[suvi]

can we have people listing the most funny encounters they had when they were learning to drive.
I once went too close to a bullock cart and had a neat line in the left side of my father's padmini from front to back (the protruding nail in the cart's wheel did the trick)

[vennarbank]

When i signed for driving lesson in Bangalore along with my friend, i never knew that will create friction with my friend. The instructor does not know tamil/english and can speak only Kannada/Hindi. Since i know hindi i talked to him freely, creating a good relationship. So the third day he told me that i have a good control and asked me to take the Koramangala-Indira Nagar ring road which was just completed. He told me to speed up and suddenly when i saw the ODO it is around 80. My friend who was waiting for his turn,was hysterical and threw up suddenly. Then i slowed down stopped and he started shouting at me saying you guys are talking in hindi and i do not understand, also this instructor always asks me to drive in narrow lanes while you can drive in good roads and on top of that he is asking a novice like you to drive at high speed.

He refused to enter the car again and walked back all the way from Indira nagar airport road junction till Koramangala 8th block.

I was amused and when i returned he was back to normal. Still i used to needle him for that.

[k36]

Not while learning.. but I was a novice driver when I bought my swift. On the second day when I parked the car in the stilt parking, the car's right side scraped against the concrete column, and in an attempt to correct it, I managed to put the car absolutely parallel to the column and touching it fully.

The watchman saw this and called the neighbors. Some four guys helped me in lifting the car from rear and putting it away from the column.

Most interesting thing.... the same story repeated a few days later and I became The Famous Driver in my building
Infact one neighbor offered to swap his parking lot (which was simpler to use) with mine till I learn.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by k36

Not while learning.. but I was a novice driver when I bought my swift. On the second day when I parked the car in the stilt parking, the car's right side scraped against the concrete column, and in an attempt to correct it, I managed to put the car absolutely parallel to the column and touching it fully.

The watchman saw this and called the neighbors. Some four guys helped me in lifting the car from rear and putting it away from the column.

Most interesting thing.... the same story repeated a few days later and I became The Famous Driver in my building
Infact one neighbor offered to swap his parking lot (which was simpler to use) with mine till I learn.

I had a similar experience when parking my car (drove it directly from the showroom, and i had just learned driving !!). Since my mom's place has open parking, with cars parked on both sides of the street, I planned to parallel park, scratched a white zen transferring his white paint on to my fender.

[n_aditya]

I've never learnt driving from a Driving School.

During the very early days of driving, i used to have a harrowing time moving the car on an incline... And at that time i was just learning to drive on a premier padmini.

The handbrake was my trusted companion and i was terrified of moving backwards into another car. Several times in traffic (not traffic as it is today) i had stalled much to the irritation of some and amusement of others. After some leaps and bounds i used to get the car moving forward smoothly. Was very embarassing for me but got over the handbrake addiction in a while.

[bblost]

The thing I remember about the driving school experience is the instructor screaming all the time: SLOW, SLOW, SLOW.

[maddy42]

I learnt driving on a tractor. That was the best part of everything. Used to stand on the brakes to make the vehicle stop. I remember throwing attitude at all the road users who used to overtake me. Well was fun.
The first time dad let me handle the jeep i got a tight hit on my head as my dad was the instructor. Well the reason being i used the left leg to brake!!!

The fun part came when dad makes me sit in the jeep and we went offroading including a river crossing and a steep incline over sand out of the river. Phoof. That was fun. Well that was an awesome experience doing it myself after all the times dad showed us how to cross the river.

[Pal-leo]

My Driving instructor was confident with in 2 days that I can drive.. so He used to take me on Magdi Road in Blore, ask me to drive and he used to doze off.. I drive all the way and then all of a sudden he wakes up and he says take a U turn and go back.. Oki .. He did that for 2 days and the last day he took me to a remote place and told me to practice reverse gear and he got down to attend phone call.. which went on for a hour..

[DirtyDan]

I was a new driver, 17 years old, when a car pulled directly into my path through a signal light and I hit him at low speed broadside doing sheet metal damage only. The streets were wet with rain and there was no way I could avoid the accident. There were 2 witnesses who kindly stayed until the police came and the other driver was held at fault. Nevertheless my father angrily criticized my driving telling me that I did not drive defensively enough and that I should have been able to avoid the accident if I was paying attention. He really believed this. Just 3 weeks later the same happened to him. Somebody ran through a signal and hit him. You can bet I let him know that some situations you can not drive out of. He was silent and made no reply. That was as close as he ever got to admitting he was wrong.

