8 Dumb Things You Do As A Rookie Driver

1. Driving with your fog lights on

There’s nothing more annoying than being blinded by a car’s foglights. Some rookies forget to switch them off, others simply keep them on because they think it makes their car look cooler and more aggressive. It doesn’t. You look like a douchebag.

2. Missing and grinding gears

You know what really grinds my gears? People who grind their gears. Missing gears - jumping from first to fourth, for example - also slows progress and panics a rookie driver into thinking that his/her car is about to explode and die. Then there are the people who forget what gear they’re in altogether!

3. Understeering and crashing into a tree

Rookies, please be aware that your car does not handle like it’s on rails! Push your FWD car too hard around a corner, and you’ll understeer into a tree.

4. Speeding

You’re young and invincible. Except that you’re not. Inexperienced drivers who speed are exactly 978.99 times more likely to lose control of a car and crash. Take it easy, give yourself time, and if you want a speed fix, go to a track day or a drag strip.

5. Stalling

Rookie drivers are still fairly new to the whole clutch vs accelerator thing (the clutch is a pedal on the far left that is used to engage a gear), so the balance needed to pull away smoothly is still lacking - the same sentiment can be applied to other things.

Be gentle, feed it in slowly, and don’t get too excited.

6. Sucking at parking

Up until this point, the only things that rookie drivers have had to park are bicycles or mopeds. Given a much wider car, then, you know that mistakes will be made and panels will be beaten.

7. Mirror, signal, manoeuvre...handbrake?

So you’ve learnt the theory behind pulling away, but what about the other things that go into driving? Releasing the handbrake is a great place to start, but rookies often forget the basics!

8. Showing off and getting burnt!

We’ve all been there; whether it’s doing a burnout or attempting to drift, things have gone wrong. It’s a great way to learn not to do it again, but at the time, it hurts your ego like hell.