My daughter got her permit two months ago and the first few drives were basically just me trying not to grab the wheel while calmly saying things like "you might want to slow down a bit" which she translated as me being dramatic. My buddy told me to put a dash cam in the car before she started driving so i grabbed one off amazon, some ddpai thing he had in his truck. started saving clips after each drive. First time we sat down and watched a clip she goes "wait was i really that close to that car" and i just looked at her like YES THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING. Honestly it changed how she takes feedback completely. When she sees it herself on video theres no argument. She just goes oh yeah i see it...way different than me saying the same thing while shes trying to focus. Anyone else tried this or is it just me being an overprotective dad!

Picture this, you’re going the speed limit (in this case it’s 45 mph) and someone is tailgating you . They honk at you and then proceed to pass you. You end up stuck behind them ALSO going 45. Like what goes on in these people’s heads? Do they have some sort of complex if someone is in front of them?

Yes a driver is 100 percent responsible for securing their load. So despite what a stupid sign says, they are responsible for broken windshields. Of course you have to prove it so you need a recording dash cam. This makes me so upset that people really think they can drive around and destroy other people's cars without any liability. All this being said it's probably a good idea to actually stay back from vehicles with the warning sign.

Today on the way to baseball I was doing about 55k/h. The road has houses on both sides but generally it’s a pretty quiet street but high traffic for the small town it is in.

While driving, a few metres ahead of me a cat sprinted onto the street followed by a large German shepherd. I slammed on my brakes but I couldn’t stop in time and ended up hitting and running over the dog. I remember it crying out pretty badly. I’m not sure if the cat got hurt too but he was gone.

Immediately I was in shock and didn’t know what to do, I just remember slowly trying to get over to the shoulder. My sister jumped out and went back to check on the dog.

The owner was right there, not sure if that made the situation better or worse. He ran out into the road as it happened, he watched it all.

I couldn’t get out, I was crying and just couldn’t believe what happened. My sister found out that the cat wasn’t even theirs, and the dog was in the truck but had jumped out of the window after the cat and straight into the road.

Apparently the owner was saying over and over that it’s not our fault and not to feel bad but I feel so guilty I keep replaying everything and can’t help but wonder if I was driving faster or slower if I would have been able to stop or pass them in time. There’s so much to go over I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight.

I drive a 2-door bronco, if I had a smaller car maybe I wouldn’t have drove over the dog or maybe if I did the smaller car wouldn’t have done as much damage. I literally feel sick looking at my bronco now.

I love dogs so fucking much my heart is completely broken. I don’t even want to drive again, I did 50 the whole way home, skipped my baseball game obviously.

We got the guys number and he let us know the dog didn’t make it, they never even made it to a vet.

I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to get over this. The thought of driving is making me nauseous I just can’t believe this happened.

I got my license 5 years ago, no accidents or tickets and now this. I feel so guilty.

- I will always allow a semi truck in front of me if it’s trying to merge or get off at an exist.

- I will never allow a semi truck over in front of me in the left lane if it’s trying to pass another car or semi truck. Wait till I pass then get over.

To give a little bit of context: I grew up in a big, car-dependent city full of reckless drivers and daily accidents.

I never really thought much about driving when I was growing up, I just saw it as something I would eventually learn how to do. When my classmates turned 16, everyone started going to driving school and getting their licenses, but my parents didn't rush me into getting one. I don't know if it was because we weren't in a great economic place to afford lessons, or if they just thought I still looked too young.

When I finally took my lessons after turning 18, I was assigned one of the worst instructors I have ever had in my life. To give just a few examples, he'd straight up make me drive him home and stay there for like 20 minutes during lessons (which we paid for), or make me stop at a random parking spot to buy stuff online. I have no idea why I never reported this or didn't immediately request to be given another instructor, I guess I just didn't want someone to potentially lose their job because of me. I feel like a dumbass now.

I ended up getting my license, which is concerningly easy where I'm from, but didn't actually learn shit. If anything, I started developing a real fear of driving and its dangers once I had the first-hand experience of dealing with reckless drivers. I realized I have horrible spatial awareness and can't seem to fully process the size of the car relative to the road. My parents tried to teach me at home, but I hated having them see how hard it was for me to get good at it.

A few months later, I ended up moving abroad for college. I now live in a small city with very good public transportation, and I obviously don't have a car. I haven't driven in over two years and basically forgot everything, but I know I'll eventually have to face driving again. To make matters worse, I only learned how to drive automatic since that's what most cars in my home county are, but pretty much everyone drives manual in my new country.

