Driver's Education Training

2 years ago

On my street a lot of driver's ed teachers bring their students to practice parking. There are usually a few cars parked on the streets that they can parallel park behind.

This particular car circled our street numerous times, no big deal, but her seat was obviously set where her parent's use it. The seat was slanted back, and she was hunched over the steering wheel.

Don't the instructors teach them how to position the seats for safety??

25 years ago I took a driver training program for a day. It was run by a race car driver and they laid a long slick strip down so we could practice driving in a skid. I learned to have my seat back up, so that my shoulders lean against it. My left foot is on the floor up by the pedals.

The old 10x2 position on the steering wheel is useless. When your car is in a skid your hands are flying all over the wheel, you have no idea where your wheels are facing. 3 and 9 is proper. I drive in that position and you can turn the front of the car all the way around without your hands leaving the wheel. I do rest it on the gear shift, often. I'm not a perfectionist.

But the way this girl was driving, she would never be in control of the car, would never be able to drive any distance and was just unsafe. I was surprised he didn't teach her the fundamentals of at least being supported by the seat back and headrest.

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Comments (12)

Lindsey_CA
2 years ago
When I was young, all students took Driver's Ed in high school. I graduated high school in 1967, so this was a very long time ago. But, it was drilled into us that when we get in a vehicle, we must first make sure everything is positioned correctly - the seat, seat back, inside rear view mirror, outside rear view mirror, etc., etc.

Was the situation you observed a one-on-one? That is, one student and one instructor in the car? When I was in high school taking Driver's Ed, there were three students in the car and one instructor. I'm not sure who owned the vehicle, but it probably belonged either to the school or to the instructor.

If that girl you observed was, indeed, driving her parents' car, and that's the car she uses to take the driving test for her license, she will undoubtedly not pass because she won't have properly positioned herself before moving.
bpath
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I just want to add that I learned how to correctly position the sideview mirrors from my sons’ driver ed classes. We are a one-car household and besides the minor alterations to seat and rear-view mirror, I have to majorly readjust the side-views after DH drives. He doesn’t believe in the ”new” method.

I heard a police officer say that the 10 and 2 position is poetntially dangerous. if the airbag deploys, it would through your hands back onto your face. But it’s the most comfortable position for me, partly because I’m used to it after 50 years.
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dedtired
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
My six foot tall son drives my car once in awhile. I am 5’6” . When i get in the car after he has driven it, I can barely reach the pedals and steering wheel. My next car will have ”memory” that readjusts the seat for you. So I agree that the first thing to do is adjust the seat so it fits you you.

Bpath, what is the correct way to set the side views? I have mine so i can see a bit of my own car.

I see a lot of student drivers here being taught by a particular company. They use Mini Coopers. I was following one today that was creeping along with about six cars behind it. At first the car almost had its right wheels in the gutter. I could almost hear the instructor say to stay in the middle of the lane because the young driver did correct her position.

I stink at parallel parking. Maybe my next car will have automatic parallel parking, too.

My father taught me how to drive. I taught both of my boys, both with my trusty old stick shift Subaru.
bpath
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
How to set your mirrors to eliminate blind spots

It seems weird at first while you get used to it, and you should still do a shoulder check when you change lanes, but this system helps you keep track of the cars around you at all times.

My method of parallel parking is to avoid it. When my kids were in DE I did use their chart. It helped a lot, i just don’t have to parallel park often enough to remember.
eld6161
2 years ago
Ded, my last leased car had parallel parking. I was afraid to use it!
arcy_gw
2 years ago
Back in the day to graduate from high school in ND you had to have taken driver's ed. It was part of our Phy. Ed. classes. High Schooler's today pay the Park/Rec dept. for classes given after school at the high school or a private entity. Both set up cones in empty parking lots for parking practice. There are two portions to completing a course. First they take a two week 10 hour course on the rules of the road. If they pass the test they can get a learners permit for hands on instruction. Just before their 16th birthday they take a "behind the wheel" portion where they actually get in a car and drive with an instructor. Students are expected to have so many hours behind the wheel practice with a parent before they take the behind the wheel portion of the class. I would expect the adjusting seat discussion to happen with the parent. These kids are not driving their own car. Some might be too timid to ask for help adjusting the seat. But I would agree the instructor for their own safety should be sure it gets accomplished.
chisue
2 years ago
Adjusting and checking rear and side mirrors is something an examiner expects you to do when taking a test for your license in Illinois. We also have to do two things that we never do IRL here in the flatland: Set the handbrake when parking; Demonstrate how to turn the car's wheels against a curb when parking on an (imaginary) hill. The law also requires the vehicle to have both front and back plates. Miss enough of these and you'll fail the test.

I was taught to be constantly aware of my surroundings while driving, something the DMV examiner said he rarely observed at my last test. This requires use of the mirrors and a habit of scanning around you as well as positioning the car safely, being aware of other cars and pedestrians, and the flow of traffic well ahead of you.

I see a LOT of drivers who fail to stop AT the LINE (or where a line would be at a stop). Will this give them a 'head start' when the light changes? haha
maddielee
2 years ago
Newer vehicles automatically adjust the seat and mirrors with one push of a button. My car remembers the settings for 4 different drivers.

Our granddaughter is a new driver. There was no parallel parking on her road test (Florida).
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I failed the parallel parking test a few times before I was able to get my license in high school. We had driver's ed provided by the school system in the summertime. I never tried to parallel park after that until I bought my first car when I got out of college. DH & I lived on a 4 lane, one-way avenue near campus and our apartment was on the left hand side of the street. Only place we could park, so I can parallel park on the left side quite well. It's much easier to see what you're doing!!
graywings123
2 years ago
I thought 4 and 8 was the new 10 and 2.
kathyg_in_mi
2 years ago
I too graduated in '67. We had drivers ed in high school. On the days the other class was using the cars we would be in the classroom that had a large movie screen and we would be sitting in "fake cars with steering wheels, brakes, etc." driving along with where the movie took us.
lisa_fla
2 years ago
I’m still dumbfounded from when i took my driving test in NJ i could not see which direction any of the E’s were facing on the eye test The tester gave me the road test, then said to me’ you passed the road test but failed the eye test Do you care?’ I didn't know how to answer that , so I hesitated No? She answered ‘well I don’t either’ She signed the slip for me to get my license

Driver's Education Training

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Lindsey_CA

bpath

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