TLDR: me getting emotional and frustrated at myself for not being a perfect driver on my second day of driving after getting my license and asking y’all for advice/opinion.
I passed my driving test a month ago and just started driving on roads yesterday. I’m the only driver in my family and I’m also the first one amongst my friends to get a license.
I am aware that the best way to understand politics of the road is to drive as much as I can to build my intuition. Without anyone to logically guide me when I face new challenges on the road it has been difficult adjusting. More specifically I have little to no spatial awareness yet and as such have a difficult time when changing lanes.
In driving school we’re not allowed to drive above 50 km/h so now that I’m able to drive in expressways and tunnels where max sped is 80-90 km/h (with many drivers even exceeding this limit) I’m unable to judge when it is safe to change lanes because we’re all going so fast. I’m stuck driving on the left lanes because I cannot cope with the aggressive lane changing that experienced drivers perform at high speed. (How do people turn into the right lane and then immediately filter to the left lane to turn left?)
Just today I was honked at twice due to dangerous lane change on expressway and while I admit it was completely my fault for not checking properly, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed and intimidated. I wanted to stop and cry but I couldn’t even do that because there’s no stopping allowed.
My parents are super supportive even when I make some mistakes during driving, but I wish I had someone in my life who has a driving license so that I can ask them for some kind of guidance or just someone to relate to.
I know that I have a lot to learn with regards to driving on the roads however I can’t help but wish that experienced drivers could be a bit more lenient towards probationary drivers who are changing lanes or going slow (sometimes it feels like a crime to driver below the speed limit). I mean we display the probationary plate for a reason right? I try my best to keep up with the flow of traffic but it all gets a bit overwhelming when I’m trying to look at the gps, find the correct exit, filter into the correct lane, all while trying not to create a dangerous situation for those around me, and sometimes going slower is the only way I can handle the stress.
I’m not saying that everyone should just excuse dangerous driving when the driver is on probation, but if other, more experienced drivers could just take a moment to see if any probationary drivers are struggling on the road and act a bit more patiently, I’m sure that we’ll remember this act of kindness and this will make us less stressed. More importantly, it will help us build awareness so that in future we do not have incidents of dangerous driving.
Tbh you don’t need to agree with my views. But im sure you were a p-plate driver once.
What do you think?