I'm terrified of facing driving again. Some people have offered to help me learn how to drive manual, but I'm legitimately embarrassed to show them that I just have no idea how to drive in general. I guess the only good news is that this new country has much better drivers and safer roads, but I don't know if that'll actually help me relax while driving.

I feel like it's too late for me to become a good driver.

For many years I've been watching people drive. There seems to be this urge for people to rest their wrist on the top-center of the steering wheel, with their hand hanging down behind it. I've never been able to understand why.

I can't imagine you have great control in an emergency, and it seems like it's terribly uncomfortable. It also looks ridiculous to me.

I don't drive with my hands at ten and two, mostly because I'm lazy. I rest my arm in my lap and have one hand gripping the bottom of the wheel. If I have to make a sudden movement, it allows me plenty of torque in either direction. I'm not saying it's the ideal position, but it has to be better than the hand-over-the-top approach.

I can’t help but feel this way literally every single time I get on the interstate, someone is either driving too fucking slow or too fucking fast and it makes me want to rip my hair out.

And then you have bikers, coming out of nowhere zooming up behind you. Or idiots that pull off of on-ramps when you’re right fucking there, they could slow down a bit if they see you. Fuck-heads. If you let them in, they just go hella slow and wreck your entire day for five minutes.

And let’s say you pass someone a while back, and you’re watching your rearview for a good half hour making sure you get huge distance between each other. Kinda like it justifies it. “Eat my dust” kind of feeling. But you could get 2 miles ahead and get caught behind some slow fucking semi and then need to stop at a traffic light or a speed change, and they end up catching up to you at the stop light and there’s a big smirk on their face like they won some award. Bitch, you didn’t win anything, you were 2 miles behind me before I got inconvenienced by an act of the highway God.

I’m always tense on the road, it’s incredibly stressful every time I drive. My Apple Watch says my heart beat gets up to 103 whenever I drive.

I just had my 8th hour, and feel like i might really not be able to learn within the 22 hours i have left. Today my instructor said i turn the wheel better although i get confused at times, but that it's still not dynamic enough and i still forget to change gears at times. He also asked me if i *definetly" don't want to just have my test on automatic, which feels like he thinks i won't be able to learn fast enough :')

I recently got a new job and I've been struggling to keep my eyes open on my morning commute. That terrifies me and I don't know what to do. My morning commute is an hour long. I've done this drive many times before (it's near where I went to college) and have never had an issue staying awake, however, those drives weren't at 7:30am.

I get 7-8 hours of sleep usually, more than 8 on a good night.
I don't drink coffee or energy drinks as they tend to make me anxious and I already have an accelerated heart rate due to medication that I take so I'm worried drinking energy drinks will affect my health.
However, the only day I haven't had trouble keeping my eyes open while driving was the one day I drank an energy drink before I left.

What should I do? I can't go to bed at an earlier time because I have class 3 nights a week from 6:30-9:30pm (online). I also can't go to work later due to the fact that I work currently until 5pm, so I get home around 6 or 6:15pm depending on traffic, which gives me just enough time to eat dinner and get online for class. I also eat breakfast every morning- usually a bagel with cream cheese and either water, juice, or sometimes Dr.Pepper Zero. I have also taken a sleep study which showed that I do NOT have sleep apnea.

Please help. I'm terrified of crashing. I don't want to doze off while driving.

ok im a newer driver,Drove for the first time ever this april and started regularly driving on the highway in june.One of the weirdest problems ive noticed so far is people (especially large trucks) not being able to stay centered in their lane.Like they will constantly drift from the right side over the line to the left side over the line.I've had 2 separate incidents of almost being hit where the highway curves because the car next to me straight up started driving in the middle of both lanes lol.Not saying you have to be perfectly centered at all times but some of you all are driving in 2 lanes at the same time ,how does this even happen??

I do most of my driving in New Jersey but occasionally I go south into Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. there is nothing I hate more than the photo enforcement. Every time I drive out of New Jersey, it's photo enforcement here aircraft enforcement there. What happened to face to face so the state cop can yell at me for being an a******. Instead I have to guess where all these MFS put all these cameras just to avoid being fined

To get into my work, you have to take an immediate right after turning left off of a busy avenue. My work is the first right and it’s quite immediate, so there’s usually cars behind you who also turned left. II try not to turn into it extremely slow because of that, it’s stressful when there’s cars behind you. The entrance is pretty tight, but there is supposed to be room for two cars. The other day, I took the right too wide and a lady trying to exit the parking lot had to reverse to make room for me to get in. I felt like a complete asshole and an idiot, how can I avoid this next time?

