Car & Bike How and where to learn car driving ? Don't own a car yet

[raksrules]

How far you are: before you hit something. Basically the judgement of the car dimensions.

The car i drove in US was a Honda Accord. That thing was Huge in length. I mean the first time I sat in the drivers' seat i felt that the steering and leg controls are so far i cannot reach. And mind you the seat was not like pulled back. It was normal.
I then drove corolla for a month when i rented a car and it was tiny compared to that accord. But as i mentioned, US driving sort of is totally useless as there I had big roads and always drove in suburbs and highways and never downtown also (except couple of times).


I am considering Maruti driving school (MDS). I read few reviews and they seem good. The local driving schools are really bad i know. Also i read about MDS that they have this simulation training and all which sort of behaves like actual vehicle. I think that may instill confidence in me. I know it is sort of expensive (bordering 5K INR) but then i want to learn properly. I already have a license (don't ask how i got it) so don't need that service from them.

 

[Renegade]

The way I learnt driving was a little funny and expensive but enjoyable.

From my two wheeler driving I was aware of what goes where and when, so that was not a problem. Only that I needed coordination between the gear, accelerator, brake and clutch. And of course some on-road confidence. I always had this fear that I will press the accelerator instead of brake and run someone down in emergency/panic.

So I bought a Logitech G27 and set it up with my PS3 and played a lot of Gran Turismo 5. I always thought that spending this money was much better than getting a dent fixed on my brand new car when I buy it (and I love driving games). This helped me in getting all the coordination right and gain some confident. Then I went for the local driving class who charged me some 2300 for 110kms of driving lessons. Watching me get the basics right he asked if I knew driving already. I told him I drive at home in a game; he looked confused.

Then I straight away went on to drive my new car. Would you believe I took the delivery myself and drove it home alone on my own after the above training regimen. The only problem I had was judging how far away things are to my left, bumped the left side view mirror a few times and it would just fold in so no damage done. The other issue was driving up a slope without stalling the car and traffic behind me. Practice made perfect.

One helpful tip that I got from @bottle was to make someone sit next to me while driving on an empty road and break whenever he randomly screams. This to calibrate my reaction to sudden obstacles on road and not pressing the accelerator by mistake.

 

[Criminal]

^^ i used to play a lot of NFS using a keyboard and that taught me how to skid and use RVMs . one day there was an emergency and i just picked up the keys and started driving. that was in US and everything felt like playing a game (no gears!).

same happened while i was in India... i was not allowed to touch the car but one day i just had to drive because of an emergency. theoretically, i knew everything about gears, transmission and engines which helped me in learning to drive without any assistance. i find my driving style very good as it's not influenced by anyone (indian parents would always want you to honk every 3 seconds and friends would want you to flash your headlights at every small car).

@raksrules wherever you learn to drive, please don't make yourself a slave of horn. there are far too many horn-y drivers in india.

 

[raksrules]

@gauravH

I myself don't like honking and i hate people honking at me (when i am riding bike). But i remain persistent and patient and ignore them.

I sometimes feel like i should put a LED screen or something behind my bike and keep flashing messages like..

"Abe Chu%^&^ horn bajana bandh kar...dikhta nahi hai signal RED hai"
"Only A$$holes don't wear helmet while riding 2 wheeler"

OT
Today on a signal i saw a big scorpio and ahead of that was a guy on bike. The signal was red but still many vehicles jumped the signal but this bike guy stood there and the scorpio behind him kept honking. I really liked that the guy did not move from his place. I gave him a thumbs up while crossing the road.

The reason i do not go to my office on Bike is because of traffic. Even if i had a car, i would still not take it to office.

 

[Criminal]

^^ even i thought of putting a message screen at the back of my vehicle... that was 5 years ago and the best device i could find was a set of 8 neon smileys for rear window with individual buttons at the dashboard.

 

[raksrules]

^^ even i thought of putting a message screen at the back of my vehicle... that was 5 years ago and the best device i could find was a set of 8 neon smileys for rear window with individual buttons at the dashboard.

Exact thought, screen with control on my hand to display the text i want. Lol

 

[dissel]

@gauravH

I myself don't like honking and i hate people honking at me (when i am riding bike). But i remain persistent and patient and ignore them.

I sometimes feel like i should put a LED screen or something behind my bike and keep flashing messages like..

"Abe Chu%^&^ horn bajana bandh kar...dikhta nahi hai signal RED hai"
"Only A$$holes don't wear helmet while riding 2 wheeler"

Please do not try to do any such/similar things to provoke other aggressive driver, it will lead to you more trouble with your precious car ....and you don't want to go that way.
As you wished to enroll MDS, they support only 'The Defensive Driving' and their motto is to make you not only good driver but well mannered one on the road.

Take a look what they have to say;

 

[NotMyRealName]

After reading Renegade's post about bumping the left side mirror, I have a small tip for noobs trying to develop the 'other side' judgement.

