Anyone done driving lessons recently or have advice on how "not" to just forget about such nonsense?

Neither I nor my guy drive at all... Should be interesting when we move back, if we're in a place where it's required.

Probably it's easier for everyone if you send your wife to a driving school and have a professional teach her. That's what i'm going to do for myself, one day far in the future.

I really miss not needing a car! It felt so good to go outside and either walk or catch quick and cheap public transit for everything. But alas it's not possible here. For me, I will teach my Alla myself and save the extra money.

I used to live less than a 10 minute walk from my workplace, and less than a 10 minute walk from the grocery and drug stores. For over a year I was filling my car's tank about once a month. Unfortunately I moved, so I'm back to the driving thing.

Nadya wants to drive in the worst way. I'll probably teach her myself also.

I can't let this thread go without linking my favorite commercial...

My wife is insisting I buy her a NEW car for her birthday (in three months) however she still doesn't know how to drive.

Well...I have worked with her a little bit and she has managed to make it to the end of the street at a top speed of 5 MPH. That's as far as we have gotten in two years.

Well, I have started the driving lessons.
First thing you must realize is; it is possible your FSU student might have never even driven so much as a go-cart or bumper car before.
The use of gas and brake pedals mean nothing from experience, only from watching a taxi or relative drive.

After realizing this I limited the first few days instruction to simply putting the car in gear and practice working the brake pedal as the car idled forward behind wal-mart.
Don't confuse things by adding the gas pedal until the concept of stepping on the brake is a reflex to stop.

Allow the use of just one (right) foot for both brake and gas, the left foot should do nothing (unless there is a clutch).

After four or five sessions, We are now up to driving around schools (after hours) and business parks and attempts at parking.

I can relate my experience with my ex-wife. She had never driven before in her life. I wanted to just pay for a driving school. But, when she found out how much it would cost, she thought that I could teach her. I can relate to what the previous guys have said. I took it really slow and was very careful. We stayed on rural roads and school parking lots to begin with. I think that she took her driving test about three months after we started. She aced the written part, but needed to take the practical twice. She is now a very careful, safe, and good driver. It took her quite awhile to get really comfortable driving, but she did. Lessons learned......be very, very patient, don't raise your voice, and use lots of positive reinforcement. I will admit that I didn't always do so well in this regard. She learned well, but it was a very stressful experience for both of us. Again, looking back, I made it more stressful on her than I needed to or than I should have. In retrospect, I believe it would have been easier on our relationship if I had paid someone else to teach her.

My wife came complete with a driving license which was cool. Due to her pregnancy el doctoro said no driving lessons but we found a nice parking lot to give her the chance to frustrate me. She then took the written exam(in russian by request) passed with 100% and then we practiced some more. We bought her driving lessons (go with the package can save a little money), then when we were practicing we got an email from my attorney who informed us that the US (most states at least) honor driving licenses from Russia, so I just called my insurance company and added her to it now Im driving my 20yr old truck to work and my wife is driving my 12 year old car( if you cant tell I hate car payments) So if your SO has a license just practice a bit and make sure she is comfy behind the wheel maybe get her a lesson or two just to get her up to speed on what those pretty lights at all the intersections mean and let her drive.

seeing the crazy way russians drive and the fact that you can bribe your way into a driver's license, i wouldn't honor them. Driving on the sidewalk to avoid a closed road or on the streetcar tracks to avoid a traffic jam, anyone?

Actually, I think my wife does have a Russian driving license. She was given driving lessons in Moscow about four years ago. I will have to research whether that will have a positive impact on her getting licensed here. However, I was more than a bit shaken the one time I have let her behind the wheel. It was really something to witness.

Some of these Russian women are incredulous when it comes to certain tasks. I think my wife would spend just as much time and energy trying to pack 13 eggs into a 12-egg carton as she would trying to learn to drive.

