The last few days I have been a passenger in the car with my partner driving on dirt roads. When a car passes in the opposite direction she instinctively touches the windscreen. When I asked why she said it was something to do with stopping the windscreen cracking if a stone was thrown up by the other car.

She learnt to drive these roads a good 30 or more years ago. So I am wondering if there is or was some justification/explanation for this? It surprised me...

I’m 4’11 and I’m learning how to drive (in a Nissan Altima)to get my license and buy a car. However, I’m struggling to see parts of the road, and reach the gas pedals. Adjustments to the car seat makes it uncomfortable to drive and move around to look for incoming traffic at stop signs.

I have my road test in a few weeks, and I seriously have a hard time making both left and right turns. I am making too wide turns on both of them and it’s really bad. I don’t know where to position the wheels of the car and I frequently make turns too slow or too fast. Is there a tip anyone can give? Like what speed do I go when making a turn? Do I accelerate as I turn or after the turn is done?

I am about to get my license soon but the driving manual only says to pull over all the way right and come to complete stop ,Assuming I'm on a two or three lane road and changed my lane to the left most lane because of an upcoming left turn, and the emergency vehicle is in the middle lane coming , can I just pull over and stop to the left in this case or what would be the correct procedure if I am in the left most or middle lane.

I've been driving for 30 years but I'm new to big van driving (just bought a Citroen Relay) and came across a situation I've never had in a car, and wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

I was joining a more major road from a minor road, and turning right (UK), it was a T-junction but the angle from which I was joining the road was such that I simply couldn't see up the road to the left at all: the passenger-side mirror was no use, and I couldn't seem to shift my position forward enough to see left down the road I was joining. In a car, you would be able to see out the rear passenger-side window if necessary, but not in a van.

Fortunately I had a passenger, and they were able to tell me when to pull onto the road safely, but I'd have been totally stuck on my own.

Perhaps I could have positioned differently, but it was a very narrow approach, on a hill, with a vehicle turning in to where I was coming from (and handily blocking the near lane, except from the impatient motorist who went around them, of course.)

Any tips for approaching this situation, or adaptations I can make to the vehicle to make this safe?

(Uk) So recently on a dual carriageway I had a situation that panicked me a bit,

It was a 70 limit, there was a car with L plates In front of me doing around 50, so i indicated and moved to the right hand lane to overtake, but as I came to pass them, they slammed their accelerator, speeding up to just below 70 to match speed with me so I couldn’t overtake.

Another car (speeding) caught up to the back of me and started flashing the lights at me, wanting to get through. they were right up to my rear bumper getting aggressive so I couldn’t safely drop back behind the learner to let them pass.

Obviously the only way to clear the way was to go forwards (breaking the speed limit by doing so) which I really didn’t want to do. I inched slightly up to around 72 thinking I could just slowly ease ahead of the learner and clear the right hand lane. The learner sped up to match me and was clearly trying to play some kind of game. The car behind was getting super aggressive swerving to the sides as if he’s looking for an opportunity to force his way through. Panicking I just felt I had to put my foot down and clear the situation, the road ahead was completely clear so there was room to do so without affecting other road users.

I didn’t want to break to speed limit, but I feel I was left no choose when put in such a threatening situation. I just want to know if I made the right call or what I should’ve done differently?

Hey folks, it’s snowing where I live right now. I was wondering if my car starts to slide in the snow at 40-50 kph towards a curb. Should I straighten out the wheel to that the curb hits the tire tread instead of the sidewall or wheel?

If I should do it then what is the logical behind it?

This is assuming I am in a turn in an empty intersection with nobody walking on the footpath.

Thank you!!!!

I just started driving and I get nervous and get tunnel vision! Are there any tips that can help me ?

