Terminalcoffee discussion

Do you prefer a stick or an automatic?
Do you consider yourself a good driver?

I am an excellent driver.

My dad. When I was about 12 he was driving me somewhere drunk and said "you wanna drive?" and we switched places cause wasn't feeling so great and away I went. Did fine til I made a right hand turn. When turning left I pulled down the lever on left. Turn signal lever. When I turned right I pulled down the lever on the right. Gearshift lever. Dropped it into low going about 25mph. That woke and sobered the old man up. He drove the rest of the way home.

Dad taught me the basics. My mom's ex-boyfriend was my driver's ed co-pilot.

I prefer manual, but I settle for the convenience of automatic. That allows my wife & daughter to drive the car, too.

I learned stick on a '70s era VW bus. Later I drove my dad's three-on-the-tree Maverick.

My dad taught me, and I hated it! He made me drive for hours, but I learned how to judge the road and all that goes with driving.
Honestly, it was a miracle that he managed to sucessfully teach me, but he did.

When I was 13, and my dad was tipsy, he told me to get into the pickup truck, he's gonna teach me how to drive. He's not wearing shoes, I don't know the first thing about driving. I didn't want to learn how to drive at 13 - nowhere near getting a permit or license. So I turn on the car, and it STARTS MOVING BY ITSELF. And I'm like, "WAHAAHAHHHHH! WHAT!!!! I'M NOT PRESSING ANYTHING!!!!! WHY IS THIS CAR MOVING??????? GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!"

My mom "prepared" me for the state driving test. We did 3-point turns HUNDREDS of times. So I tell everyone that I'm going to get my license, and I go take the test. I'm doing pretty well, and then the DMV guy goes, "Okay, now straight back." I said, "Huh?" I had never heard of straight backing. My mama had forgot that part.

So I'm crying in the car with the DMV guy, and I go, "did I pass?" And he chuckles, and he's like, "No (I think he wanted to say 'hell no') you didn't pass. You didn't straight back for me, honey. Next time don't get so nervous. You can always come back and try again."

Ooooohhh I was so pissed off at my mom. She goes, "What happened?" And I said, "What is straight backing?" And she wrinkles her forehead like, "Straight...ohhhhhhhh. I knew I was forgetting something." The hardest part was telling all of my friends that I hadn't got my license. I got a chinese buffet lunch out of it though.

I got kicked out of drivers ed so I got an F and had to wait til I was 16 and 6 months to get license then I failed driving test first time because I had gotten punched in the eye the day before and I couldn't see with one eye swelled shut and hit a car in BMV parking lot (barely scratched it)

My dad started teaching me, but he yelled too much- so my boyfriend at the time finished my driving education. I passed my test the first time.
I’m a wonderful driver. I do it often.

I’m happy with a stick- I feel more in control of the car, but I drive an automatic for convenience (it’s hard to eat a whopper while you’re driving stick).

a driving instructor taught me how to drive a car when i was 19. my father taught me how to drive a tractor when i was somewhere around 10 years old. i drive a stick. automatics are like bumper cars, i don't take them seriously. i'm an excellent driver.

I prefer a manual. My mom was the primary teacher. I had great motivation for getting my license because it meant I could drive to the barn on my own.

Both of my parents did. I learned drastically different skills from each.

I took Driver's Ed and Behind the Wheel in high school but I never bothered to get my license til I was 18; I walked a lot or took the bus, and at 17 I had a boyfriend with a car. He is the one who actually took me out driving and convinced me to get my DL.

Sadly I have never caught on to manual transmissions though many have tried to teach me.

I think I'm a good driver now but I had my share of tickets and accidents.

Driving school

My mother, and everything was going really well until a wasp flew into the car. We both jumped out. It's a good thing the ditch the car ended up in wasn't too deep. :p

my dad. i crashed his mercedes by driving straight into a tree and nearly killed us both.

My step father. He would hit me when I did something wrong. I learned fast.

my father had a tendency to smack the back of my head every time i drove into the mailbox or the lawn. never really worked...

