You may think it is easy, but to some people, learning how to drive in a manual car may be quite a difficult task after all.
In my long years, as a driving instructor, I should know the truth of the above statement. I have come across a few students, albeit a small number, of young people, even students, who have given up their intention of trying to get a driving license after they have received their first practical driving lesson from their driving teacher or instructor.
If young students, who are supposed to be educated, having attained their form five education, or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), can be so depressed or disappointed with their initial or first practical lesson, how will older students in the range of 30 years and above feel?
That is why today, those interested in getting a license to drive, start young. In Malaysia, a student can start taking up driving lessons the moment they attain the age of 17. For a motorcycle riding license, a person just needs to be 16 years of age. They are then free to scout around for a driving school or institute to teach them the mechanics of how to ride a motorcycle or drive a car.
Recently a young girl student of mine attended her 6 hours theory course after passing her Highway Code. Most instructors, be it from the driving schools or even the institutes, fail to impart the basic techniques of driving to their students, at this time.
As a matter of fact, rules and regulations of the Road Transport Department (RTD) clearly spell out the necessity to teach potential students, not only the intricacies of a vehicle, such as the engine, battery, the radiator, the engine oil and so forth, but an instructor, infact, has also to teach young students the essential basics of how to drive a vehicle during the theory course.
However, it should be noted here, that my observations inform me, many if not most, driving instructors, do not adhere to the Department’s above directives. In short, they do not impart the ability to drive to their students during the 6 hours theory class.
Is it possible that this non adherence to the RTD’s directives and advice be the cause of why so many young students seem to be involved in numerous accidents these days? This cause or reason should be investigated further, in my opinion.
An instructor who wants to impart the basics of driving or handling a vehicle for the very first time to a young student, has to be careful. Not all students, at the tender age of 17, especially girls, are brave and forward enough to face the difficult and insurmountable task of learning how to drive for the very first time.
As I reiterated earlier on, in my eagerness to impart basic driving techniques to my own students, some students are shakened or rattled up, a few had in reality, given up their decision to take up driving after their first, initial lesson. They have infact, decided that learning how to drive in a manual version vehicle is far too difficult for them to handle.
They have then told their parents, that they now want to wait for the introduction of the automatic car driving lesson. They feel that it is easier to learn up driving in an automatic vehicle.
Is learning how to drive in a manual car that difficult? What does it need to learn up driving in a manual car? Read on and then make the decision.
To learn up, the techniques of driving for the very first time, you will require the use of your hands and legs, your eyes (too see the road) and most important of all, your brains, to coordinate all your movements.
Do believe me when I say, some people, especially the older ones, are unable to coordinate the use of their arms and legs, making it difficult to impart the techniques of driving to them.
Allow me to explain a little bit more in detail what a new student is expected to do. To change gears in a manual car, one is expected to coordinate both his right and left legs simultaneously. I always tells my students to learn up this familiar phrase, which is, left leg down (depressing the clutch) while at the same time, right leg up (which in reality) is leaving up the accelerator.
This maneuver, believe me, is not easy to follow. Not all students are capable of performing this difficult movement.
What most new students tend to do is, they leave up the clutch, but are unable to leave up the accelerator thus causing the vehicle to roar dangerously away. For students who are unable to learn up driving in a manual car, the only alternative then is for them to get an instructor to teach them how to drive using a auto version car instead. The manual geared vehicle is obviously not suitable for them.
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