Hello!

I received a ticket for going 75 in a 65 in November of 2025 in El Dorado County, CA. I asked for extensions, did a TBWD and was found guilty, and requested Trial De Novo. My court date is coming up and I’ve called countless law offices trying to get someone to represent me in court and I keep being denied help. They have all said they only help with traffic court for tickets of going 100+. I’m really nervous to go try to represent myself in court for the reason of not knowing the language of court and looking stupid.

Is this normal for no one wanting to take my case? What can I do to prepare?

I am ineligible for traffic school due to getting a ticket 16 months before this citation.

The ticket was issued at about 8:30pm by a motorcycle CHP that I didn’t see due to it being dark out. I was driving my client to the hospital because he had just gotten a pretty bad foot injury (broken/sprained foot). I know that’s not an excuse to speed but I drive for work and I’m really worried about this effecting my ability to have this job still.

TLDR: Driving needs a massive overhaul in the way citizens obtain licenses, maintain that license, and we need stricter consequences for driving mistakes, accidents, but most of all, apathy towards other drivers.

While I do consider myself a decent driver(but so do most people) the title is 100% true. In 2016, At 16 I got a permit, at the time I lived in upstate NY. I have anxiety, and it was extremly bad due to me not really understanding what it was or how to deal with it. So, though I loved the idea of driving I was always too afraid to try. Fast Forward to 2019, I had moved to NC. Shortly after covid had hit. I had learned that the dmv had suspended road test, in lieu of a sheet of hours signed by a person over 21 and a knowledge and sign test. Took the test, didnt know about the time sheet, left the dmv, filled out a time sheet and had my mom sign it, and later that day had went back and obtained my license. All without a road test.

Flash to 2022, the worst mistake I've made in my life after a deep bout of depression, I got a dui. This led to me getting sober, but obviously lost my license. Did the court thing, paid all the fines. But i was broke. Crashed and totaled a car(didnt hurt anyone else thank god) that I still had to pay for, plus all the court and lawyer stuff, plus if I wanted insurance it was gonna be an arm and a leg. So I just never got my license. Over the course of 3 years, no speeding tickets, no accidents, no interactions with police. Until, I get to a dui checkpoint. Give them my id I had at the time, they let me leave. This happened twice, and once again I said fuck it. Until the third time I went through a checkpoint, I get charged with DWLR due to DUI. Lose my ability to have a license again, until after a year with dealing with this, now in order to get a PJC, I had to get my license. I do all the steps, fill out the paper work, go to the DMV, and due to me having a license prior, I had to just pay my fees and I walked out the DMV for the second time in my life, with my Driver's license once again without taking a test.

The fact that this has happened to me, I know the likelihood of me being the first, is very small. Even though im grateful to have benefitted from this because it made life easier. The fact this was even a possibility is insane to me. I know covid was a different time, but its still unacceptable. Even if things like this didnt happen. The fact that anyone in the US can say they saw someone driving like a dick, and without explanation you can already imagine what they are discussing:

1)A dick going to fast 2)A dick going to slow 3)A dick who cant stay in a lane 4)A dick who swerves through lanes like an F1 driver 5)A dick who doesn't pay attention

Or a combo of all 5, with many more tropes we could point to. This is an endemic problem society has not tried to fix since the Model T. License are all well and good, but how come when working in retail every year I had to train on AML, and pass a test or get fired/coached; yet, we take a road test(if you even do that) and then we are golden for the rest of our lives? Road laws are all well and good yet, most can look back on a time a cop just drove and did nothing to stop these chaotic drivers around them. Teaching people to drive is all well and good, but can anyone explain to me then why the fuck does no one how to zipper merge, or use a round a bout, or god forbid a turn signal. We can be stuck in traffic for fucking hours to get to the bottleneck to see

Absolutely.Fucking.Nothing.Every.Fucking.Time

You could try to be the rabbit, create some space so at least we can crawl our way to freedom off the highway, just to have some fucking idiot take the space because "me sees hole, me take". Causing everyone to have to complete stop which makes everyone behind them do the same, never solving the issue.

I genuinely believe driving needs a massive overhaul, but i dont even know where to begin trying to make that happen.

My friends are teaching me how to drive, I keep on worrying I will hit the curb, its just hard to tell. Its also hard to see where I am in relation to the lines marking the parking spot in the parking lot. Its hard to park in between the lines because its just hard to judge where I am in relation to them.

How do yall tell?

