driving experience...

IFC keeps on telling him that I have to learn driving and get used to it as well so I’ve been constantly practicing lately. 2 things about driving in NY… 1) there are just so many cars on the road; and 2) a lot of drivers are aggressive.

For a couple of times, he asked me if I can now drive in the highway. I said not yet. I still have to get comfortable and maybe avoid feeling tensed all the time. I drove home on Tuesday using the local road. Last night, I asked IFC if I could drive again and he said yes but he wanted me to use the highway. I asked him if he thinks I’m ready. He just said, “When are you going to try it? You would never know unless you do.” There are 2 highways that we can use…Grand Central Parkway (GCP) and Long Island Expressway (LIE). GCP has a lot of curves and bumps so IFC said I should use LIE until I get comfy. Well, I managed to get us home safe though I must admit there was a lot of traffic so I wasn’t running the state’s speed limit of 50.

Here are some lessons I learned from my driving experience so far… well for what I remember…

1) We went to Filene’s one time that when I parked, the divider line was in between the car. I had to reverse 2 or 3 times before I managed to park the car in between the 2 lines. IFC said that if I want to park somewhere on my right, I have to somehow position the car on my left so I will have room and that it won’t be skewed.

2) I was in the middle lane and someone from my right cut me to go to the left lane. I didn’t realize that right away. All I thought was he was cutting me to go to the middle lane and continue driving. I was still pressing the gas when I was supposed to be hitting the breaks. IFC (who is on the passenger side) pulled the wheel in a way that we wouldn’t also hit a car should there be one on the right lane.

3) I still have to work on my “judgment”… sometimes I go a little fast when turning; sometimes I thought I have enough space from the car in front of me that even if I don’t press the gas, the car is still running and suddenly I will realize I have to hit the breaks; or sometimes IFC tells me to avoid the holes/bumps on the road. I try but there are times that instead of avoiding it, all the more I drive on it.

4) Last night, I was unaware I went out of my lane 2 times. IFC said to always feel the wheel… that I have to constantly move it a little since the highway is not really straight.

5) The worst of all, I was driving on a two-way street with 2 lanes each. The oncoming car was partly on my lane (maybe he avoided something… I really don’t know) that instead of stepping on the breaks, I avoided it mostly taking the right lane. Thank God there was no car on my right! IFC said I definitely have to step on the breaks in that case. He said I can only do what I did if I looked into the side mirror to make sure there was no car and that I don’t have to take that much space in doing so.

Bottom line, I think I’m learning little by little… but I definitely need more time…