[DieselFan]

My first accident with the car was in US. I started to move out of the garage and instead of engaging reverse I engaged forward and pressed accelerator. I went and hit the garage wall and made a hole in the wall and a minor scratch on to the bumper of the car. This was because most walls in US are made of plaster of Paris and wood.

[amitwiz1]

Definately my worst experience ! Happened 7 months agoon a wet night, with an Accent. Time was around 1.30 am , was returning Home after a movie. I was just at my Home street, when the car's left front wheel fell into an open man-hole in the side of the road. Tried using the jack for an hour- no use. I just turned on the hazard lights, locked up and went home. The car was back in my driveway the next morning ! No mention of it and the bumper and skirts were damaged. Damned

[ravibhat]

What I noticed is most of the Driving instructors violate too much of rules and they never bother learner to teach proper way to drive the car. I know if we make learner to follow every single rule few of them will loose interest so few initial days we should give them excuse. Few horrible things I noticed:

1. While taking right turn person comes extreme right and takes turn assuming there won't be no on coming traffic.

2. Never teach about wearing Seat Belts because most of the people think its difficult to drive in Indian traffic with seat belt (of course little bit true but once used to it its safe bet)

3. Never stop the car create your own road and keep moving forward even if its wrong way. This silly mind creates lot of traffic jams which we can see every day in city traffic.

4. Few instructors are good but very few.

5. My office is above Driving school. Many of us have taken training there. The instructor who took my 21 geared 6 years old bycle for rs. 350/- (I gifted him but he paid me that money) told me last month my wife is driving very well and she is much better among 2 more people learning with her.

But when I baught Matiz for her and started giving her practice lessons I realized the way she learnt no rules nothing. She don't knew which way rotate the steering while taking reverse turns. She comes right and take right turn, she said thats how they say. so i personnaly inspected all training lessons and now she is becoming driver who follow rules.

Ravi.

[Nitin]

I learnt how to drive all by myself,observing my dad & brother drive our Omni van. One fine day,I asked my dad to let me give it a shot,and it was a smooth process.Can't thank God enough for it.
But when my wife told me a few incidents she had while learning how to drive,I was shocked.

1) The driving school instructor used to bring the M800 to my wife's house,and they'd start out early in the morning. We were dating at that time,and I'm glad that I didn't ask her to drive my dad's car.
The 2nd day of lessons. The instructor asked my wife to pull up into a gas station to fill some gas. Job done,the instructor was paying the attendant when my wife decides to get going ( so as to save time). Dear Mr Instructor saw that,and decides to cling onto the car,screaming 'Madam madam...please stop'. Hmm..known fact- a woman's responses aren't the best,so my wife ends up stopping after a good 50-100m. Thanks God for small mercies, one life was saved.

2) Day 8.. My wife's more confident now. Changing gears isn't a problem,handling the potholes has gotten easier as well. Heavy rains,and most of the potholes on the Koramangala Main rd are filled with dirty water. Sunday morning,4-5 elderly gentlemen out on their morning walk,some of them dressed in crisp &clean white kurtha-pyjamas.
Got the picture,right? Well,it happened. Not looking at where she was driving, my wife goes straight into 3 potholes one after the other. Poor gentlemen get sprayed with the dirty water. The M800 had been doing 25km/h all that time,and in an effort to clear the stretch quicker, the wife ends up hitting the pedal to the metal. At 60km/h, there's really no other way out,but for the water in the potholes to fly 6-8ft in the air.

A good thing 2 days later,my wife her license. Rest assured,I didn't let her get a license for more than 1&1/2 years,when she got to the US. The 1st 3 months were pretty intense. I'd have to be very careful with what I say,lest she does something that would ensure I got beaten up by the rednecks around.

[amohit]

My first car riding experience was with my bro...who claimed that he knew driving well...so one fine day we collected all our pocket money(120/-) and took the Premier padmini(which belonged to my father's friend) out of our garage. We decided to take it to the fuel station first and then go for a long drive. Petrol those days used to cost Rs16/lt!

Near the petrol bunk, there was slightly heavy traffic, and my bro panicked and instead of applying brakes pressed the acc pedal...result we hit the Police Jeep!

No license, no papers and literally no money! We finally bribed them with 88/-. One constable came with us, drove the vehicle to the bunk, filled in 2lts of fuel, and dropped us to our home.

what is it with brothers?
my younger brother, after a lot of ribbing from me, claimed he could drive better than me(I was 16, he was 14 then)
he reversed our MM540 out of one garage and was lining up to back into the next one.
in the process, he engaged 1st gear and popped the clutch.
Bye Bye gate

this incident ensures that I can tease him for the rest of our lives(we are now 29 and 27)

dad's reaction when he saw the demolished front gate-looked like this:-
always good to have an indulgent car-mad dad!