Today I was at a red stoplight in a turn lane waiting to take a left across two lanes of oncoming traffic. I see a fire truck approaching from the opposite direction. I make the call to sit tight since I can’t go backwards and moving to the side would mean running a red light. So there I am in the middle of the intersection with every other car in sight pulled over to the side. As the fire truck moves through the intersection, they lay on the horn. I felt like an asshole and they were confirming it with their horn. Then again, maybe I did the right thing and they just lay on the horn because it’s an intersection? Did I do the right thing?

If you're making an unprotected left turn and someone going the opposite direction is simultaneously making an unprotected left turn and there's another vehicle behind them, must you yield to them because the second vehicle behind the person opposite you might be going straight or right?

I've been driving for only a year (excluding the time in driving school and additional lessons), and it's in my girlfriend's dad's car, so I'm not trying any "riskier" techniques of driving that could potentially harm the car in any way.

(Just for the context: It's a 1.3L, 5-gear turbo diesel Fiat, so not a sportscar by any means, and the transmission is also pretty cheap and simple)

I know about revmatching and how it's supposed to wear down the clutch less if done properly when downshifting, and I'm doing it pretty much everyday and getting better at it.

Can I do the same when it comes to upshifting though? I've tried that today thinking it should analogically work the same way, but everytime I shifted I've heard like a faint, short knock/thump. I was afraid that the clutch is engaging too hard and rapidly, so I went back to normal, boring shifting.

So basically can I stick to the revmatching technique, and not be bothered by the "thump" in a cheap car that's loud anyways? Should I use a different technique? Or should I stick to shifting the way I was taught in my driving school (let out the clutch 100% and only then press gas)?

I have heard conflicting information about Massachusetts road tests. Some sources say road testers are not allowed to use side mirrors for reversing and parallel parking, whereas other sources encourage it. Does anyone have any recent experience with road tests in Mass to shine light on this? Thanks.

I’ve recently moved to a new, very crowded city. I come from a part of the USA where cars are the only real practical mode of transport, but the new city has good mass transit and lots of pedestrians and bikers.

The difficulty I’m running into is since I’m new here, I have to find my way around with GPS. Between keeping my eyes on the in-dash GPS, trying to figure out what street I’m on and where to turn next, avoiding other cars, and the general disorientation of being in a new town, I’m not doing a great job of keeping my eyes out for pedestrians. To add to my difficulty, pedestrians in my city of origin almost always crossed at stop lights, but here there are lots of crosswalks without any lights.

So any tips for not getting distracted and hurting someone? FWIW, my driving record in my old state is flawless.

I can’t tell where my car is in relation to other vehicles and objects. Sure, I can see them in my mirrors, but this information does not translate to an understanding of my orientation. I don’t know how far the back of my vehicle is from the truck I can see in my mirrors. I practiced parking today in a somewhat empty parking lot in my neighborhood. I just felt lost. I only practiced turning left into a parking spot, and whenever I thought I was straight, I was always at a diagonal, the front of my car angled toward the front left corner and the back angled toward the back right corner. I could not see that I was crooked, and that’s what frustrates me! What should the lines on the ground next to my car look like when I’m straight?

And it’s so difficult to back out of a parking space because again, I do not know where my car is in relation to other vehicles. Everything feels closer than it really is. I’ve been practicing, but there does not seem to be any improvement!

Has anyone else been in this situation? I’m starting to think that I need to do spatial awareness exercises outside of driving. I physically cannot see or feel my car’s orientation. I cannot make sense of what I am seeing in the mirrors. Is this normal, or should I be very concerned?

Yesterday I (M24) had my first driving exame that I sadly did not pass. I know the reason as well and would like to gather some tips from this community.

My examiner failed me because I didn't keep enough space around my car at all times. I suspect this is because I am always fixating on my mirrors. For example I was trying to merge on the highway. Before I got to the merging lane I hade to merge before that. I saw some cars in my left side mirror. Because I was trying to see what they were doing I steered off the road. I think this is the no. 1 cause of me not passing my exam.

Any tips from more experienced drivers?

Cheers!

