Driving Chronicles #7: Terrified!
Apparently, at least for today, driving is terrifying for me. I had my first Sears Driving School lesson today.
First, the instructor drove me to a neighborhood that really had more curves than turns, so it was not really what he wanted. I guess they do not get out to my area much to give lessons. I still drove around the neighborhood for a bit, and, then he wanted to look for someplace better. This is when it got really terrifying.
We left the neighborhood and ended up on a major road in the area during rush hour traffic. So, I was terrified. I am generally afraid when other cars are around. I think my fear is mostly being afraid of messing up (and possibly causing an accident).
We never really found another area, so I ended up driving around several major streets in the area for the rest of the lesson and I do not think I was ready for that. I even drove on the freeway when we were going back home. People always say that driving on the freeway is easier than driving on the street, and it was a little bit easier.
Nothing bad happened, and I did not cause any accidents. The instructor even said that I did great, especially for someone who has never really driven. Still I was terrified and nervous the whole time. He mentioned me getting over nerves, too. I guess you have to start somewhere. I have another lesson tomorrow.
One thing that gets me, though is that people see the “student driver” on the back of the car and the “Sears Driving“ on the side and you would think that they would be more cautious around me and/or just get out of the way, but this was not quite the case. Some people even have the nerve be impatient behind you. You see these signs, why did you get behind me in the first place?
My instructor said that in the past, when they used to have the big sign on top of the car, it seemed like an invitation to be harassed. He said some people even threw a smoke or stink bomb or something at the car when he was teaching a student. Come on people. I guess idiot drivers are just idiot drivers all the time.
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