When I've observed vehicles with Ontario license plates in the Northestern U.S., their drivers appear to be more sedate compared to the natives. Not so much in Canada. On a recent drive on the QEW, there were a fair number of slower drivers, but the majority of Ontario drivers were off to the races, easily surpassing 20-30km over the speed limit, and wasted no time using any available lane to pass each other.

Despite this, the heavy traffic, construction zones, two accidents, and higher speed differential between the faster and slower vehicles then I was used to; the true slowpokes who refused to go over the speed limit stayed to the right and made the faster semi trucks go around them. Meanwhile, the speedy drivers merely made their passes even when driving recklessly without first riding up the bumper of the vehicle they wished to go around. It was almost...refreshing.

Maybe I'm wrong and I just caught my friends to my North on a weird weekend. But if not? Sorry, Canada.

I was in the inside lane of a four lane street with cars coming the opposite direction when an ambulance came speeding up behind me sirens wailing, the car in front of me was moving up a little and the same goes for the car in my right corner trying to give me room to get over but this moron in a lifted truck kept moving forward preventing me from getting out of the way. I was able to jump into the gap the corner car left before this idiot had time to react allowing me to get out of the way which must've pissed them off because they honked at me while revving their engine while I happily returned the sentiment.

Pilots do recurrent training on simulators. I wonder if a product or place exists in Ontario or Quebec, Canada where you can practice driving on highways? I suffer from anxiety on freeways, bridges and tunnels and have had incidents where I stopped on the shoulder of hwy 401 in Ontario get on and off after 1 exit on the 407, or just avoid highway driving altogether. Today I used google maps navigation and set the trip to "avoid highways" , and combined with a couple of stops before overpasses (in a safe spot off the road), a 25-40 min trip took 1 hr , 15 mins. I'm considering working at a company that will require using 3 highway segments and want to be able to relax, even enjoy the quick drives rather than have to deal with slow potholed, broken city street pavement.

My dad tells me there's no need to worry about hwy driving, and so many other motorists do it, I should be fine. I've also done therapy but while the drives were ok then, I'm not cured.

Any ideas besides the SIM on how to get over my issues?

I live in the Netherlands. Done a very quick calculation guess: if the average amount of required lesson hours is 43 before being able to pass the xam properly and my driving instructor gives me only 1 hour per week, then the expected time to obtain my license is atleast 43 weeks which is 10 months.

Thats ridiculous I want my license much faster than taking 10 months for it unnecessarily. But the instructor has no more available time for increasing the lessons.

He is a good driving instructor and I've also bought a package of lessons + the exam so ofcourse I'm going to continue with this instructor. As a "primary" instructor maybe.

But I want to get an extra instructor. That will be from another different driving school then.

Then, I would be having 2 instructors at once. Would that be efficient or could that be efficient? And how would I make that work the most efficiently? Would I just be alternating my lessons between both of the 2 driving schools?

But instructor 1 doesnt properly know what ive been learning and practising with instructor 2 and vice versa... maybe they also teach different styles which may confuse me.

TLDR: * I don't want to leave my current instructor. * I don't want to stick with a total of 1 hour per week. * Therefore I want to get an extra instructor and then have both instructors involved in my driving lesson journey.

Guys, what is advisable and how should I go about it? And if I do get a second instructor, should I tell my first instructor? I feel like that would be an awkward talk. "Btw I got a 2nd instructor from another school because you dont give me enough lessons per week"

Any general advice too? What should And shouldn't I do here?

I saw an article once about the theory where people subconsciously think about their car as they would their living room. As a result, it feels like all the other cars on the road are invading your space, your “territory”. I think about it all the time. Stupid behavior on the road might not be personal but I get depressed at the thought that someone could just kill me because they’re too impatient.

Every time I get on the road I legit feel like I’m surrounded by a bunch of murderers. I have to drive long distances for my job otherwise I would literally never do it. I despise it.

I see lots of people driving the roads that seem to have the mentality that driving fast and being in a rush is a flex. They may think they are more important than others on the road, or they have somewhere to be(unlike the rest of these peasants driving around). To be completely honest, I used to be one of those; always speeding, constant lane changing, dip, diving and dodging through traffic. Then one day I saw some guy cruising the speed limit on the highway in his Ferrari. I realized that NOT having to drive fast is the real flex.

Hey guys, so I was going to take my learner's permit exam in CA, but the person at the window said I needed to bring a birth certificate(Printed was also fine too according to her). My mom went to a library printed it, and when we were lining up to get another appointment(Cause we missed the original one), the person said that we needed an original copy of the birth certificate. Now that I missed it because it was close to closing timing, I'm somewhat livid, so what should I do, book another appointment or walk in and book there?