Daring to Drive

With Lyft, Uber, and fleets of taxis eager to carry passengers, many people never need—or want—to learn to drive.  For those of us who do, however, the process can be a challenge.

Fifty years ago, when I learned to drive, we used hand signals as well as lights front and back to indicate turns and stops. For those who might not know, this is how they work:

To signal the intent to turn left,  hold the left arm straight out the window, palm facing forward. For a right turn, bend the elbow with the palm pointing up. To signal an imminent slowing or stop, bend the elbow with the palm facing down. Keep the signal in place long enough for drivers to take notice.

If you think hand signals are quaint but irrelevant in the 21st century, think again.  Bike riders and motorcyclists still use them. Knowing what the signals mean could save a biker’s life. If your car’s directional signals ever fail, hand signals could save your life. 

These days drivers rarely need to signal by hand. The flick of a finger is all it takes to indicate a turn or lane change. Sadly, some drivers can’t be bothered to do even that. There were two non-signalers in front of me on city streets today, and they left little time for drivers behind them to avoid a bump.

Learning to drive usually involves a teacher. Sometimes the teacher is a family member, often the dreaded father-driver.

A friend’s father was an Air Force general. His way of noting cars approaching from the left was to shout “Bandits at nine o’clock!” 

Friends in rural Connecticut took a different tack. Their children circled the family car in the sheep pasture to get the hang of driving. No drivers or sheep were harmed, and the children confidently progressed to road work and, eventually, highway driving. 

Driving instructors are some of today’s unsung heroes. They have nerves of steel attuned to every act of automotive insanity a student could attempt. My father thought we would both be safer if a professional taught me, so he employed Mr. Duffy. 

Mr. Duffy was not only calmly courageous, he knew the duration of every traffic light in the Bronx.  He wouldn’t let me bolt forward when a red light turned green or sit at an intersection while the green light had drivers behind me twitching. 

He remained alert but calm as I practiced driving onto the Major Deegan Expressway with its very short entry ramps. I’d wait at the end of the ramp as cars sped by, then zip into an opening, going from zero to 50 in three seconds. 

The real test of driving, however, isn’t on streets or highways. Parking lots are much more dangerous. Focused on their phones, pedestrians walk blindly in front of and behind moving cars, and accidents are all too common.

Oblivious walkers can make backing out of a parking space risky. Many drivers only park in spaces they can leave without backing up.

Until self-driving cars take the wheel away from incompetent drivers, we all—drivers and pedestrians alike—must stay alert, prepared for anything other drivers might throw in our paths. 

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Nancy T. Hantman learned to drive at the age of 20 and failed her first driving test. In the past six months, her longest drive has been 200 miles to Lititz, Pennsylvania, and 200 miles back—in one day. Her most daring drive has been backing out of a space in the parking lot at Trader Joe’s.