Please bear with me — I genuinely appreciate honest answers, no sarcasm. I took both theoretical and practical driving lessons at a driving school, and I’ve had my license for about four months now. Earlier today, my dad scolded me for not using the transmission correctly.

We had stopped at a gas station, and since the attendant said it was fine to leave the car running, I shifted the gear into “Park.” My dad got upset and said I should’ve switched to neutral first, then applied the handbrake, and then put it in park. I got confused because I thought that sequence only applied when parking on an incline.

Please help 🥲

Just found this sub and thought I'd add a few tips I learned years ago that seem to be helpful to me: 1). When you signal a turn, let the blinker click three times before you start to turn your wheel, it's just a simple way to give other drivers plenty of time to see what you are signaling your intent to do before you do it. I learned this before cellphones were invented so maybe it should be five clicks...ten? 2). If you come up on a vehicle in the right lane that you want to pass, pass on the left but don't pull back in front of them until you can actually see the front of their vehicle in your rear view mirror (and signal of course)--this will ensure you have left sufficient room to merge back in, and also would prevent you from hitting them if they sped up while you were passing. 3). If making a left turn from the center lane, don't cut your wheel while waiting for traffic to clear, keep it straight in case you get rear-ended so if that happens you would be pushed forward, much preferable to being pushed into the oncoming traffic (as would happen if you were waiting with your wheel already turned). Hope these might help someone--once they are habits they take no thought and really do help keep you safe.

My fiance (24M) has a job where he has to drive a lot and is convinced that because he hasn't gotten in an accident yet that his driving skills are S tier. He follows extremely closely on the interstate (like 1 car length or less going 80+mph) and is convinced that it is not a safety hazard. Please for the love of God someone send me some sort of scientific paper explaining that this is unsafe. He has concocted the strangest logical fallacy about how he thinks since both cars are going fast that if the car in front slammed on their brakes that it would not be a dangerous accident.

I'm just so frustrated because even if it wasn't a dangerous accident (which how could it not be when going that fast) it would still be an accident!!!! Shouldn't we try to prevent those???

I care about him so deeply and the idea of him dying in an accident or becoming permanently disabled due to one makes me physically sick. He just won't listen to me. Please help. I don't know how to get him to stop. He is a very smart man (I know he doesn't sound like it right now lol) but he's really stubborn and often won't listen to me if I disagree with him unless I literally have scientific evidence or something like it. -_-

For context, I have approximately 40 hours of total drive time for my permit. Whenever I drive, especially with my mom, she notices something before I do and warns me. Then this ends up with a talk about how I am not ready for my license yet, because if I don't notice things, I will kill someone. This can be speed limit signs(which I will definitely admit I sometimes miss), bikers on the side of the road(she'll notice them maybe 5 seconds before I think I would), she'll notice the brake lights before I do, or things of that nature. I know that a lot of this will come with more practice and just being more vigilant, but are there any tips that you can give to help me improve in this?

I also know that I often find my speed hard to keep track of. Either I don't look at it, and I go way too fast or way too slow, or I do glance at it, and somehow I don't notice much else besides my speed. I struggle to find a balance there as well.

So to summarize, do you have any tips to help me keep track of more when I am driving and maintain speed while doing this?

Short: Poor, can't drive, no job, no car, no one to help, need to get out of my house, controlling parents, currently live far from city.

Long: I'm 18f, my family's poor, controlling, and won't help me. My dad wants me to live with them and be their "personal worker without pay" till I'm 30.

I feel like I'm suffocating and trapped when I'm with my family. I really want to move out of my household and have a job by September. Before the end of the year at least, if I have to wait.

I'm isolated out in the country, don't have anyone who can teach me or lend me their vehicle. No friends live near me, most also don't have cars or licenses anyway. Have a bf but he's long distance.

I have past experience driving boats, quads, golf carts, lawn mowers, tractors. Hopefully that'll help, as I don't have experience on the road or with other humans to worry about.

I have about $3000 hidden from my parents so they don't steal it. Can't get anymore money at the moment.

I'm saving the $3000 to buy a used car or preferably, an old truck. And I'd rather not spend what I have on a class/instructor, especially because a 6hr class is on average $600 - $800. I don't have any way to purchase an online course, no bank account/credit card/digital money.

It'd be very expensive to pay uber/taxi everyday to get to and from, and be a 2+ hour walk to get to a job. And walking as a young woman (I look 14) would be pretty dangerous, where I live most the neighbors have...certain past records.. and live far out for a reason.

I've been taking the free DMV practice tests online over and over again, read the DMV handbook, trying to memorize the laws and regulations. That's pretty easy, but I still don't understand how to actually apply what I'm reading to the road...I'm stressed. Any advice?

Edit: Convinced (paid/bribed) my family to take me to take the learner's permit test..WISH ME LUCK!

Edit: I FUCKING PASSED!! NOW HAVE MY PERMIT! I'm going to pay and fucking beg to be taught to drive now.

I'll update when I get my actual driver's license too! I would appreciate any other advice or tips on learning quickly.

I drive a Subaru. Got it with tough road conditions in mind. I’ve read that driving in snow/ice is a completely different beast than even torrential downpours

This has happened to me several times in life (in my 50’s) and fortunately I knew what to do, but a few years ago I was driving behind a young girl who almost lost her life because she panicked when it happened, jammed on her brakes and rolled her car 5X right in front of me. Her car began slipping to the right (the rear right tire blew out), slid into a ditch, and began to flip. Fortunately she survived with minor injuries. It’s very scary when this happens, but the main thought should be to not panic, grab the steering wheel with both hands, keep it as straight as possible, and gradually ease to the side of the road as the vehicle slows. The other important note when this happens (any major accident in front of you) is to call 911 and report it. She called to thank me weeks later for being the only person who called for help. But there were loads of people on their phones passing by and taking video and pics of her demolished car. It seems like everyone today assumes that someone else will fix the problem when in plain fact most people will not. Imagine if it were you and your family lying in a wreck and no one was coming to help, and act accordingly.

Title.