New driver c*ck ups?

[Stripey3000]

I passed my driving test last week, at the ripe age of 41. I've been feeling a massive sense of relief and have been trying to get out for a bit of solo practice in my car every couple of days, to build up my confidence, before I have any passengers with me.
Driving lessons are stressful but driving on your own feels like a whole new ball game at first, with so much to think about and remember.
So I was just wondering what silly mistakes/c*ck-ups/learning curves other drivers have gone through when they first took to the roads on their own?
I'm hoping I can learn what to think about, possibly avoid, and not feel alone in making some of the newbie errors.
Here's mine: the other evening I went for a late drive to a supermarket. I went half an hour before it closed, so the roads were quiet, and it was dark. All was fine on the way there. However on the way home, I was so busy trying to figure out the correct route back out of the car park, that I forgot to switch on my head lights! Thankfully it was practically deserted there, and I noticed and switched them on, but it freaked me out a bit! (In my defence I'm not used to turning them on because they were automatic in my learner car, but that's no excuse). I now have a post-it not on the dashboard to remind me to think about it!
So please would you share your newbie fails to help teach me?!
Thank you!

Congratulations on passing your test! The best advice I had was to drive as much as possible on the quiet roads for a couple of months just to 'get your eye in' and get used to doing it yourself.

I did the 'forget to turn on headlights' after filling up at a petrol station but I had been driving for nearly 3 years at that point!! Got pulled over by the police but quickly realised what I'd done! This was in 1989! More recently I've accidentally driven through a red light (fortunately nothing coming the other way) three times. In my defense I was under a huge amount of stress at the time and was totally exhausted due to not sleeping - suppose I shouldn't really have been driving but I thought I was OK!

I drove for two weeks solid with main beam on because I didn't know what the symbol meant.

Congratulations!!

I'm at the 18 month mark now since passing my test - one thing is to get used to judging distances e.g when pulling out onto a road, or a roundabout. Better to wait until you're sure there's a good gap rather than go just because you feel pressure to be quick / you think you can make it. So many people just seem to chance it when it's definitely not safe!

Also common politeness, indicate with good time, say Thank-you to other drivers and if someone annoys you (cuts you up or drives aggressively) just take a deep breath - anger doesn't improve driving skills!

Congrats OP!
30 odd years now. My Dad bought me a shiny, bright yellow metro and on one of my first outings alone I managed to flash the headlights instead of turn on the wipers and nearly had a car pull out on me because of it.
Never did that one again 😂

Congratulations on passing your test!

One bad driving habit that might be linked to a lack of confidence on the roads is hogging the middle lane. On a 3-lane motorway you get drivers who just sit in the middle lane so that they don't have to keep pulling out to overtake slower vehicles. Just pull over if you are no longer overtaking - so that someone overtaking you doesn't have to cross two lanes to do so.

I was 17 and had just passed my test. Drove to school on the first day after I passed and when I went back to my car discovered that it wouldn’t start. Sat there in tears for a bit thinking I’d already broken it.
Then a teacher tried for me and discovered I’d just left it in gear

Gosh thinking about I’ve got loads 😂 Just a few months ago I drove DPs car for the first time and ended up having to leave the petrol station without petrol because I couldn’t work out how to open the cap.

I got pulled over for no headlights... they were usually auto but DH had turned them off and I hadn't realised. I was pulled over by UN peacekeepers. Fortunately they didn't check the car, as I also discovered DH had left 10 axes in the boot...

I also crashed into my own gate post. Twice.

When my mum first passed we were in the car one day and she was complaining it wouldn't move. She hadn't switched the engine on .

I can't think of any big mistakes that I made when I first passed but I was SO nervous. I had a thread on here looking for tips because I was so scared of going out alone. I stalled constantly and have made some mistakes 18 months on but I'm not nervous now so can deal with them better.

I'm about to get a new car and I'm already worrying about how I'm going to get used to driving a different car as I've only ever drove one not counting my instructor's car.

Congratulations passing your test!

I've done the driving without headlights on more than one occasion. Iive in a town with street lights it's not immediately obvious. A way I used to remember was if the dash board wasn't lit up. Then the ligths weren't on.

Also lost the petrol cap more than once. If it isn't attached to your car don't put it on the roof. Lots of cars have little brackets to balance them on the door

Day I got my full licence through in the post, I caught the bumper on a low rail in Tesco carpark but didn’t realise, so revved the engine really hard to reverse (thought it was just a bit of a camber preventing me moving) and ripped the bumper off……..

If forgetting to turn on your headlights is the worse thing you ever do OP, you'll be doing brilliantly.

I've done that, and passed a load of drivers over the years that have done the same.

Soon after I passed my driving test, a thousand years ago (so no sav nav), I stupidly decided to drive to my sister who lived 16 miles away.

