How To Drive a Car

A summary of important rules of the road. Adapted mostly from my notebook notes from taking driving lessons.

Setting Up The Car

• in the left-side mirror you should see straight back and the read door handle
• in the right-side mirror you should see straight back and both door handles
• in the rear-view mirror you should see straight back, including a bit of the roof and the tops of the rear seat headrests
• hands at 9 and 3
• arms partially bent

Driving

Driving Along

• right foot controls both pedals (left foot for clutch only)
• check mirrors every 5 seconds, but only check one at a time, and round-robin the checking
• scan continually but don’t take your eyes off the road for more than a few seconds
• check the relevant mirrors. When driving in the left lane, check the read-view and right mirror, and vice versa
• obey the speed limit precisely, and correct quickly
• move the head when checking mirrors
• slow down for all emergency vehicles (fire, police, ambulance, tow)
• stop completely to allow drivers to finish parallel parking
• watch pedestrian light countdown to anticipate a yellow
• yellow means “proceed with caution”, not “slow down”
• follow 2s behind

Slowing Down

Always slow down for:

• turning maneuvres
  • left and right turns
  • ramps
  • 3-point-turns
  • parking
• anything encroaching the lane
  • other vehicles
  • oncoming vehicles
  • parking/parked vehicles
  • construction
  • cyclists
• inclement weather
  • rain
  • snow
  • fog
  • ice
• poor road conditions
  • stripped surface
  • pot holes
  • gravel

Stopping

• always come to a full stop, watch traffic
• leave generous spaced behind the car in front (should be centered in windshield)
• leave room for drivers coming in from intersecting roads if possible

Turning

• have 6s of room to turn
• lean forward in seat when turning
• three steps:
  • signal
  • check mirror
  • check blind spot
• slow down before turn, turn, accelerate when finished
• one turn at a time, don’t smoothly transition turns

Intersections

• first in, first out
• give right-of-way (driver on right goes first))

Right

• turn into right-most lane
• come to complete stop if turning from red light
• inch forward slowly, wait for traffic and pedestrians
• stop immediately if pedestrians appear

Left

• turn into left-most lane
• four things to watch:
  • pedestrian timer
  • pedestrians crossing
  • oncoming traffic
  • right-turning traffic
• watch for cars running yellows
• speed up and merge right

Changing Lanes

• three steps:
  • signal
  • check mirror
  • check blind spot
• lean forward
• maintain speed

Pulling Over

• signal, mirror, blind spot
• pull over
• put car in park
• handbrake one or two notches
• turn on hazards if emergency stop

Unsafe Driving

• disobeying rules/laws
• going too fast
• going too slow
• moving too early
• not indicating intent
• stopping in a bad place
• getting too close
• being unpredictable
• impeding traffic
• moving without checking
• getting out of position

Safe Driving

• be decisive
• do not exceed speed limit for maneuvers
• don’t leave too much space behind on left turns
• in snow, accelerate into lane change, coast through it
• think about FOV compressing with speed
• main street traffic has right-of-way

Parking

• lean forward
• do not use the gas unless the car isn’t moving on its own
• sync steering wheel speed with car speed

Front-In

• turn from right side of the road
• turn when shoulder is at 1/4 past the far edge of reference spot
• the reference spot is immediately before target spot
• turn wheel completely
• straighten wheel when car is straight

Back-In

• turn from middle of the road
• back up when shoulder aligns with 1/4 past far edge of reference spot
• reference spot is two past the target
• turn wheel completely
• continually check mirrors
• straighten wheel when car is straight

Parallel

• R L L R
• R: full
• L: two rounds
• L: full
• R: two rounds
• turn from 1m laterally away from reference spot
• turn when the shoulder is just past reference spot
• reference spot is immediately ahead of target spot
• back up until half the car passes target spot
• turn fully to the right
• when the car is at 45˚ turn L two full turns until straight
• when the car passes target, turn L fully
• when car is straight turn R twice until straight