I remember both giving me various driving lessons. My dad would do things like make me stop on steep hills in the stick or take me on the freeway randomly to go to Cheyenne while my mom would instead take me to the deserted jail parking lot to practice parallel parking.

a high school friend. I just got my first automatic after driving manuals for the last 30yrs... it is weird for me. I made my daughter learn to drive a stick shift. She was not happy about it, especially that hill driving to school in the mornings. We stalled out more than once at that stop light. But, now she knows and I think knowing how to drive a stick gives you a better feel for the car.

The old man. On a stick. It wasn't that far off from some of the barracks scenes in "Full Metal Jacket," minus the bloody rampage and suicide of course.

Barb wrote: "Clark wrote: "The old man. On a stick."

What? You didn't use an actual car to practice?"

Henry Ford hadn't pushed the first Model T out of his prostate yet.

Barb wrote: "Clark wrote: "The old man. On a stick."

What? You didn't use an actual car to practice?"

Lol. Nice, Barb.

My mom taught me when I was 16. The car was an automatic. Instead of the traditional shift, you pushed buttons to switch between drive and reverse.

When I was 17, my husband (then boyfriend) taught me how to drive his manual. I drove it through a red light and into an oldsmobile. I totalled the car and cut up my knee. I learned my lesson - don't drive when you're pissed off and in a hurry.

Gail «Cyborg» wrote: "My step father. He would hit me when I did something wrong. I learned fast."

That's awful, Gail.

I took drivers ed while in high school, and my husband taught me to drive a stick.

I knew when I hit post I would hear some giggles. :p

My driving instructor - in Denmark you can ONLY take driving lessons from a professional driving instructor, who has his own break and speeder that overrule yours if necessary. If you let someone else - who doesn't have a license - drive your car on a public road you get a huge fine :-)
I usually drive with a stick, and consider myself an ok driver - no accidents or tickets :-)

i drive an automatic. and im a horrible, horrible driver. no one has the guts to get in the car with me. i dont really blame them, either.

If there's no traffic I love to drive, especially if I'm driving a stick and the roads are all curvy. I like to pretend I'm in a car commercial. It only gets frustrating when you have to share the road with other people.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mary...

This is about the dumbest place I can think of to teach someone to drive. The lake is ringed by bank, fence, slight grassy strip, walking lane, biking lane, raised and planted curb, and then two VERY narrow driving lanes. It's a constant and changing curve, since it goes around an asymmetric lake. Drivers have to watch for people in crosswalks crossing over to the exercise lanes, and also for those who dart out at the spots they're not supposed to.
Sure, the speed limit is low, but that's because of the need to constantly brake for people, bikes, dogs. This is NOT the place to learn the difference between your brake and accelerator.

That could have ended really badly. They're very lucky.

I learned to drive (in an enormous station wagon) at my grandparents' farm, on dirt roads (which I assume was legal since they are private roads), and in my neighborhood, with my mother, on public but fairly quiet streets. I can't remember if I had a learner's permit or not, so the latter may have been illegal.

I learned to drive standing up. In one of those old bread delivery trucks.

i learned on a stick shift, first around and around the high school parking lot then on to the side roads. i absolutely detest stick shifts.

Angela wrote: "i learned on a stick shift, first around and around the high school parking lot then on to the side roads. i absolutely detest stick shifts."

Yes, but if forced, you could actually drive a stick, which I cannot.

Cjl wrote: "I learned to drive standing up. In one of those old bread delivery trucks."

Oh cool!

Pole position.

Automatic.

I'm getting better.

Angela wrote: "i learned on a stick shift, first around and around the high school parking lot then on to the side roads. i absolutely detest stick shifts."

Automatics are like bumper cars.

janine wrote: "Automatics are like bumper cars."

Ha yes!

I started driving a stick shift (my father's car) in the driveway back and forth when I was about 12. A year or so later, my grandfather let me drive his Ford automatic on a gravel country road for several miles. Around this same time my aunt let me drive her stick shift Pontiac in a parking lot one day.

By the time I was 16, I had to take driver ed (automatic) in order to get a better insurance rate, and didn't actually get my license until I was 17. I really didn't need driver ed. I was pretty proficient already -- but you learn a lot the first few years you drive.

I enjoy driving a stick shift at times. It's not much fun in heavy city traffic, though.

My state patrol dad taught me in a 3-on-the-column standard shift. Took me to the steepest hill in Tallahassee with cars lined up behind us as a test.

Three-on-the-tree. Now that's the way to drive!