Those of you who have listened to my ranting in RinkChat about my poor driving skills already know how awful a driver I am. I'm turning 19 this week, and I *still* haven't progressed from a learner's permit to a full-fledged driver's license simply because I feel that I'm such a horrible driver.

Don't get me wrong; I actually am getting better at it. It's just that there are still some major glitches which I regularly encounter while driving.

So, I've a few basic questions for those of you who actually consider yourselves good drivers... maybe this will help me to become more certain about my own driving, heh...


1. How do you stay in the center of the lane? This frustrates me to no end.

I think part of the problem is the fact that I'm used to the perspective from the passenger side of the car, and thus I try to drive with *that* perspective in mind--which, of course, sends me way the heck off to the right-hand* side of the road, almost to the point of riding the curb.

On the other hand, I don't want to risk moving too far to the left*, because I'm afraid I'll unwittingly find myself in the oncoming lane of traffic...

*(Brits/Aussies/Kiwis, substitute "left" for "right" and vice versa throughout this entire post so that it will make more sense. :-p)


2. My sense of direction is absolutely horrible. I've gotten lost within one- or two- story buildings a couple of times, it's that bad.

Needless to say, this is *not* a good affliction to have while driving. I'll sheepishly admit that I'll forget where I'm supposed to make turns even after having driven a route about ten times or so. (Then again, the problem might also be that my visual memory is more typographical than anything else-- for instance, I'll easily forget what a certain building or tree looks like, but I can quickly remember what font, color and text are used on a sign.)

So...my fellow spatially-impaired Rinkies, how do you manage to compensate for this problem?


3. My dad is horrible when it comes to yelling and/or swearing at me while I practice driving. Any way to calm him down to a reasonable degree? (Or should I just find someone else to tutor me? heh...)


Any advice on any of these matters would help. I just feel so...strange...knowing people three years younger than me who are driving back and forth to school, heh...

(And yes, I know a lot of the Rinkies in my age group don't drive either. That's another reason I feel comfortable asking for advice here. :-p)

-- codeman"at least I'm getting better at seeing stop lights"38