Well my wife is not from Moscow so i dont know about driving on the sidewalks, but its not exactly absent from behavior in the US. Quote from my wife"Why does everyone drive so fast, the limit is 25" my reply "they are in a hurry to get to their accident"

Actually my wife does very well on the roads, I dont live in a huge city so she is taking her time trying to find things. Lets see, she knows where her friend lives(who doesnt drive by the way), she knows where my mother lives(babysitting), and she knows where the mall is. I think that covers it for her hehehehe

I would like to share this clip for the Wives who wish to learn to drive.. It's scary on the roads!

Just show them the link below!


Driving is Scary!

My wife has an international drivers license that she got prior to coming here. She claims to have gone through an instruction course although I've demanded several times that she get her money back.

"Reverse" is a foreign concept.

"Turning" is a foreign concept. (Slowing down before turning is also a foreign concept.... but let's not celebrate it.)

"Yield, Right-of-way, following distance, braking distance, signalling, parking, merging, changing lanes..." and just about every other necessary operation seems to have been left out of the core curriculum of her driving school.

And don't get me started on things like seat belts and blind-spots.



It's been a "fun" experience. We bought her a new car a couple weeks ago so she could "practice" (which must mean LEARN FOR THE FIRST TIME in Russian) driving and she's made significant improvement. While I don't think driving lessons (that you pay for) are necessary, I think it's important to stay very, very cool and allow them to take their time and learn at their own pace. It also seems that "encouragement" works better than "instruction."

i wasn't talking about moscow.

I taught my wife to drive. We started in a huge parking lot and went REAL SLOW. Don't try and push her, and don't let her out of the parking lots until she can really drive! That is my advice.

Go at night when no one is around in one of the larger employers in the area, or shopping mall. Security may harass you, but whatever, just go home and come back the next night when a more relaxed security guard is around.

It took about a month in the parking lots before we moved to the streets. Don't do any yelling, just be calm and relaxed as you can be. She was ready for the test in about 2 months. She aced the written but had to take the practical 4 times. Each time she did not pass it was 'the end of the world' for her, but anyway... on the fourth try she got nearly 100 percent. Each time she failed she had a female instructor, she had a male instructor the time she passed. Don't know what that means, draw your own conclusions...

LOL!

Is she from Ivanovo? Because that's exactly how everybody there drives. I've never seen such lawless roads in my life! But although they're crazy, I do have to give them some credit: All the Ivanovo drivers with whom I've ridden can drive on ice like it's dry asphalt on a sunny summer day -- which is a good thing considering their great love of seatbelts.

As for the thread topic specifically... I'm not sure what'll happen when I try to teach Ira... She's never driven before and has no desire to learn. But, driving is a key skill in the US (as Jeffrey mentioned upthread). So, I have to figure out how to convince her...

But it would be nice if she learned... And maybe it'll take two years for me to persuade her and then I can save on gas by buying her one of the new air-cars that are coming out in 2010...

Z

Wow! Nadya wants to drive in the worst way. Pretty sure that's the first thing she's going to want to do right after she gets off the plane.


Yeah. I'm still waiting on the flying car they promised me when I was a kid.

Alla is anxious about the prospect. I remember the look she gave me when we saw some kids doing doughnuts in the mall parking lot in Kazan' in winter 2007. I asked, should I teach you this too? Her response, "It is useful?"



I'm pissed about that too. All phones were supposed to have video screens to see the caller and cars were supposed to fly. I believe they had all that planned to commence way before the 21st century began!

LOL!!! That is priceless!

<OFF TOPIC>
Well, in fairness to the flying cars and video phones -- the flying cars did come to exist, but they got quashed because the safety issues were too great. They operated on tech similar to that employed by the magnetic skateboards in Back to the Future II (which actually do exist - but, again, safety problems)... I'll admit that video phones are a little slow on the uptake, but as internet based communications proliferate, I'll bet they'll be around soon. I already communicate with most of my customers - and with Ira of course - via voice/video using Skype or iChat.

