Some Driving Basics

A long time ago I had the chance to teach Iren how to drive, but I screwed it up. So, I thought I would write a few notes for her on the basics and wish that one day it becomes a cheat sheet for lessons I give to her...

Learning how to use stick.
I think it is really important to learn how to use stick. Once one learns this, using an automatic will be, automatic.

Lets break it down...

Part I: Learning the pedals and how to use them

1. the pedals from left to right are the clutch (this is used to help with changing geers), the brake pedal is in the middle, and the gas pedal on the right.
   
2. How to put the car in gear...
   First, push the clutch to the floor and hold it there with your left foot.
   Second, put the right foot on the brake.
   Third, using your right hand, adjust the gear shift so that it goes into first gear.
3. How to take off
   When you are ready to take off you should first move your right foot from the brake to the gas pedal. It is important to be relaxed at this time. Another thing to keep in mind is that, your feet will learn to feel how much gas is necessary, and how quickly you can remove your foot from the clutch.
   
   Believe it or not Iren, most cars are different with the amount of pressure, so do not feel stress if you don't know it perfectly in every car.
   
   As you are ready to go, slowly let the clutch out, and at the same time, give the car a little bit of gas.
   Note: too much gas and you may leave rubber tracks behind you. Too little and the car will chug along and you may stall.
   
   With the clutch, the same applies but in the opposite direction. If you let the clutch out too fast, you could either leave rubber marks, or stall the car. Going too slow will only wear on the clutch plate inside the car.
   
   My recommendation for this is to first go extra slow with the clutch until you get the feel of it. Some clutches disengage fast and others slowly, so, again, no matter how you do it the first few times, you are not doing it the wrong way, you just have to get used to the feel.
4. Stopping
   Now that you have taken off, you need to learn how to stop. This is usually done with a couple of things happening at the same time. It seems complicated, but, its like taking off, once you feel how it works, it will be really simple.
   The first thing you will want to do at the same time is take your right foot off the gas, and push in the clutch with your left foot.
   As you take your foot off the gas pedal, you will then want to put that foot on the brake pad. The entire time you want to keep the clutch in.
   When you are ready, push harder on the brake pedal until you stop.
5. How would I teach you how to take off and stop ?
   I think this should be broken down into simple steps. So, I would suggest we repeat taking off and stopping in first gear only. This will help you get used to how that works, along with the adjustments you need to make for the clutch and gas.
   
   I would also suggest, this is done in a straight line. No reason to put turns into the mix and make it a mess.
   
   Do you remember when I was trying to teach you this in Sylvester? We were at that light and there was a car 1/2 mile away going about 30 mph but you wanted to wait for it? The light turned red and green twice before you took off, and when you did, you stalled in the middle.
   
   To not repeat that... we would just go in straight lines where no other cars exist.

I found a website link that shows the steps above, more than likely in an easier manner and has many more pictures.
http://www.wikihow.com/Drive-Manual

Part II: Shifting gears

Now that we have mastered taking off and stopping with the clutch, its time to move on to going faster and shifting gears.

1. As we practiced before, the first thing we want to do is find a long straight stretch of road or parking lot. Lets get the car situated at one end and then make sure no one else is around.
   Helmets are optional :)
2. Now, lets take off like we practiced, but not giving the car too much gas. The last thing we want is to cause any panic. But, we will slowly give it more gas so the car accelerates.
   
   Please keep in mind, most cars do not have a lot of space for first gear, so, we will have to shift soon.
   
   Remembering the same principle as taking off, we are going to repeat some of the steps but then introduce a third. So, for this, please picture the car already in motion
   
   Step 1: as the car is moving, push in the clutch, and at the same time, take your foot off the gas pedal.
   Step 2: do not put your foot on the brake, just keep it held back a bit. And with your right hand, take the gear shift and slide it straight down into second gear.
   Step 3: now that the car is in second gear, lets slowly let off the clutch and at the same time, start to give the car the gas.
   
   Important to note here
   This transition from 1st to 2nd gear (and all the rest of the gears to follow) happens much faster than taking off. We don't want to dilly dally around. The goal is to get it into 2nd, and not spend much time in the thought process. But, until you get used to it, you will go slowly.
3. As you get more daring, we would take the car faster so you are now going to 3rd, 4th, and more. But, that will come in time.
4. This should be repeated as many times as it takes in order for you to feel comfortable with how the car shifts from gear to gear.

Part III: Driving

I will not spend much time for now talking about how to drive the car, but lets just review a few basics.

1. Until you feel really comfortable, you should only be driving on back roads where there is little traffic, and even fewer pedestrians. 
2. When around other cars, until you really feel you understand how the car operates, you have mastered shifting, and you are completely relaxed, stay in the right lane and try to keep as close to the speed limit as possible.
   
   If you are going too slow, the other drivers will get mad and drive very close to you or maybe honk their horn.
   If you are going too fast.. well.. lets not worry about that! :)
3. When driving on the roads, as you go around curves, just try to maintain your speed (unless you have to come to a stop of course) so you don't have to worry about shifting so much. After a point in time, you will be shifting the gears without even thinking about it.
4. One thing to note, with a manual transmission, a good portion of the time (for the shifting) you will only have one hand on the steering wheel. So, if you are slowing down and on a curve for instance, just push the clutch in, and put your other foot on the brake, and then only shift gears when it feels safe for you. Don't try to over do too many things at once, otherwise you will get stressed and maybe cause other problems.

imuvmi