General Chat / Congratulate me on a job well done.

That's seriously stupid, because surely you need a way to brake while you set the clutch, something you can't do if your only way of braking is with a foot brake? Odd.

Don't know how the pedals are set in right hand drive vehicles, but I use my left foot for the clutch only. Right foot is for brake and gas pedals. I hold the car with the regular brake, press the clutch and put it in gear, then hit the gas when it's time to move. Haven't killed it yet, even on a fairly steep hill. Just have to get the timing right, especially when there's another vehicle behind you.

I once had a vehicle that had the hand brake in the dash, same side as the shifter. Still didn't use it then.

Yeah that's the same here, but I don't get how you use the footbrake like you would a handbrake? If you're using your foot for both accelerator and brake, then if you've set the footbrake to handbrake function, then you need to take that off before you go over to accelerate, leaving that lurch time. Sure, if you've been driving for a while that's fine, but if you do that in your driving test over here then you're screwed.

Well driving tests over here are a joke anyway, so it's no big deal.

Over here they're fucking tricky. Trust me. It's like a moving version of Auschwitz when you get in the car.

wow. aparantly I can't back up straight and can't parallel park, but I passed. (actually, those aren't true, the only thing I'm not good at in driving is huge interstates. and maybe driving in boston. but that's not the point.)

Don't know how the pedals are set in right hand drive vehicles, but I use my left foot for the clutch only.  Right foot is for brake and gas pedals.  I hold the car with the regular brake, press the clutch and put it in gear, then hit the gas when it's time to move.  Haven't killed it yet, even on a fairly steep hill.  Just have to get the timing right, especially when there's another vehicle behind you.

I once had a vehicle that had the hand brake in the dash, same side as the shifter.  Still didn't use it then.

So let me tell you a little bit about Blackburn.
Blackburn is the miserable industrial town that inspired both Dante's Inferno and Silent Hill. The rancid air hangs heavy with the stench of death and disease and uncontrolled defecation. You see, the inhabitants of Blackburn (long driven insane from their justified feelings of redundancy and inadaquecy) often shit right there in the street, using flashlights to scare away the hordes of hungry rats that feed upon the fallen.
Stop still and fall silent: In the distance you'll hear the terrified screams of lost tourists, trapped in a red state of unending panic, falling over each other, trying to find a way out of this urban nightmare.
They say that if you stay in Blackburn longer than six hours, your heart explodes from fear. Misery hangs over the place like a black cloak suffocating all who enter.
But the first thing you will notice about Blackburn are the roads. You see, unlike normal roads, which are level, these approach an almost insurmountable verticality: Like they dropped tamac down the side of Mount fucken Everest.
The point, wayward travellor, is that if you try your silly little footbrake game in Blackburn, you will hit the car behind you. Trust me.
It's also a little foolish to leave yourself no room for error - you realise that if you make the slightest mistake, you're going to stall the car and roll, right? Is using the handbrake that fucking hard?
Storage space?!
Jesus.
Some people.

And yeah, do that on a British test, and you'll fail. From how Spoonie tells it, American driving tests are mere formalities.
Also, complaining about holding the clutch down wearing it out is a little strange considering if you did use the handbrake, you'd have no reason to stay in gear...

Edited by catachresistant, 09 April 2006 - 10:26 AM.

wow.  aparantly I can't back up straight and can't parallel park, but I passed.  (actually, those aren't true, the only thing I'm not good at in driving is huge interstates.  and maybe driving in boston.   but that's not the point.)

Now I know why every American I know can drive; you have to be missing limbs not to pass.

haha, so true. plus if you don't pass in one town, you can go to another one the same day and test there. not that i had to do that.

honestly, i can parallel park pretty well, i just cut it too much at the beginning because i was nervous. and who cares about going straight as long as you don't hit stuff?

You have to book a test about three months in advance here.
I didn't actually have to park during my test (did reverse round corner, turn in road and emergency stop) so for all the examiner knew I could be shit at it. I'm not too bad though. In a small car. Yeah.

ive failed 3 tests, but the thing is, is that im easily good enough to pass my test, but on the day something always goes wrong

Mmm I guess that can happen. My test day was blissful - he didn't ask me to park, there were no cars on the roads, no mad pedestrians...it was all brilliant. So I passed. I guess you've just got to get lucky with the conditions.

My test day was bad--it was the day after a snowstorm so there was still a lot of ice and snow on the roads.
It wasn't enough to hinder my abilities to use a turn signal, though.

those tricky motherfuckers will fail you if you don't use those. too bad i'm ace at that. do you brits have a permit license like we do over here?

Uh...what's one of them?

A permit is something that lets you drive you just need someone older than 21 in the car.

Oh yes you can do that as long as you have a Provisional license, but the person over 21 has to have had their license for three years I think.

Well, in the US, most people take their driving test using automatic transmissions. They even take driver's ed using automatics. The reason for this is that automatic transmissions are the top sellers in the US (lazy Americans) and the schools are loaned the cars for driver's ed.

Unless you're lucky, you'll never get to drive a manual tranny in driver's ed here. So you have to learn to drive a manual tranny on your own. I was eleven when I first drove a manual tranny. I learned driver's ed using an automatic tranny.

I was lucky, I never really had to take a driving test through the license branch. Did it in driver's ed. So much easier as the in-car instructor was the one who graded me. Had plenty of time to get to know each other's idiosyncracies related to driving.

First car I had was an automatic (my mom's old car). After that, the next four were manual transmissions. Currently driving an automatic since that's what was available.

All this talk of trannies is weirding me out.

Over here they're fucking tricky. Trust me. It's like a moving version of Auschwitz when you get in the car.

So, they gas the jews and burn their bodies before the test? Good metaphor, man. I totally understand.