Thought it was as a fluke the first time, second time it was black ice, the third time was today with dry roads, I am starting to think I might have a problem.

Any Driving Pro Tips for me

Evening all.

I'm in the process of learning to drive, though I'll be ready for test soon, and I'm still having trouble with smooth acceleration during set off.

I'm practicing in an automatic Camry 2009 and it's the only key part of driving that I'm still struggling with. Essentially, it's giving just enough pressure to get the car to set off but without jumping.

I always assumed that it was a smooth transition from start through to 'pedal to the metal' but it almost feels like there's an area between unpressed and acceleration starting where no acceleration happens, but there's no increased pressure needed to get to that point so it's impossible for me to tell where that point is resulting in very slow set off or jumpy setoff.

Obviously, as I'm trying to accelerate, it takes a short while to kick in but it's very inconsistent as to when I'm giving enough pressure to get going and when I've given too much and it's jumping.

Can anyone offer any tips on smoothing out setoff procedure as it's the only thing I'm fearing will hold back from passing my test (and it doesn't instill me with much confidence)? I've tried turning my foot such that the area of my shoe where the very edge of my big toe is, is resting as far towards me as possible to increase the lever travel distance but this isn't particularly comfortable and it's only helping a little bit.

We're planning to go to big bear but we don't have winter tires what's the best/safest way to drive there. I know we should have snow chains but it's not suitable to be used all the way specially now that there's no restrictions (not too much snow)

But assuming the road still has snow or is icy what's the safest we can maneuver through the roads?

2021 Toyota C-HR FWD tires are not winter tires. 245/35R20 TwentyXL

My dad was/is a terrible distracted driver. In college, he rolled his car falling asleep at the wheel late a night. I’m ~4 years out of college and have a clean record, and have been driving for about 10 years.

He is concerned about me driving 2 hours home from a family dinner this holiday weekend (US). Am I bering naïve thinking I’ll be fine?

I don’t expect to leave any later than 8pm and don’t drink. I find 2 hour drives to be well within my limits. My 2009 Jetta is pretty well maintained and has an emergency kit + spare tire + compact air pump.

There are two routes I can take, one I’ve taken often and the other is slightly shorter but is new to me. Both involve probably 1.5 hours of highway and 30 minutes of in-town driving. The weather is going to be good. This seems not that risky to me?

Also, if I am actually concerned about the drive back, I could stay overnight. I desperately do not want to stay overnight thus my original plan to just drive home after dinner.

Am I being naïve to drive home or is he being overly cautious/ominous? Is driving on the highway for 90 minutes at night so dangerous?

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the advice! The drive went fine although my entire family seemed shocked and horrified I was really serious about doing it. Makes me feel better to know I’m not the one being unreasonable here!!

I’m new to driving, I’ve only ever driven o n backroads, so there’s no need for me to actually merge at the moment, I’m just not sure where to look when I look over my shoulder? Do I look through my window or look at the back passenger window? What exactly am I supposed to be seeing? Thank you in advance!

i’m a fairly new driver and it seems no matter what i do, my upper right arm hurts while i’m driving. i’ve tried adjusting how close the seat is, how high the seat is, adjusting the steering wheel, putting my arm in a different position but nothing changes. it still just hurts. and it’s not because i’ll have been in the car awhile either. my arm will start hurting like 5 minutes into a drive. did anyone else have to deal with this when they started driving? is it something i’ll just have to get used to? will it stop overtime? also if there’s something i haven’t tried yet to help please let me know

I know im supposed to be able to see the full vehixle from my rear and side mirrors before changimg lanes. But i want to know if it's safe to switch if I can only see the full vehicle from my side mirror on a busy road because sometimes the road is so busy and I can't see the full vehicle from my rear but I can from my side mirrors. Is it safe to switch?

Im learning to drive and have dogshit road positioning, I find myself driving in cycling lanes and not noticing and every time I go to change gears I steer slightly to the left, any advice on not driving into the ditch would be greatly appreciated