Driving

[Jack Frost]

It's something we all do. Now I can reasonably assume that I am the youngest active member of Althanas' community, having turned sixteen just a few months ago. Here's what I want to know. How was your first time driving? DO you remember any particular feeling you had? Did your parents do anything memorable? I would like to know, and well most people tend to lead by example so I'll start this thread off with a riveting personal narrative about my first time driving...
Just kidding, I'll spare you the boredom, and I'll save myself from the embarrassment. Long story short, I almost pissed myself multiple times, tried to park and epically failed, and ran over multiple curbs, and flattened a tire by running over a bolt, all in a parking lot.
Let the nostalgia roll...

[Silence Sei]

I got a camaro for my first car

That I later damaged racing, prompting my mom to volunteer to drive me in it to a concert so I wouldn't wreck it

She then totalled it while coming to pick me up.

Moral: Driving is ironic sometimes.

[orphans]

vroom vroom! :D.....

First time driving was to college (to see Atzar :D! no not really... we never found each other even though we were on the same campus >_> ... ahem.. )and yeah... wasn't too special. Was draining to drive for 3 hours straight though.

Passed my road test on the first try. Got along with the trooper pretty good :D even though I kinda messed up my parallel parking. Quote, "Eh, close enough."


no.... in all seriousness, I hate driving :/ I don't find it fun and I get annoyed pretty quickly at people who meander around on the road.

and rude pedestrians who give you this look when you stop for them at a crosswalk, or just walk realllllly slowly.

and bicycle groups who wear the skin tight latex and ride like 4 in a row while chatting, pretending they're part of the tour de france or something :<

Driving alone = me violent.

...which is almost always, since the only time I really drive is to work and back~..... bleh

[Jasmine]

When I first started learning to drive, my dad insisted that I learn how to drive his manual shift, (very) old, little pick up. I hated that thing. As far as car driving goes, for myself I've never really had anything to really talk about. Been rear-ended a couple times and got my front left corner clipped once, but that's the worse I've been in and not really upsetting either given that my car (1994 Jeep Cherokee) is old and the bumper was falling apart anyway.

My best (and worst/scariest) stories come from motorcycle trips. I've been extremely dozy a number of times on my bike. Hydroplaned. Driven 50 or so miles in a downpour (no wonder I was hypothermic by the time I got to the end of that ride). Driven in light snow. Found black ice the hard way. Been hit by a car.

The most memorable things I've gone through in a car happened with me as a passenger... driving through nearly whiteout conditions through a mountain pass. And making a 2.5 hour trip (going the speed limit) in about 90 minutes. That particular trip also involved the lovely swerve onto the side of the road because the driver didn't want to slow down for the work truck that was going the speed limit.

[Yari Rafanas]

Every time I drive my car I imagine I'm behind the wheel of an Autobot.

Deal with it.

[Saxon]

I didn't like driving at first. Always was afraid I'd get somebody killed. To this day my nightmares usually only pertain to car wrecks. Head on collisions, getting T-boned, driving off cliffs, etc. I've had them since before I drived, I still have them now. Only to a limited degree.

Still, I pretty much depend on my car for everything. Its my lifeline because I'm on the highway 5 of 7 days a week. Sometimes all. And I'm surprisingly a very careful driver. I've had a few accidents here and there, but in general I was probably the one guy in my age group who when we actually started driving wouldn't risk your neck or my car to do stupid shit.

As for learning how to drive.. everybody goes through it. You're learning to control and operate a vehicle that is about a 1,000+ lbs of steel, fiberglass, plastic and glass with a tank of 10+ gallons of explosive fuel. If you want to drive recklessly, go for it. Just remember that it isn't always true that in the worst car wrecks that you die. Even instantly is asking a bit much. Sometimes you survive, the person you hit dies and you're crippled for life for a stupid decision you made boiling down to going 15-25 mph faster then you should have and ignoring a red light or stop sign.

Enjoy driving.

[Lady Anais]

I can't remember much from when learning to drive or even my driving test. But I do remember that my first time licensed driving- I still hadn't gotten my own car yet- we had gone into the city to pick my dad up from the airport. Because he was just coming off a flight and due to the time (it just hitting nightfall) my mother doesn't like driving at night... so I was the driver on hand for the trip home.

First real driving; metropolitan, high traffic (dinnertime rush), at night, through the middle of a double construction corridor. The kind where you're bottlenecked from a 5 lane highway into two lanes bordered by cement dividers close enough to the road that if you turn your head sideways they might very well rip your nose off.

After that baptism by fire, I was ready for anything.

[Elrundir]

My first driving lesson was chill. I learned how the car rolls forward if you take your foot off the brake. Yeah, they start with the basics here... but Young Drivers really is a great program. My instructor was kind of a scary guy and he made the process very stressful for me, but he knew his stuff and taught well.

My first driving test (there are two stages in Ontario) was easy. I had to take the second test twice, though, because I didn't stop for a fire truck (it didn't help that the examiner was kind of a bitch and had me stressed out right from the start). Otherwise it was all pretty lax.

I don't drive much anymore because I live in downtown Toronto and driving here is just stupid. Wherever you're trying to go, you'll get there faster by public transit than you will by car, so I don't bother with the expense. Never owned a car and don't see myself doing so while I live down here. If I ever move to the suburbs, though, it'll be a must.

[Sheex]

Every time I drive my car I imagine I'm behind the wheel of an Autobot.

Deal with it.

Oh yeah? Well I imagine that I'm behind the wheel of a Decepticon. Deal with THAT!

[Jasmine]

5 lane highway? is that 5 lanes per side? cause that sounds scary lol. up here, the widest highway is only 3 lanes per direction and only for about 13 miles, then it becomes 2 lanes per direction for quite a bit before becoming single lane. Yeah.. that's AK's highway system. But we don't have tons of exits to worry about through the city like say Seattle does. And once you leave the Anchorage Bowl limits and you get into that single lane each way bit, it stays like that for most of the highway system. And you're literally like in the middle of nowhere. The tree line is roughly a couple hundred feet away from the road, sometimes closer.