experiment your driving skills, and start with first gear and then second. Practice it, you will get confidence in 3 days only. First understand your steering wheel, and then switching your gears and moving your legs on right pedals.
Want some inspiration?Here is my story
I am not tall and I never felt confident enough for anything as people always referred to me as short girl even if I wasnt that short, but cant we change the way we look or we are, right ? To feel good I started using sandals whose heel size is 3 and half inches. But somewhere this didn't help, and I always had inferiority complex for the fact that I couldn't drive or ride a bike and be independent.
My problem was I didn't have time. May be it was just a reason. When time came to rely on self, I went ahead and started driving. Believe me I hardly attended 12 driving classes out of 25 and that too at 8pm, 20mins class. For sure it didn't make me an expert.I took my car out once, to small distance accompanying my brother, then alone, then to main road and then whole Bangalore, nothing stops me now.
Want to see my car, here it is:)
Mistakes :
I wont say I didn't commit mistakes while driving, but as far as you and others on road are safe, nothing should bother you:). My mantra is whatever happens to car, don't worry your safety and others safety is highly important on road. What mistakes I did
1. I was about to hit a divider once. This was because of my lack of concentration on road. Luckily escaped.
2. I was taking left while coming out from a gate and unknowingly I took the cars front wheel on footpath near a bus stop and luckily got the car down without any dents. I realised what had happened only after noticing that people standing at the bus stop were staring at my vehicle and my cousin brother was in shock sitting beside me and explained on what I did :D. This was because of my incorrect calculation while taking a turn.
3. I was overtaking a lorry without knowing to calculate the speed of the vehicle I was overtaking. As a result there was a miraculous escape from being hit by a heavy lorry on a flyover. Always calculate the speed of the vehicle you are overtaking because when you have to get back to the same lane after overtaking, you should make sure that there is enough distance between your car and the moving vehicle which you overtook, to avoid collision.
4. Escaped from a roll-over while driving on flyover at 80speed on 5th gear and suddenly moved the gear to 2nd instead of 4th . A drastic slowdown of the speed which gave a scary jerk and vehicle stopped. I was lucky in this case also. This happened because I only knew how to use 5th gear without knowing how to come down from 5th gear.
5. I was trying to move a vehicle with my handbrakes applied. It took me few minutes to realise till my friend told me I had to release the handbrake. Silly mistake happened because of absence of mind.
This was my learning experience and this didn't stop me from driving. I am mentioning it here, not to scare you but to help you learn from my mistakes. Learning is never ending, so I will update if I learn something new.
Tips:
1. Never ever panic. Very important. Practice and this panicking and fear will go away.
2. Keep using half clucth while applying brakes unless you are comfortable with brakes. This will not stop your vehicle but it will surely use all your petrol. Its okay loosing few bucks while practicing:)
3. Half clutch is big problem if you don't practice. Its needed to move your vehicle upwards if the road is not even. And always switch to first gear when you have to drive uphill. These days even roads are like uphills in Bangalore.
4. If you feel your vehicle going backwards anytime and your brakes are not working, please use handbrake. It will stop your vehicle. This is important to avoid hitting objects behind your car.
5.If you feel you are not able to manage on road, just stop the vehicle and take your time to go ahead Don't care who honks or who shouts. Specially if someone is coming from front and you are scared to face that vehicle, stop for a while , once the vehicle passes , you start again. Nothing is going to change in 5mins unless its emergency.
6. Observe the driver when you are not driving. See how he moves the wheel, his legs and how he switches the gears. This is very helpful. Ask doubts. Few tips I also got from my cab driver.
7. Anytime if you feel your vehicle is speeding just lower the gear, the speed will automatically come down.
8.Not all people are good on roads. You will find people commenting cheap, or make fun, block your way, unnecessarily honk to panic you, and also bang your vehicle sometimes if they know you are single women driving. It happens mainly with autowalas, truck drivers, lorry and any other public transport drivers. Not sure if its male ego, but remember never get down the car. If you are in public also see if you can really fight because when you get down, no one will come to support. Public will just have fun watching as they feel women are always wrong on roads. Welcome to the realworld.
9. Avoid isolated areas, if you take also make sure you don't stop your vehicle anywhere for anyone. Don't give lift to strangers you never know what kind of persons they are.
Onemore thing, not all are lucky to get access to cars if you have husband or brother who owns the car . They are generally not keen in giving it to a lady for experimenting atleast. I was lucky that my bro left the car at my home and left to Germany for three months and I got access to the car. I suggest use the opportunity when the guys are not around and you have access to car. Just take it and go for a drive. What atmost will happen ?Dents and scratches, nothing else right, chill. Tell same to your men and tell them thats how we ladies feel when they mess up our kitchen:).
I also got few scratches and dents and that was fine. BUT ITS ALL FAIR YOU KNOW. FACT IS I AM DRIVING A CAR.
I hope this post will inspire you as I was also inspired by other ladies who drove on roads confidently. I used to admire them, now when I drive I don't feel anything, but others admire. Good Luck ladies. Go out , live your life. Drive and enjoy the feeling.