The air car, however, is already on the market in India and France. So unless Exxon buys the patent and disappears it, we should be seeing these things pretty soon.
</OFF TOPIC>

Z

Some where, years ago, I heard the deal with the video phones, was more that the general public really did not want them. An extreme example I remember was the fear a child could answer to find a new breed of obscene caller with his "equipment" displayed. On the silly side of the equation, I have this image of people walking around holding their mobile out in front of them so the camera can capture their image and they can see the one being displayed. That would be a bit awkward!

yeah i remember video phones exisiting, but they never caught on.

My one word of advice is to not rush things. I found that out the hard and expensive way. The only thing I think she ever drove before coming to America was when we drove go karts in Barnaul in my first visit and she could not go 10 feet without crashing into the walls for most of the time then she got to where she was going around the track at about 4 mph while the rest of us flew past her.

Well in PA you have to take the written test first and she aced that. She seemed to be doing well so I was letting her go on city streets that were not busy. On her third driving lesson she crashed into some ladies porch. I did not want to turn it into my insurance company and start her off bad so I paid the $ 4800 repair bill on my pickup out of my own pocket. Ouch. Ever since I have kept her in parking lots and away from any city streets.

Welcome back Turboguy, long time no see!

$4,500...yikes. Expensive lesson. We'll see how Nadya does in parking lots, and if she needs more help than I can give her, we'll do a professional driving school.

OUCH!!!

I was going to do some street driving... guess we'll hold off for a little while longer.

I was thinking about driving my Jeep next to her while she drove through a parking lot to get her used to driving in traffic that doesn't belong to someone else. But, after reading the repair cost, I think we'll just stick to a big empty lot.

And welcome back!

Wife didnt have a problem with any of those things just simple things like watching the massive potholes and hitting them which made me gringe. She almost kicked me out of the car because I panic when she drives over every one. I cant blame her I do get panicky in the car when I watch my life flash before my eyes and its a rerun!!!! They say those that can do and those that cant teach. Well I cant teach, never claimed to be able to teach so I pay someone else to teach and save more money by not getting high blood pressure medication.


I agree 100% but I still cant teach!!!!

Ill be very curious to see this air car because that is what I do for a living, build components for pneumatic manufacturing equipment. You know what that means free replacement parts for me and all my friends, the boss will never know where that missing inventory went, plus I can upgrade like speed shop and make air powered hot rods.

Thanks Mox. I can't say it has broken my heart that we have had too much snow for more driving lessons. Perhaps once the paint dries I will feel more comfortable with her behind the whee. We are going to stay with parking lots for a while yet before we try the streets again. I guess it could have been worse. It could have been someones porsche instead of someones brick porch (undamaged)

Third time was the charm here. Though to be fair, the first two times were in a stick shift, and the failure was for "improper shifting." Passing was easy in an automatic.

Good reminder - we need to go to the DMV to renew her license this week.

The debate over the new car has been going on for a while. Key issue is stick shift vs. automatic (I hate automatics). I'm not a big fan of car payments either, so the debate may go on for a bit longer.

We have the S4 Audi, that mainly sits in the garage, and the 92 Celica, the fuel efficient beach wagon. Living downtown, across the street from the university, we never drive. Which is nice. Gas prices don't bother us much, haven't bought a tank of gas in 3 months.

That's because in Russia there is no avoiding potholes. She'd have to hit them there, there are just too many. Why not hit them here too?



That is the dumbest saying ever. I've heard it before and it never really made sense to me because I'm the type of guy that if you can't do it, or haven't done it before, then I'm not going to give you the credibility to teach me to do it. I've seen it so many times. Brand new guy is going to "teach" us how to do our job because he just got hired in to teach us.

Riiiiiight.

Or even worse, someone flunked out of the class or whatever and now they're the instructor. Couldn't pass the test but they're good enough to present the material to me?

Get the flock outta here.



I don't understand how people (girls) from another country, a country where over 75% of the vehicles are stick shift, can come here and complain that driving a stick is "too hard" and a new car, equipped with automatic transmission, must be purchased simply for ease of driving and passing the test.

