Advice for driving

Learning to drive, driving, and using public transport

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Samivey72
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Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:58 am

Advice for driving

Post by Samivey72 »

Hello everyone I'm new to the dyspraxia adults forum and was wondering if I could get some advice on the challenging feature of my life that is driving ( I do my lessons in a manual) . My name is Samuel Ivey and I'm an 18 year old male with dyspraxia who in particular has found driving to be very difficult , hell my first instructor dropped me after the second lesson I was so poor. Since then I have been fortunate enough to find a suitable instructor and have made some great progress to the extent that I passed my theory and driving moderately well with in my local city ( Hereford ). However at the conclusion of my 38th lesson I have been informed that its going to take me another 20 hours of driving at least to get me ready for my test. Aside from this being rather expensive is it really worth trying to pass the manual test for someone like me because I imagine an Automatic would be far easier and less stressful.I guess firstly I would like some insight on how other people on this forum got along with their driving test because I'm inclined to think that it is very unlikely I'm going to pass first time. And I guess for those of you who have been through the driving lessons and tests as a dyspraxic is the conversion to an automatic transmission recommended? Because it will be over 50 lessons by the time I'm even ready for my test and I guess I'm jus thinking perhaps its time to come to terms with the fact that ill never be able to drive a manual ; (.

Anyway thank you all for reading and if anyone could give some advice or insight into driving id be extremely grateful. And hope you all have a nice day O:)
Ram
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Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:30 am

Re: Advice for driving

Post by Ram »

Samivey72 wrote:Hello everyone I'm new to the dyspraxia adults forum and was wondering if I could get some advice on the challenging feature of my life that is driving ( I do my lessons in a manual) . My name is Samuel Ivey and I'm an 18 year old male with dyspraxia who in particular has found driving to be very difficult , hell my first instructor dropped me after the second lesson I was so poor. Since then I have been fortunate enough to find a suitable instructor and have made some great progress to the extent that I passed my theory and driving moderately well with in my local city ( Hereford ). However at the conclusion of my 38th lesson I have been informed that its going to take me another 20 hours of driving at least to get me ready for my test. Aside from this being rather expensive is it really worth trying to pass the manual test for someone like me because I imagine an Automatic would be far easier and less stressful.I guess firstly I would like some insight on how other people on this forum got along with their driving test because I'm inclined to think that it is very unlikely I'm going to pass first time. And I guess for those of you who have been through the driving lessons and tests as a dyspraxic is the conversion to an automatic transmission recommended? Because it will be over 50 lessons by the time I'm even ready for my test and I guess I'm jus thinking perhaps its time to come to terms with the fact that ill never be able to drive a manual ; (.

Anyway thank you all for reading and if anyone could give some advice or insight into driving id be extremely grateful. And hope you all have a nice day O:)
First of all, welcome to the forum, Samuel.

As you may well know, Dyspraxia is on a spectrum, so some people are hampered by their dyspraxia more severely than others. What is more, different dyspraxic individuals have very different symptoms. One person may be badly affected in his gross motor coordination but his/her fine coordination is normal. Another dyspraxic might be quite athlectic and play for a rugby team but finds that his/her organizational skills are limited and that his/her handwriting is not clear.

That means it is very difficult for me or anyone else to give you clear cut 'black and white' advice on the topic of manuals versus automatics. I personally was able to learn to drive a manual without too much bother as were several other members on this site. However, a lot of other members say that switching to an automatic was an excellent move for them.

Overall, I think it is better to get to grips with a manual if you can for four reasons.

1 Manuals are cheaper to buy.
2 They have better fuel economy.
3 The repair of automatics tends to be more costly.
4 It is much easier to obtain manuals at car rental companies in the UK and Europe.

Having said that, an alternative strategy would be to get your automatic licence first. After that, you can get your road craft ship shape. Then when you feel ready, you can take some more lessons to learn to cope with the mechanics of driving a manual. In other words, you progress incrementally from an automatic licence to a full licence.

One last point is that if you plan on emigrating to North America or Australia, not knowing how to use a manual will not be a big problem since most cars are automatics in those places.

I'm sorry if I haven't given you very specific advice. But I hope it helps you in some way.
Samivey72
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Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:58 am

Re: Advice for driving

Post by Samivey72 »

Thanks for your help!
Sheryl
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Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:34 pm

Re: Advice for driving

Post by Sheryl »

I find every new leaning activity takes me a little longer than other people but I try to see the positives that I get there in the end and I find when the pressure is on it makes me panic and all my brain is thinking " I'm going to fail or I can't do this etc " so try to relax everything will click in time and good luck you'll be driving in no time
Ram
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Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:30 am

Re: Advice for driving

Post by Ram »

Sheryl wrote:I find every new leaning activity takes me a little longer than other people but I try to see the positives that I get there in the end and I find when the pressure is on it makes me panic and all my brain is thinking " I'm going to fail or I can't do this etc " so try to relax everything will click in time and good luck you'll be driving in no time
Nice uplifting post! :D
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