Learning to drive in the US

[Matt & Bing 56]

Except for guts, I have to discard my knowledge of driving from the philippines. Its quite different driving here and in the philippines...

Just my opinion.

Oh, I agree!

[rheanick 42]

I did an A1 driving class in the philippines. All I learned is to drive at a maximum of 20 km per hour or ~10 miles per hour.

Dont expect much. Good luck to Bing.

Except for guts, I have to discard my knowledge of driving from the philippines. Its quite different driving here and in the philippines...

Just my opinion.

Oh, I agree!

[Matt & Bing 56]

I did an A1 driving class in the philippines. All I learned is to drive at a maximum of 20 km per hour or ~10 miles per hour.

Dont expect much. Good luck to Bing.

LOL! Thank you.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Matt & Bing

[RDDIXON 0]

My fiancee who hasn't driven before is driving my car from the passenger seat both in town and on the highway so just learning to look ahead in the distance instead of looking at the lines 5 feet ahead of the car which new drivers seem to do.

She has done well with this, but she is still getting down the long slow curves in the road. She wants to turn more than necessary into the curve and then turn out of it but she turns out of it too much so then she turns into the curve again... over and over again! I tell her to turn and hold it so she is getting this down now.

After she is good with steering while I have the gas and brake, I will take her to an empty parking lot to learn. There are plenty of empty parking lots on Saturday and Sunday and on any evening.

So far so good... I don't recommend a driving school. She'll be ready for the parking lots next week.

If anyone teaches their spouse to drive, teach to the book, the drivers manual or else she will fail the driving part of the test.

[tallcoolone 102]

I mainly drive a motorbike in PI.

From a driving standpoint, It's a lots more fun driving in PI versus USA.....

[CuriousGuy 0]

Driving school, IF at all possible, for a couple of reasons.

One. We're men. We're stubborn, and we're naturally a bit concieted. We DON'T know it all, and that includes the rules-of-the-road for driving, defensive driving tactics, traffic laws, etc.

Two. We ALL have bad habits, or perhaps at least habits which aren't the most efficient or safe behind the wheel. No need to pass them on to our spouses.

Three. It's a FACT that it's naturally more difficult to learn from a loved-one than from a private party. You have certain expectations to please your loved-one, and expect certain sympathy from him/her. You don't have this bond with a private instructor. Only the desire to learn it properly, to pass the exams, etc. Less hurt feelings and the possiblity for causing some pain in your relationship.

Hope that makes sense?

[ED*Riza 0]

After crashing our car to a church post . My husband decided to enroll me to Driving ED. I can say that It helped me a lot. I passed the road test one take only. I am driving alone for 3 months now around the city and 4 lanes too.

[Jasman0717 8]

I am trying to figure out where to take Claudeth to practice. I want some place where she won't be able to bump into things

[rheanick 42]

I agree on all you say. Early few weeks of my driving here, my hubby would tell me the rules. After reading the driving manual and watching the driving video. Now, I'm correcting his bad habits... Guess, I'm teaching him the rules of the road now.

Final activity, we would go around the city without the GPS, purposely get loss. He just want to see my reactions. In case i panic, he would be there to guide me back.

After that.. long drive to flagstaff and grand canyon.....

In case you need someone to teach your fiancee few tips on driving (from a filipina perspective), once she gets her, you can contact me.

Driving school, IF at all possible, for a couple of reasons.

One. We're men. We're stubborn, and we're naturally a bit concieted. We DON'T know it all, and that includes the rules-of-the-road for driving, defensive driving tactics, traffic laws, etc.

Two. We ALL have bad habits, or perhaps at least habits which aren't the most efficient or safe behind the wheel. No need to pass them on to our spouses.

Three. It's a FACT that it's naturally more difficult to learn from a loved-one than from a private party. You have certain expectations to please your loved-one, and expect certain sympathy from him/her. You don't have this bond with a private instructor. Only the desire to learn it properly, to pass the exams, etc. Less hurt feelings and the possiblity for causing some pain in your relationship.

Hope that makes sense?

[Jasman0717 8]

I agree on all you say. Early few weeks of my driving here, my hubby would tell me the rules. After reading the driving manual and watching the driving video. Now, I'm correcting his bad habits... Guess, I'm teaching him the rules of the road now.

Final activity, we would go around the city without the GPS, purposely get loss. He just want to see my reactions. In case i panic, he would be there to guide me back.

After that.. long drive to flagstaff and grand canyon.....

In case you need someone to teach your fiancee few tips on driving (from a filipina perspective), once she gets her, you can contact me.

Congratulations on your accomplishments Claudeth is really afraid to drive, especially the Dodge so I just don't know what to do. I need to find a place where she can practice without the possibility of bumping into something.

[rheanick 42]

Just ask her where she really wants to go. And let her drive to go to her favorite place. If she likes to go to the mall... that's the first route you teach her.

Back in the philippines, I regularly go to the gym. Here, I learned to drive on my own since its the only way for me to go to the gym. The gym is quite far for walking and no way for my hubby to drive me since he is at work. Its going to the gym that motivates me to drive on my own.

I agree on all you say. Early few weeks of my driving here, my hubby would tell me the rules. After reading the driving manual and watching the driving video. Now, I'm correcting his bad habits... Guess, I'm teaching him the rules of the road now.

Final activity, we would go around the city without the GPS, purposely get loss. He just want to see my reactions. In case i panic, he would be there to guide me back.

After that.. long drive to flagstaff and grand canyon.....

In case you need someone to teach your fiancee few tips on driving (from a filipina perspective), once she gets her, you can contact me.

Congratulations on your accomplishments Claudeth is really afraid to drive, especially the Dodge so I just don't know what to do. I need to find a place where she can practice without the possibility of bumping into something.

[Completely 3]

My husband taught me the basic of driving but it did not really work for me, as I am more nervous to him.. My father in law and my sister in law's husband offered themselves to teach me how to drive but still I did not pass the test. I was just in the US for 1 week, so I am not really expecting to gain a lot of confidence driving especially in parallel parking.. I passed the written test but failed the road test.. Woke up 3 am in the morning just to be included in the 40 person a day in Dallas DMV. But still did not work as what can you expect from someone with 1 week driving experience to pass the parallel parking? But I have no regrets, maybe it was not just the right time for me, i just took that as a learning experience.

What may work for other people may not work for her.. Spouse sometimes can be mean when teaching his wife how to drive, as he is more eager to see the results....

Because this will be a lifetime, you may want to enroll her in a driving school.. You can teach her some basic and see if she can learn better, but if it is not working, spend some money to enroll her in the driving school.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Completely

[phil and nanz 0]

my wife doesn't wanna learn, but nanz passed her written exam sooo happy about it!