AIBU to think I could learn to drive in a week?

[HamJam1]

Passed my theory but I still cant drive, dont have access to a car and cant afford lessons, practical js booked. Wooo!
A friend has suggested i go spend a week at her place where she can teach me, how possible do you think it is to learn to drive a manual car in a week? Is that insane? I dont even know how to turn an engine on

This is ridiculous, nobody is safe to drive alone on the road after a week of driving. You would be putting other drivers in serious danger. Just save up and do your lessons like normal people.

Kids who also have professional lessons. My parents helped me learn but only after I'd had 10 or so lessons and knew the basics and how to control a car safely and drive on the roads.

It also often ends up in arguments as learning to drive (and teaching someone to drive) are both very stressful things.

My friend’s dd did this. Took a week’s intensive course and passed first time. They bought her a car but she had three accidents within a month and completely lost her confidence. She hadn’t had enough hours on the road gaining proper experience. She is now going to be one of those nervous drivers who is a danger to other people.

Trouble is one lesson before your test is not enough to take you round all the test routes in your area. Ours has at least 4 or 5.

Say you do pass given you have no money what would be the point?

Why is that inevitable? Everyone gets into a car for the first time and some point and not everyone crashes the car

I only took Ds out in my car once his 25 year experience driving instructor said it was safe to do so. I was more of an extra pair of eyes and helping with positioning of the car not teaching him to drive. He was taught what procedures or sequence he needs to be doing before coming to a junction et.

Personally the idea of you stalling the car in the middle of a junction or on a roundabout with no dual control is fucking terrifying. Your friend must be crazy.

If you are seriously going to do this then you need to learn everything you can before getting into the car. There are lots of driving instructor videos and mock tests on Youtube.

Start with Conquer Driving, Richard is great at learning what your clutch actually does so you don't stall the car. All his other videos are great. Then look at DGN, Clearview and Driving School for mock tests and commenting on what they did right and what they did wrong.

Also watch Ruby Dash Cam or any other dash cam video channels on Youtube to show you actual collisions or near misses from drivers who have passed their tests and fuck up every single day.

Several famous people have resat their driving test with some of these instructors and have failed the test. Just because they can drive doesn't mean they can do it safely. See the dash cam videos for evidence of this. The test I took in the 90s is definitely different to the test both my children took, including one this year.

I don’t think so, especially as you have never even turned the engine on
you need to do multiple things at once while watching for everyone else on the road, you can’t cover all road/weather conditions in a week even with an intensive course

Why would you book a practical test for a weeks time when you have no experience, no money for lessons and no access to a car? Were you just hoping to turn up on the day after never putting a key in a car before and just hope you’d know what to do?

that is what dual controls are for, the instructor can control the car all from the passenger side. There are loads of examples of them slamming on brakes at traffic lights or roundabouts on their Youtube channels when teaching people to drive. It is the safest way to learn to drive.

You can hire dual control cars to teach your child to drive in. The DVSA recommends 45 hours of driving instructor lessons because you need to be put in a lot of meeting situations, junctions, reading signs, road markings etc. Driving locally is one thing, my children had 2 hour lessons which means you can drive quite a distance. Plus some driving test routes don't include any speed above a 40 and some don't even cover slip roads onto dual carriageways etc. That is why the lessons parts are important because they have time to cover that stuff.

In my experience, even those courses were generally a last resort for people who had failed the practical repeatedly. Or at the very least had had some normal lessons beforehand. I think it was very very very rare for people with absolutely no experience at all to go on them and pass. Learning to drive is harder than a lot of us remember.

And presumably the friend's car has no dual controls! Terrible idea.

How recent was this though?
Driving tests have become "harder" over the decades and also if it was 6+ years ago, then maybe, as it was "easy" to get another test incase of failiure. Post Covid though, driving tests in most parts of the UK are
up within minutes of release, 24 weeks ahead so if you fail, there is a 6 month wait for a new test. There are 15+ routes at my local test centre - there is no way I'd risk only 24 hours of lessons in order to potentially pass quicker in 2026 condititions.