Drive on a road with lane markings, three lanes if possible and empty too. Drive in the middle lane and put your car where you think you would be in the center of that lane. Now check your RVMs (they should be setup properly). You will see exactly where your car is in the lane. Now check your bonnet. The left side (for indian cars) lane marking should be somewhere near the middle of the bonnet from the driver's perspective. Do this for a few days till you figure out where your car actually is in relation to what you see from the driver's seat.

And I completely agree with dissel's post above. In India especially, driving has to be defensive. Also keeping your calm is very important, no matter the situation. And putting distracting signs and stickers on the back of your car isn't gonna help anyone. Just yesterday was riding behind a moron on a pulsar with his turn-indicators 'upgraded' to bright white LEDs and with them both flashing like hazard lights while zipping in and out of fast moving traffic. This idiot was doing this intentionally. Similarly, a person who honks at a red light or stopped traffic isn't going so because of lack of education. It's because he doesn't give 2 $hits about anyone else.

See: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ng-gets-a-broken-arm/articleshow/32259805.cms

 

[Renegade]

After reading Renegade's post about bumping the left side mirror, I have a small tip for noobs trying to develop the 'other side' judgement.
See: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ng-gets-a-broken-arm/articleshow/32259805.cms

First of all, WTF!

As for the lane marker, it is a good tip and thats how I developed the judgment, along with checking my left mirror for the current space between car and road border. But in some cases there is barely enough space for the car and you are too afraid to drive your car through while the driver ahead manages it with ease. Thats when the mirror tap happens for new drivers.

 

[raksrules]

Just to get some details, I went to Maruti Driving school in my area here in Pune over the weekend. They explained me properly the charges, what services they offer and how the learners course will pan out.
Although I don't remember everything they said. here are a few tidbits.

• Around 2.5 Hours of Theory lecture in classroom.
• Around 2.5 Hours on a simulator. They claim that a newbie gains half of confidence in the simulator itself. They did show me the simulator. It was a maruti alto cockpit (they said) and it was exactly like a proper car with gear and everything. In the front there were 3 widescreen monitors to give you view of the road. They did not switch on and showed the simulator so did not know how it looked when in action. But I am sure a simulator would definitely boost a new driver's confidence.
  
• Then 10 Hours of driving practice in a real car. It is 1 Hour daily (or 2 Hours on weekend) and it would be only the driver and the trainer and no one else behind. Unlimited kilometers allowed here.
• There is a session on explaining each and every part of the car, i guess it is part of the 10 Hour practice.
  
• Also a session on how to change the spare tyre.
• There is a progress card sort of where the trainer will write how you perform in each of the driving lessons.
• They claim to teach different stuff daily like once parallel parking, hill driving, traffic driving and so on.
  
• 3 options of car as Alto, Swift and Swift Dzire with cost as 4000, 4500 and 5000 respectively.
  
• The cost DOES NOT include the license fees.

The cost seems high for sure compared to the run of mill driving school but at least on paper, this looks like a more comprehensive course that would really be a value add compared to the other driving schools who cram 3 people and tell you to get out after half an hour of drive.

PS: The above is what was claimed not an actual experience. If I ever do take the course I will write a detailed review on how it went.

 

[Renegade]

If you ask the run of the mill driving schools to cover all that then they will charge you more than what Maruti is charging. It will be well worth it. The most important part will be your simulator training and hill driving. At least for me it was. I didn't take Maruti driving course.

 

[max_demon]

+1 for maruti driving school, the charges for my driving class was 3k incl. license but it wasn't that effective in gaining confidence. I was still hesitataing on driving my vento the first time. But now its all great. Overtaking and ghat driving is walk in the park for me.

 

[raksrules]

What is say now might make look like a fool and someone doing 360 degree turn but doing my researches on various automatics, I feel the automatic market in India is still not that matured and choices especially for budget consumers like me are less.
I would really push myself to learn manual properly so I can plan to buy a manual (whenever I plan actually) as I get plethora of options, will get something in my price range and with security features as well.
Damn everything related to cars seem damn confusing.
It was so easy for me in USA, only 2 companies for me, Honda or Toyota and cars from accord, Camry and corolla.

 

[raj_pol]

I am in Bangalore and currently learning in a Maruti driving school. My only previous experience of a car was my dad's eon which I had driven for exactly 4 days. That did gave me initial confidence and I had no issues while changing gears, driving in Indian traffic etc. Also I had a bike in Bangalore and have driven extensively and hence am used to morons on the road.

Coming back, the school is good, they have good theory classes which helps you to know the basics as it should be known. The practicals are good and my trainer is teaching different aspects every day of my training and it is a 1 hour training class each day. I would suggest that the class is worth taking and far better than run of the mill dudes who might not even know half the rules.
The simulator though I found hopeless and it is like playing a rather old 90's PC game.