On the way there I got lost and stopped to ask directions from a man at a bus stop and as I pulled away from the kerb with his instructions going through my head, I almost ran over his foot, luckily he jumped out of the way in time.

On the way back, I went the wrong way down a fork in the road.

Fortunately, I did get better, a lot better and became a damn good driver (honestly)

I ripped off a wing mirror on a parked car letting myself get panicked at a queuing car revving its engine at me navigating a one-lane street; I pulled up in the next street along, very shaken up, and had some bloke tear a strip off me about how he’d seen what I’d done and how dare I drive off. I was 17 and had just passed my test, I didn’t think stopping my car in the middle of a busy rat-run was a good idea! When I got to school the deputy head accused me of being the thief we’d had going through bags because I was getting my wallet to buy a cup of tea…it was not the most fun day I’ve ever had!

If you live in a city the best advice I can give you is go out during the busiest times to practice the trickiest routes. Traffic slows everything down so you can often learn a lot more just by copying what other drivers do.

My most embarrassing post-pass moment was driving to the doctor’s and then having a brain fart when it came to bay parking. I couldn’t even go front in. In the end I just pulled up across 2 bays far from everyone else.

Yep I’ve driven with fog lights on and not realised when I was a new driver.

Also got completely flummoxed and stressed at a big double roundabout as I just couldn’t figure out when it was my turn to go. Really angered some woman who shouted abuse at me as she drove past. I still remember it.

But overall I’ve really enjoyed driving and been doing it about 4 years now. I remember having to think a lot about what I was doing when I was driving. That first time you can get in a car and completely relax and “just drive” is awesome!

Congratulations OP.

I drove down a very busy high street with the handbrake on. It made the most horrendous noise, and I was looking around like "ooh heavens what's that awful noise... Why's everyone staring at me?"

Mine is awful. I was turning right off a busy road and saw traffic turning left out of the junction I wanted so dutifully got into the 'left hand lane' only to realise that it was a two lane road, one for left turns and the other for right and straight on.
I realised as I saw cars heading towards me. Fortunately there wasn't a physical barrier and I could move over to the correct side of the road.
This was 30 years ago and haven't made such a dick move since thankfully.

Congratulations on passing.

You really need to be able to type/say the word cock though, because give it a couple of weeks driving and you'll be saying a lot worse while driving without realising.

I skid in a car park on ice a few weeks after passing and dinged my back bumper on a bollard. Lesson number 1: don't drive into a small estate car park when it has been snowing.

I wrote my car off a month later. Lesson 2: don't drive in thick falling snow if you're not confident enough

Oh dear, the memories. Forgetting to be the handbrake on or leave it in gear, car rolled forwad and hit my sisters garage roller door. Can built like a tank so not a scratch, door had a big dent.

Team mate in work vehicle aged 19 had 'pedal confusion' coming round a corner on a country road encountering a flock of sheep in the road, she was blinded by the sun on a dirty windscreen, panicked and hit accelerator not brake. Ended up head first in a large ditch and farmer had to pull car out with his tractor. She got back to work very late, in tears with a filthy, banged up car. (Senior manager laughed like a drain was very kind and she didn't get in trouble).

I don’t drive so this story is stolen from DH’s co-worker. She came into the office complaining that ‘both indicators were on’ eg the hazards. Anyway, DH offered to go and look as she said she couldn’t turn them off. They went out and she demonstrated. DH was confused at first….until he noticed her ginormous handbag on the dashboard pressing down on the button for the hazard flashers 😂

I also passed as an older driver, and I also drove off without my headlights on from the supermarket- it was a 24-hour Asda near Christmas time so really late at night but in town with streetlights, and I also got pulled over by police like a few PPs. You’re not alone!

I had a ridiculous parking drama in a soft play miles from home which was embarrassing, and the first time I drove out of town in the dark (I learned and passed in summer when it was light) I couldn’t remember how to dip so dazzled quite a few people before I sussed it. Keep going, it gets better!

If you can’t turn the key in the ignition it means you’ve locked the steering wheel - give it a wiggle and then you should be able to turn the key. Happened to me not long after I passed and I had to call my dad to help! 🙈

@Thereareliterallynonamesleft

If you can’t turn the key in the ignition it means you’ve locked the steering wheel - give it a wiggle and then you should be able to turn the key. Happened to me not long after I passed and I had to call my dad to help! 🙈

I did that... in the car park of the GP. I was rescued by a passing neighbour who politely pretended to ignore the midwife paperwork I had just picked up and was on the passenger seat.

been driving for 38 years, drive for a living, car has automatic headlights yet still very occasionally they get accidentally switched off and i havent noticed until i'm an undisclosed amount of time into my journey.

Also driven off with something on the roof of car, thankfully not a phone!