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Old 20th January 2016, 15:31   #151
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

Seems like a common issue amongst women anyway, one can start by learning how to drive all over again. I usually instruct newbies to start on first, stop and then start again and repeat this for half an hour for a few days to establish a more intuitive relationship between the driver and the car especially the clutch. This is step one because developing and trusting your instincts with the car and being able to predict the drive-train's response is key in creating confidence. Second, teach her to train her eye on the vanishing point and always observe her surroundings so she isn't caught off guard as much. Lastly, if she still has issues judging the car's size, she may have poor motor skills so exercises for hand-eye coordination and development of finer tuned motor skills, could be recommended given she does not take offense to such an observation

Last edited by IshaanIan : 20th January 2016 at 15:55.
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Old 20th January 2016, 15:48   #152
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

IMO, this fear is one of the best trainer for imbibing traffic sense, road sense and pedestrian sense into her mind for long term to come. Music is definitely a distraction.
Focus on gaps rather than objects is great method to teach many things such as car size, clearance for passing etc. But this would reduce looking for oncoming moving objects.
Like Ishaan says, it could slowly fade away once she gains more confidence on the control of car. My guess is she might still be looking at the gear while changing it. The more she 'connects' with her car, the more she feels 'at home' in the car, she will feel that she has plenty of time to look for any problems on the road and will be confident that she CAN stop the car in case of any eventuality.
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Old 20th January 2016, 15:59   #153
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

Some tips I gave to my wife who has similar fears -

1) When driving, think only about driving and nothing else. Focus your brain on the task.

2) When driving through residential areas, watch out for buildings under construction. An under construction building implies there will be kids playing without supervision (children of workers).

3) Be extra careful while reversing. Get down from the car if required.

4) Avoid reversing if possible. Go round the block - it hardly adds 0.5 km to the trip.

5) Drive at 40 kmph max.

6) If you see a mother with a kid walking on the side of the road, honk once to warn if required - especially if the mom is not holding the hands of the kid.

7) Honk to warn once if a pedestrian is seen walking haphazardly on your side of road. They might suddenly walk into you

8) Watch out for pedestrians on road dividers. They might suddenly decide to run across the road. Make eye contact if possible to understand their intention.
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Old 20th January 2016, 20:40   #154
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

I feel these tips will do more harm than good. See comments inline

Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Some tips I gave to my wife who has similar fears -

1) When driving, think only about driving and nothing else. Focus your brain on the task.

The person will get more tense. Driving should be a relaxed task and too much focus on the minor aspects will cause more distractions.

2) When driving through residential areas, watch out for buildings under construction. An under construction building implies there will be kids playing without supervision (children of workers).

Again, you are implying that driving through other areas are perfectly safe and there won't be kids playing.

3) Be extra careful while reversing. Get down from the car if required.

Not needed. Teach her to reverse properly using RVMs and reverse cam/sensor.

4) Avoid reversing if possible. Go round the block - it hardly adds 0.5 km to the trip.

Same as 3.

5) Drive at 40 kmph max.

Speed is not the culprit in most cases. The driver should be able to judge the safe speed according to the situation. 40kmph in the fast lane is a recipe for disaster and will piss people behind.

6) If you see a mother with a kid walking on the side of the road, honk once to warn if required - especially if the mom is not holding the hands of the kid.

7) Honk to warn once if a pedestrian is seen walking haphazardly on your side of road. They might suddenly walk into you

8) Watch out for pedestrians on road dividers. They might suddenly decide to run across the road. Make eye contact if possible to understand their intention.

Never make eye contact or even focus on the obstacles. If you look at something, you will automatically drift in that direction. The best is to focus on the line you want to follow.
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Old 20th January 2016, 21:22   #155
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

Mentally prepare for the fact that you drive with a probability of hitting someone. That Probability is never zero irrespective of how careful you drive.

I hit a guy who jumped into my lane crossing a bus from the other lane and assuming all lanes had traffic moving in the same direction. Any tip, any preparation doesn't matter as i had no control of that situation.

So accept the fact that this probability exists which helps you prepare your mind set.