What a bunch of balogna.

But, who's really the sucker? I've got a new car, equipped with automatic transmission, sitting out in the driveway. We needed another car payment like we needed an "upgraded" USCIS.

Not buying gas would be awesome. I think my Jeep eats almost as much as I do.

That confuses me too. Technically, it's illegal to get a license in Russia without knowing how to drive stick shift.

And my wife has a license issued in Russia. She says she passed the test there with a manual transmission. But yet here, it's "impossible to drive this masheena" with a stick shift.

I had an automatic pick-up truck before, but it was "too big" to drive. It's almost like the "inability" to do it is directly connected to the "desire" to drive a car of her choosing. But, that may not be true either as the small automatic new car isn't exactly aiding her in driving well. It does make her feel better though... and when the wife is happy, everyone is happy!

I've driven stick for a month while studied for my license in 2000, on an antediluvian kopeika, then passed the driving test and immediately started driving an automatic shift. Later bought my own car with an AT which was quite handy in Moscow traffic jams. To drive stick again, I'd have to at least spend a few days remembering how to do it.

BTW, I noticed here in Raleigh DMV, they offer learner's books in Spanish but they don't have any in English. What's the official language in this country?!!

Now that's just crazy talk right there!


Here in California you can get a drivers handbook in Russian. (PDF here.) I sent one to Nadya, but the package I sent it in disappeared. I hope some postal goon is enjoying their drivers handbook, stuffed animal, and book of bedtime stories.

There isn't any.

Amazingly true. We have no official language. FWIW, you can get the driver's materials in Russian in Ohio.

True, but you can't get a straight answer from the BMV testing center on whether it's required to take a written and/or practical or just a practical or just a written or just a new picture for a license from a state ID. We even had one office tell us if we were to get her a learner's permit (Temp license) then it would void her international drivers license and she'd have to start all over.

Kind of makes me yearn for the days of visiting the Social Security office and filling out the SS-5 every week.

At any rate, we went driving yesterday and it was an interesting experience. We were practicing in a big movie theater parking lot where there's a sign that says "No driver training in parking lot." Well, that didn't stop us from driving through the cones that were already set up in the driving test arrangement. (Nor did it stop the other two cars that were "not practicing") and not even when the police showed up to take a break and do paperwork were we required to stop.

Both my wife and her sister took turns (no pun intended) driving and even though I've never seen their mother drive I have a feeling that she too probably needs some instruction. So yes, it runs in the family.

I'm still amazed that it's possible for an adult person to not be able to drive a car after a few hours of practice. I realize there are things that are hard the first time or if you're not used to doing them, but I can't think of anything physical/mental etc. that would be "hard" for me to do with a few hours of practice. Anyone have anything that I can use to justify this to myself? Something that I can say "Man, she can't drive. Well, I guess I can't XXXXXX, so it's not so bad that she can't drive."

Or we could just take the low road and say that women have a harder time grasping these concepts because they have tinier brains, or all the blood rushes to their womb or something. I say that only because we've seen a real decline in visitors to the forum lately and it's starting to get all Russified again.

Standing by...

See, that's the thing though, I don't really think it's just because she's a woman. Although, it seems guys can pretty much "take the bull by the horns" on something like driving a car. I don't know if it's just masculine pride "I should be able to drive a car" or if it's a natural ability. Seems like some women either just don't care or actually think it's supposed to take a year or two of practice before they really get it down. I don't know. I'm kind of lost right now.

Well, most of us grow up her spending time in cars every day. If you don't grow up in a "car culture," there are some difficult concepts to grasp.

Most people can fly an airplane after a few hours of practice as well. (I think my first solo was after 9 hours of instruction). And airplanes more knobs and buttons than cars do.

12 hours until solo for me. But I think it has a lot to do with how guys are brought up vs how girls are brought up. We're brought up to be interested in gears and switches and knobs (especially knobs *ahem*) while girls (esp our girls) are brought up in a softer culture. So our brains are already wired for this stuff.

