Our Cars: Charlotte Cobbs
14 November 2011: Really?!
My face fell as loads of thoughts raced through my head. But, hang on - this could be good. It could tell me how close I am. Let’s go for it and see what happens.
Vaughan spoke to me about driving normally, looking out for signs that may tell me what to do if he didn’t give me any instructions and if he didn’t tell me which direction to head in, I was to go straight ahead. Then it was the moment of truth… sort of. My mock driving test.
So, Vaughan & I set off through residential roads. It was all pretty standard. Many situations that I’d dealt with a million times before arose; parked cars, pedestrians, buses, you name it. I got through it all, with “a very nice drive” as described by Vaughan. Then, there it was - the end goal -or in this case, the start goal - the practical driving test centre. Vaughan got me to pull over, behind another learner car. Were they on their test today, or were they just doing the same as me? Good luck to them either way!
I put the car into first gear, did my observations, pulled the handbrake up and brought the clutch up to drive through various towns. Vaughan started off by giving me directions at junctions etc. But, there was a period that felt like an eternity where he didn’t say a word. I came to a T-junction and he was still silent. What do I do? There isn’t anywhere to go straight on. I scanned the road for a few more seconds. Ah, there’s a junction slightly to the right in front of us, with no other immediate ones. He must want me to go up there. I still wasn’t entirely sure but it was my only option so I took it - directly into a road crammed with parked cars on either side. Great!
But I can do this. I’ve done it plenty of times before. Forget about the ‘test’. I did, and carried on through various roads, with umpteen situations thrown into the mix; buses, pedestrians, meeting situations with two cars having to go through the same, small gap.
And, the ‘test’ wouldn’t have been complete if it hadn’t involved a cyclist or two - on the brow of a hill no less. This time, I held back, letting them get over, and then I overtook when I had more space and visibility. So the last lesson had taught me more than patience!
About halfway through the lesson, Vaughan pulled me over again and asked me to do a turn-the-road (more commonly known as a three-point turn). Oh good, my best maneuver. Er, how do I do that again!? I put the car into first gear, turned it around and continued on my unknown journey, with no comment from Vaughan. I could just see him scribbling away on his piece of paper. How was it? Was it good?
It wasn’t long before I had to stop and do another manoeuvre. From my best to my worst - “reverse round that corner, please”. My heart sank. I despise this particular manoeuvre and with every reason. I got about halfway through it before Vaughan stopped me and told me to “drive on”. I’d ended up on the other side of the road! I was disappointed that I didn’t get to complete it but secretly happy, too.
I continued driving for a few more minutes before Vaughan pulled me over. I quickly glanced at the clock. We had about ten minutes left of the lesson. It was judgement time. “I don’t want to hear this…” I thought.
I won’t bore you with the full details, let’s just say I wouldn’t have passed if I’d been on my real test. The majority of the mistakes made were down to my rushing and driving a little bit too fast at times. The whole thing was about forty minutes long - the regular length of a test - so you could call it a nearly “rushed hour”.
Whatever you call it, one thing’s for sure - there’s still quite a bit of work to do before I’m ready to take my test for real, mostly being more patient and driving slightly slower.
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