Secondly, stick to comfortable speeds. Speeds that you think are comfortable for you to react to any changes that you can control.

Few other advice
- Take known roads which will help memorize the standard situation across the stretch
- Dont use phone even if it has Blue tooth
- Relax and enjoy than being too vigil and sweating
- Never worry about reaching a destination in time. Max you can worry is about reaching it safe
- Maths shows driving at 30 or 60 does not matter when you travel distance is less than 20-30kms. Even that saves you hardly minutes.
- Keep a safe distance in front of you. Learn to use your mirrors.

Biggest enemy is distraction including phones, make up kit, your fellow passenger and worst case are the ones sitting in the back seat and giving instructions. Make sure you shut them up before driving.

There are times i even switch of music. Loud music is more nuisance than convenience for me. Avoid anything that will distract you from being relaxed and help you react to variables.

My wife started driving less than a year back. The only advice i have given her is to stick to the speed limits, No phones while driving even with speakers, always drive on the right most lane(in US) and its ok to be late to work or home. And always remember that there is more than her life at stake

Last edited by VW2010 : 20th January 2016 at 21:24.
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Old 20th January 2016, 21:56   #156
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

Your friend's fear of knocking down people while driving is not without base.
Look at the brouhaha on the streets today, day in and day out. With the ever increasing vehicle population and with lot of reckless drivers on the fray, one need to be extra vigilant. And never ever throw caution to the winds. Obey traffic rules and have driving discipline. Drive in low beams at night as pedestrians get caught in the high intensity cross light and chances of pedestrian knockdowns are manifold.

Tell your friend to obey traffic rules and drive normally so that the fear element will wean off.
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Old 21st January 2016, 00:22   #157
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

I have slightly different take on that from my own experience.
I learnt driving at the age of 14, started driving on my own at the age 17-18 BUT started to 'enjoy' driving at the age 27. So all these years I was surprised as to how come people enjoy various cars and claim to be in control of their vehicle. As I mentioned on some other thread, this change to my confidence happened when I bought my first car, a used humble Maruti 800.
That car improved my driving skills by say 5% but it surely improved my driving confidence by say 1000%. If I haven't bought that car I would still be struggling with my driving.
I learnt on Premier Padmini and drove Ambassador, 118 NE and Esteem for some time (all owned by my dad) before buying that 800.
So the gist of the story is tell your friend to try and gain confidence by driving some 'light' car if possible. The massive glass area of 800 (second gen) helped me immensely while reversing and the small dimensions while parking.
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Old 21st January 2016, 12:05   #158
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Re: Things they don’t teach you at an Indian driving school

A tip I got from dad when I began driving which many would have heard and which I still follow.

How to check if a person is going to cross the road from front of a bus stopped at the side?
Look for legs through the underneath of the bus, in front when approaching.

This may not work most of the times because of low floor buses now and traffic.

It made me become a friend's driving instructor since his dad asked me this in an unofficial interview few years later.

Last edited by tharian : 21st January 2016 at 12:07.
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Old 22nd January 2016, 21:45   #159
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Re: How to overcome fear of knocking down people while driving

Quote:
Originally Posted by chevyman View Post
A female friend of mine has been driving for a couple of years. She has a driving license too. But she has this strange fear of knocking people down and that is curtailing her confidence. I gave her the following tips to build her confidence:
1. Play your favorite music
2. Drive alone, so you dont feel self conscious

Any other tips from driving experts?
Well chevyman, your lady friend's fear is by no means unique. And nor is the fear limited to ladies only. My educated guess would be, 90+% of drivers on Indian roads suffer from this fear / problem, and most cope with it by using the one tool that makes them believe that the problem will just disappear - using the horn. Most folks imagine that blowing the horn while driving reduces or even eliminates the risk of hitting pedestrians while driving, even if one is not in full control of the car.

Now, the fear arises from 2 basic reasons:
1. Not being able to control the movement / stoppage of the vehicle at will, because driving is part of the curriculum but stopping is not ; and
2. Not knowing where the four corners of the vehicle are, because no one in this country really cares - so, one starts off by driving a miniature car like (say) the Alto while learning, then promptly graduates to a much longer and wider car once one has the license in hand.

