Getting behind the wheel for the first time is never-racking for some people, especially for those who ran into an accident as a passenger. It may become the worst night for some people. It is always a good idea to start learning how to drive from a professional instructor before you would want to go out with a family member or friend. Also make sure to ask you, the instructor, if you should start practicing with experienced driving other than the instructor.
Driving is not rocket science it is all about confidence/trust in yourself. The more you practice the more you will get confident and get better at driving. We truly believe that practice not just makes a man perfect but also makes the woman. We are sharing some helpful tips down below which would help you become a confident driver on the road.
Understand Rules of the Road:
The first step towards confidence is making sure that you have a clear understanding of the rules of the road. If you are struggling with understanding the rules, make sure you ask your instructor and clear your concept about the rules of the road. As a driver, you need to make sure you understand all the signs and what actions are required at what signs. For example, what should you do if turning left at a stop sign? Can I turn right on the red light? Once you have a clear understanding of the rules you will start getting confidence.
Give yourself sometime:
It takes time to become a PRO driver, just taking 10 hours driving lesson is not enough to become a pro driver. According to Alberta Transportation stats, it takes 30 to 40 hours of driving practice to become a good confident driver but if you have anxiety it may take longer. So, the key is to make sure to give yourself some time and not compare yourself with other drivers. We highly recommend that even after passing the road test, keep practicing driving with family members or friends on the road with low traffic in off-peak hours, which will boost up your confidence over time. Driving on a busy road during peak hours even make new drivers nervous, so try to avoid driving during rush hours and avoid busy roads. We would recommend driving at least 10-15 mins daily during off-peak hours, try to drive on a straight road with not too many left/right turns. Once your confidence level goes up a bit then focus on turning practice.
Practice Skills Over & Over:
When you start doing something new it takes time, the more you do it regularly the sooner you will get better at it. The same thing goes for driving, it takes time to become a confident driver. The key is being consistent with your practice. We recommend practice with a friend or family member who is calm, patient, and is a skillful driver. When drive practice in an area you are familiar with it will confidence and you will focus more n your skills upgrade. It is quite common to make mistakes, so do not frustrated or give up, just keep doing it repeatedly and skills will develop as time passes.
We have seen mostly learners are more worried about parking, especially parallel parking but trust us parallel parking is the easiest part of driving. We highly emphasize learner to get better with steering control and turning. Once you have good steering control your confidence will boost up significantly. Your steering control will only get better if you know the proper technique and doing it repeatedly. We highly recommend going into an empty parking lot and practice turning skills and again the key is practice over & over.
Practice in different weather conditions:
In Alberta, we have different driving conditions when it comes down to different seasons. We get shiny bright sun in summer and slippery icy roads in winter. It is another reason to lose your confidence when we start talking about winter driving in Alberta. We highly recommend taking some winter driving lessons with professional driving schools as these road conditions even experienced drivers nervous at times.
It is recommended that as a learner you practice different times of the day/night and don’t shy away from practicing in rain during summertime. As a driver make sure you know your car very well, e.g how to turn on headlights, wipers, how to clean your windshield and how to use sun visors, etc. Practice driving during dusk & dawn times in your area or in the area you know well so that you get used to different driving conditions.
Driving in winter could be nerve-wracking even for experienced drivers, but unfortunately living in Alberta you cannot avoid it. In winter conditions find quite an area close to your home and practice driving in winter conditions. If the roads are slippery start breaking early (avoid breaking hard as it may cause the car to skid) and It will give you enough to stop safely. Avoid driving close to speed limits if the road conditions are slippery as speed limits being illegal if the weather conditions are bad.