Got stuck on a hill and had a panic attack

[elenaferrantelover]

Sorry for the melodramatic title. I passed my driving test very recently ("just" according to the examiner) and haven't had a chance to get out much on my own. I've just started a job however which requires frequent driving (i'm a planning officer and have to do site visits), and so got a hire car today and went out. I have just got home and truly look and feel like I have just given birth, my hair is sticking to my head and I have a tremor, difficulty breathing. Basically when I was out I got stuck on a hill start and missed about three green filter arrows, just kept rolling further back down the hill with every attempt. There was a massive queue of traffic behind me beeping and I started feeling like I was going to full on pass out, what to do in this situation? I finally bumped the car behind me, the woman in it got out and looked very angry but saw that I was close to tears and so offered to drive the car up the hill for me. Thank god, but how embarrassing, I was literally mortified and felt faint like I couldn't speak. Has this happened to anyone else, does anyone else have a fear of driving and how the hell does one overcome it? I feel like a threat on the roads right now.

Like all skills you aren't born with , you need to practice. Book a lesson and go practice.

First week after my driving test, I reversed into a parked car.

I had a few other hairy moments!

I find driving an automatic is so much better

I have a car with an electronic handbrake and hill-start assist. (Motability)

I wish I didn't. I love a good hill start, holding the clutch at that biting point before manually releasing the handbrake - and i don't have the option any more, I have to trust the car that it won't roll back. I find that really nerve-wracking.

This happened to me not long after I learned to drive. I actually rolled all the way back down the hill to try again! It was a country lane so thankfully very quiet and no other cars turned up.

Just keep practicing. If you know of a quiet hill go there and practice. You will get it in the end.

Definitely get p plates! I'm not a confident driver at all but feel so much better knowing I have p plates on when I do silly things in a panic like stalling at a round about! Panic is just the worse, I feel so much better when my dp is in the car with me as he's so calming. First time I went out I cried I was so nervous and was only going round the block. A few weeks later I was on the motorway - scared, yes, but I did it. You can do it too!

For steep hills: handbrake on. Set the gas a bit. Pull the clutch up to the bite- the car will "sit" down. This is the point to release the handbrake and simultaneously take pressure gently off the clutch and squeeze the gas more. Not enough gas and you'll stall, release the handbrake before you're at the bite and you'll roll backwards.

For less steep hills it's a "foot swich-er-oony" or "the feather" technique you use. No handbrake, foot on the footbrake, bring the clutch up to bite, then right foot quickly off the brake and onto the gas to give it enough juice before squeezing over the bite. You need just enough bite to stop rolling backwards while giving yourself enough time to squeeze on the gas to stop the car stalling and pull away. It is much easier here though to "feather" the clutch at the bite while giving just enough gas to neither stall nor pull away so no mad pedal swapping from the brake. No handbrake or footbrake needed while feathering, just a balance of bite and gas.

My instructor made me do three point turns on steep hills so a double lesson was learned. That was fun!