I really had my hands full when my then 42 year old wife and 18 year old stepdaughter arrived in Houston in March 2004. Neither ever had a driver's license or had much experience driving. They had used public transportation all their lives in Russia and Belarus.

I took them to a neighborhood church parking lot that was empty most of the time and had no traffic. I sat in the car many times while they drove around the parking lot in circles and practiced parking for hours. It was relatively low stress and boring for me, but it gave them a feel for driving. My car had an automatic tranny which made it easier on them.

My wife and stepdaughter were fluent in English already when they arrived in the USA. I managed to get some generic Russian language driving handbooks to use along with the official Texas driver's handbook which the state only prints in English and Spanish. They took the written test in English without help or we would have had to hire an interpreter (or bring a bilingual friend) to translate the computer based test for them as per the TxDoT rules. They both passed the written test.

Once they both had their learner's permits the fun began. The stress level went way up for me when we hit the streets for them to practice in the real world. I tried to schedule our lessons when traffic was light or we would go driving in rural areas. There were several tense moments and temper tantrums during our lessons, but we managed to get through it without a divorce.

They arrived in March 2004 and both had passed their Tx driver's license tests by the end of August 2004. Of course that isn't the end of the story. My stepdaughter doesn't drive anymore because she cannot afford to own a car (or buy gas to put in it), so she takes the bus to work or her boyfriend drives her around. My wife has her own car. She is a good driver, but has some bad driving habits I have been trying to help her to get rid of (without success). It can be real scary to be a passenger in her car in dense city traffic. I have been driving in the big city for 35 years and I am well schooled in the concepts of defensive driving and driving etiquette. My wife has a lot more to learn even though she has a license. I'm thankful she works close to home and seldom travels outside our neighborhood without me to keep her out of trouble on the crazy streets of Houston.

Umm I dont think there has ever been a direct correlation between brain size and intelligence, remember that Neaderthal's had brains that we nearly 30% larger than modern humans, would that make them smarter????



Strange comment in the Russia forum, would you prefer it get canadified, or frenchified?




I think women tend to be so afraid of doing it wrong and having to hear about it that fear takes over. My wife tells me she only has problems when I am in the car. Now she drives on her own and when we go somewhere together I drive, Problem solved.

Ahhh, so you take the position that women can't drive because all the blood is rushing to their womb then, and it has nothing to do with their tiny brains. ic.

Defensive driving and driving etiquette are something I'm very worried about. We live in a place where, like Houston, driving without a little etiquette can be dangerous for reasons other than being in an accident. All I can do is hope that it never gets to that level.


One other thing.... have you guys changed a tire with your wives/daughters? I was going to do -

Lesson 1. Driving
Lesson 2. Changing the Tire and other Safety Concerns
Lesson 3. Take Test

But we're doing Lessons 1-???? (currently on 6 or 7, I forget because it's been so much!) still on the driving part. Have any of you witnessed the wife/daughter change the spare? After trying to teach my wife the intricacies of working a combination lock, I figured we'd have to spend a few hours on the tire lessons. We're not even close to that part yet.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that the procedure eventually comes down to:

1. Pull over
2. Turn on hazard lights
3. Remove cell phone from purse
4. Call slim
4. Wait

I am going to add her to my AAA account. So, mine will look like:

1. Pull over
2. Turn on hazard lights
3. Remove Cell phone from Purse
4. Call AAA
5. Call Bob because she doesnt know where she is
6. Bob calls AAA to tell them where she is
7. Repeat 4-6 ad nauseum.
8. eventually fix tire myself.

Oh for sure! I know that Alla would never change a tire! That is a job for a man. I was scolded once for asking her to carry a few grocery bags once! "Jeffery, I look like horse? You are man, yes?" I joked back with what does she do when I am not in Russia? She replied, "I must explain? I think you know. You are not with me so, yes, I must to carry. But you are with me, so what you think?"