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!

Well done

I've driven with no lights on and I didn't know how to put the fog lights on, found out I was using the high beams!!
I've pulled out Infront of people I hadn't seen too. Clipped a wing mirror of a parked car.
Once I stopped at a green light!! Not a red light. All because I wasn't concentrating

We all make mistakes at times. Even after driving for 10+ years I still make them!

Two days after buying my car, I was getting in at night and the dash board lights were off. I rang the man who sold it to me, furious, telling him he'd sold me a broken car. He told me to turn my headlights on. I was mortified.

I passed 2 weeks ago at the age of 32. Today my back wheel mounted the pavement when turning at least 3 times… so embarrassing.

I also managed to spray my car with petrol at the petrol station by accidentally pressing the pump at the wrong time. One thing I’m shocked about when driving is seeing the amount of people on their phones, not looking at the road. It’s crazy.

Thank you all so much for these stories! It's great to know I'm not alone in these moments of madness!

@Lavanderrose I’ve been driving for 20 years and do this with the wheel regularly…….

Congratulations!!!! You’re fine. Learning to drive is really only about learning to pass your test. Now it really starts. You’ll make small mistakes and learn from them. We all do it OP. Good luck

Loads of cock ups, and not always as a new driver:
Drove my very first car home from the garage with the handbrake on all the way, wondering what the burning smell was
Got impaled on a barrier on a car park exit, couldn't move forwards or backwards, car had to be lifted off
Same as above except stuck on a log that marked out parking spaces in a car park ( just didn't see it..)
Many others over the years

I’ve been driving 18 months now and made an embarrassing mistake yesterday getting too close behind a bus at a bus stop that I couldn’t see to overtake. I thought I was fine where I’d positioned myself but the road in front had a slight curve and the view was just too unclear for me to pass safely. Three or four other drivers for fed up of waiting and sailed past me! I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

Believe me, actually learning to drive comes AFTER you’ve passed your test, and the lessons never end!

Congratulations! I passed my test in my mid 20’s on my 4th attempt. The first time I drove to work holding a map on the dash board to navigate which caused me to drive onto the pavement a few times.

I once tried to drive the wrong way around a roundabout which I mistakenly thought was a T junction - I mean, that’s just beyond stupid! Thankfully my colleague alerted me straight away.

I even reversed straight into a lamp post once. Honestly there’s more but it’s shameful! I’m now a much older, wiser & very cautious driver. I cringe at what a bad driver I once was.

This was long before the days of sat-nav or mobiles, so I was basically navigating by a semi-memorised paper map.

I was aiming for a gig in Kentish Town, all the way from Bristol. It was OK as far as Chiswick, then I got in the wrong lane and took a wrong turn. The next thing I remember is that I was in the middle of Piccadilly Circus, with no idea of which lane I was meant to be in or where I was meant to be heading. I made a lot of Black Cab Drivers very, very impatient indeed.

There was a happy ending for me. I was late, but I did eventually make the gig, and drive home without incident.

Fog lights on for days like an absolute numpty because I thought they were my headlights. Couldn't understand why other drivers were flashing me all the time.

You'll be amazed in 6 months time when everything just comes naturally and you look back at how far you've come. I think the leap from passing your test to actually driving about without consciously thinking about what you're doing is a bigger leap than the initial learning phase.