Let her practise for a few days driving a slalom course that you can very easily set up on an empty stretch of road using buckets or cones - both in forward and reverse. Something like this:


You'll find that as soon as she is confident of not hitting the cones / buckets at any speed or going in either direction (forward or reverse), her fear of hitting pedestrians will also disappear.

Last edited by SS-Traveller : 22nd January 2016 at 21:48.
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Old 25th March 2016, 19:32   #160
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What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

Hello all,
I tried searching this forum to understand the use of 'pass' switch. I know it switches on the headlights on high beam for as long as the switch is held, but i don't understand its proper usage. I basically use it to -
  • Ask oncoming vehicles to dip their headlights if they are too bright
  • If i'm overtaking and i need more time to get into my lane, pass to request oncoming traffic to slow down - Is this correct?
I'm especially concerned about the usage of 'pass' in the second scenario as i remember reading somewhere that 'pass' is used to let others know that you're giving way to them (the opposite of which is what i'm doing). OTOH, street experiences confirm what i do is right.

People, please pour in your thoughts about this. The internet also has two minds about this

Mods : Hoping this is the right section to post such queries. If not, please move them to the right section. Thanks in advance!
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Old 25th March 2016, 19:41   #161
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Re: What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

In the US, UK and EU where I have driven when you flash your headlights on a 2 way street it is to let the oncoming motorist know he can pass. In India, it's the other way around. I've taken pains to explain to my foreign friends that if they followed the flash rule in India they'd probably wind up in an accident.

If someone were to flash the headlights from behind your car he/she would like to overtake you. That's pretty universal I think.
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Old 25th March 2016, 19:47   #162
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Re: What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by R2D2 View Post
I've taken pains to explain to my foreign friends that if they followed the flash rule in India they'd probably wind up in an accident.
So your foreign friend is driving in India.
He flashes his lights. He means that the on-coming vehicle can come. And he remains in his position.
The on-coming vehicle sees your friend flash his lights. He thinks that your friend wants to come, and hence he stays put.
Now both your friend and the on-coming vehicle are in their respective positions.

When did they crash ?
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Old 25th March 2016, 19:48   #163
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Re: What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

I use the pass switch in the below mentioned scenarios and I am quite sure that I am doing it the right way:

- I use the pass switch when I want the other vehicles to stop or slow down, when I think I have the right to way(You need to be reasonable when it comes to "Right to way").
- I also use this switch to let the oncoming vehicles know that they are supposed to use their low beams.
- When I want to overtake an vehicle and I need the driver of that vehicle to know that I am coming.

Using the pass switch does not mean that one can overwrite the rights of other vehicles. It is simply a way of communicating between vehicles and you need to be reasonable when you are "talking".

Last edited by Engine_Roars : 25th March 2016 at 20:08.
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Old 25th March 2016, 19:49   #164
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Re: What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by condor View Post
When did they crash ?
When did I ever say they even drove in this country??


Quote:
Originally Posted by Engine_Roars View Post
Using the pass switch does not mean that one can overwrite the rights of of other vehicles. It is simply a way of communicating between vehicles and you need be reasonable when you are "talking".
That's the whole problem here in this country. Everybody has their own interpretation of the flash rule. Try convincing a bus or truck or sundry people carrier driver that you are right BTW I am not saying you are wrong. Coz I flash my car's headlights for precisely the same reasons. Thing is, it differs overseas.

Last edited by R2D2 : 25th March 2016 at 19:54.
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Old 25th March 2016, 20:00   #165
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Re: What does 'Flashing' (passing) indicate?

Quote:
Originally Posted by condor View Post
So your foreign friend is driving in India.
He flashes his lights. He means that the on-coming vehicle can come. And he remains in his position.
The on-coming vehicle sees your friend flash his lights. He thinks that your friend wants to come, and hence he stays put.
Now both your friend and the on-coming vehicle are in their respective positions.

When did they crash ?
They crash when he thinks that someone flashing his lights is saying I am going to wait, you first.
In general, this difference reflects our driving attitudes and civic behaviour: ME FIRST.
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