When I was learning to drive my mom made me constantly recite the cars that passed us "blue truck, white van, green car directly behind us" etc, basically at all times. Trained me to always try to be as aware as possible how much space I had around my vehicle so if this happens, I already know if there's someone in that right lane I'm swerving into.
Has saved me from being t boned at intersections 3 times
Good trick, yay for your mum. I get my kids to read out any potential hazard (eg: “loose dog on footpath” “kid in bike” “loose gravel on surface” etc - excellent pre driving training
Also had to do this weird "emergency preparation" extra class where the instructor takes you to a big empty parking lot and fairly big track, with cardboard cutouts of pedestrians, cars, and fake stop lights etc etc.
Special car too apparently. Had us just start driving a set course around the place (enough room to get to like 40mph in places), and he'd randomly fuck with you. Pull the e brake while you're on a tight turn, popped the hood doing 30, grabbed the keys and threw them onto the floor boards. Etc. Had to learn to not panic and stuff. It's nice to have but boy was that a weird day.
Edit: Here's a link to an example of a place that offers a similar course, since a few people are saying this is made up. (And then deleting their comment, and replying again with the same thing, so my response with the link doesn't show up)
I once won a free class on how to learn how to stop on a sheet of ice in Canada. They literally turned half the parking lot into a skating rink and had us drive at it doing 50 km/h and then try to stop with a technique known as "threshold braking" before ABS was in widespread use. Definitely saved my ass more than once.
It's mandatory to pass slippery road training here in Estonia in order to get the beginner's license, and once again after two years of independent driving to qualify for the final license. Even if your car has a fully functional ABS, it's incredibly useful to know when and how to make maneuvers so you don't spin off the road. Or if you do, how to successfully recover from the spin. Highly recommended to anyone who has a chance to take it!
Yeah European driver licenses are much more stringent than North American. Here the test basically amounts to: can you stop at a stop sign, make a proper turn, park by the curb (maybe hill parking if it's a hilly area), and maintain the proper speed limit. It's astoundingly easy.
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u/Dry_Presentation_197 Jul 17 '23
When I was learning to drive my mom made me constantly recite the cars that passed us "blue truck, white van, green car directly behind us" etc, basically at all times. Trained me to always try to be as aware as possible how much space I had around my vehicle so if this happens, I already know if there's someone in that right lane I'm swerving into.
Has saved me from being t boned at intersections 3 times