Everyone’s experience of learning to drive is unique to them. Some people feel completely natural and at ease behind the wheel and pick up all the necessary skills to get around safely within a very short period of time.
At the other end of scale, some individuals really struggle with the task and find they take a long time to get to grips with controlling a vehicle effectively. Most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Luckily for budding motorists, it is now easy to arrange driving lessons to help them boost their abilities.
Inspired
Commenting on her experiences learning to drive, a woman from Alvaston in the East Midlands has revealed she was inspired to take up lessons after her husband told her he thought she would be awful behind the wheel.
Writing in the Derby Telegraph, Wendy Maddocks said: “I brought up five children and couldn’t afford to learn to drive while they were growing up. To be honest, I wasn’t really bothered until, one day, when I was in the car with my husband and he said I would make a terrible driver.”
This motivated her, at the age of 48, to have a go. She used the same instructor as two of her children and she was clearly not a natural in the driving seat. Her instructor informed her it may take quite a while before she was ready for her test.
Some mishaps along the way
His prediction proved accurate and Ms Maddocks had her fair share of mishaps along the way too. Commenting on some of these, she said: “When we went out, he would say to take the next turning left, then to go right. I would just go right – I didn’t listen enough to him.
“On another lesson, I hit a cat which came running out of an alley straight in front of the car. It was so quick I didn’t have a chance to stop in time. The instructor got out and picked it up. I moved into the passenger seat and he placed the cat at my feet and drove to the vets. I was in tears as the cat was dead. The veterinary nurse came out to talk to me and tried to reassure me that it wasn’t my fault.”
After the accident, her instructor told her to get back behind the wheel to ensure she didn’t lose her confidence. According to Ms Maddocks, he was a “very good” teacher.
Third time lucky
Commenting on her first test, she revealed she “failed miserably”, adding: “I caught the kerb and couldn’t do a three-point turn. I had taken some tablets to calm my nerves which didn’t help.” Her second test was not much better.
However, on her third attempt she was “determined to pass”. She remarked: “No tablets were taken. I put a photo of my mum in my pocket, who had died 15 years previously, to bring me luck and, in the other pocket, £10 to treat my driving instructor when I passed.”
Ms Maddocks managed to complete the test with no faults, leaving her “over the moon”.
Anna Longdin writes regularly about motoring in the UK. She visits sites including Direct Drive to ensure she’s always up to date on the latest industry news and developments.