Of course you can learn to drive in a week. However learning the practical side of passing your test and being confident approaching a busy roundabout in a city, or parking etc. is a different ball game.

Admittedly inevitable was the wrong word, but most people who get into a car for the first time do so with a professional with dual controls and years of experience, not a random mate who's offered out of the goodness of their heart.

There's a reason insurance for learners is expensive - because they are much, much more likely to have an accident and that risk is further increased when they're in a car without dual controls.

Of course you did, the internet is definitely somewhere where people aren’t making shite up, I woke up on the Monday did my theory and learnt to drive after lunch, I was a fully licensed driver Tuesday morning, absolutely simple can’t believe you took so long, a whole week smh

In fairness, people do pass their tests after week-long courses but doing a week of professional lessons with an instructor is absolutely nothing like a week of driving around with your mate.

I passed my test and didn’t drive after ten years. I took much more than a single week of refresh lessons to relearn - and that’s after passing!

I didn’t have to legally but I wasn’t stupid enough not to.

The knowledge and responsibility, and behaviours you need to learn, takes more than a week. And once you are on the road you’d shudder at the idea of someone being on the road in such a short space of time.

You really need to be taught how to drive properly by a properly registered instructor! With the best will in the world we all have bad habits as drivers and your friend will be teaching you to drive with those bad habits and it’s highly likely you won’t pass!

If you can afford 2x 2 hr lessons before going to your friend then you need to be able to have more lessons to get you to test level plus what vehicle are you taking your test in?

I’m not someone who likes to tell anyone they can’t do something, and I won’t say it’s impossible, but given you’ve never even started a car before, I think the only chance you would have is on a VERY intensive course with a professional qualified instructor. It would be exhausting and a considerable challenge.

Don’t forget that the test now includes an independent driving section where you have to use sat nav or rely on the road signs as well as get the technical driving stuff right without the examiner guiding you. It’s no longer just “turn left at the end of the road”. You have to demonstrate that you can handle concentrating on multiple things at once, and adapting to situations (eg you’re following a road sign and/or sat nav then run into roadworks, a diversion etc) without panicking.

I have to say I think learning from a friend in a week from scratch to test standard is unrealistic… unless your friend has extensive experience teaching people to drive. Also learning to drive is stressful - it could put a strain on your friendship.

If you were doing something like going from an automatic licence to a manual one after years of experience on the road, I’d say it was much more doable (I did this with a few hours of instruction/practice with a friend) - but from complete scratch and without a professional instructor is a massive long shot.

Of course it may at least get you going and save you some money on professional lessons.

I do wish you the best of luck though.

My DH did an intensive course and passed at the end of it. But he could already drive and had taken a lengthy break from learning so an intense refresher course with the aim of passing at the end was perfect for him. It was expensive but he absolutely needed to pass as he had a job offer that needed him to drive.

In your case, I don’t think it’s realistic. A proper intensive course with a qualified instructor? Possibly.

But just a friend is unlikely to be able to teach you the techniques needed to a sufficient level to successfully pass.

Hmm took me three attempts to pass. Some people pick it up quickly. What is your plan for getting a car after the test? I think if you did manage to learn quickly and tgen somehow pass your test but couldnt drive a car because you dont have one for a year, your road experience would be next to nil and you would be a danger on the road. Driving is a lot of learned experience after your test. You kind of need to keep at it reguarly for a period to get to grips with tricky situationa so it becomes second nature like brushing your teeth.

Just to add I failed my teat by not looking tbe right way ehen turning off a roundabout, anoyher time touching the curb while doing a three point turn. And the third time was not judging a turning correctly.
You can learn to move a car pretty easily but driving safely on a road so you dont kill yourself or others does take time and a proper instructor.

Yes because people do intensive courses. Dh passed aged 17 in a week.

I must say he has never had a crash but gets far to close and undertakes. Doesn't seem to grasp braking distance or that others motorway uses don't expect to be cut up on the inside.

He is a man so of course could stop a car in five metres at 70mph🙄 I just don't think he has ever learned this

If your friend is a driving instructor maybe. But even then probably not.