Driving test in Automatic car

Many of my pupils choose to take driving lessons in a manual car because they like the freedom it gives them of chosing either manual or automatic cars once they have overcome the minor detail of passing the DSA practical driving test. However some of them do try to change their minds after they encounter some hurdles while preparing for the practical car assessment.

First of all let me say that yes it is easier to take driving lessons in an automatic car and you would take less time to get to the standard where you will be thinking of taking the test, but it doesn't necessarily follow that it will be easier to pass in an automatic if you learnt to drive in a manual and have either failed the test or found a particular driving test maneuver such as reversing round the corner difficult and are looking for an easier route to getting that pass certificate.



There is more to passing the test than being able to confortably or smoothly change gears, and while you might not have to worry about those in a car with automatic transmission during your lessons, there are things like speed on approach to a junction, how to spot gaps in traffic at a roundabout, making progress on a national speed limit dual carriageway (A1 for example in Mill Hill), while being able to change lanes safely in preparation for a right turn at Stirling corner.

Even during your maneuvers, you can still hit the kerb in an automatic car while doing the turn in the road, not to think of those who can not reverse into the small Hendon test centre car park bays without straddling the line.

There are those who also fail the driving test for ineffective observations at junctions or during manuevers which has nothing to do with gears!

The point I'm trying to make is that many of you currently learning to drive will hit a hurdle at one time or the other, and you need to persist and work your way through the difficuties with your ADI, if you think they are not able to help, then maybe it is time to try changing driving instructors. Personally I don't think changing to automatic driving lessons is the right answer in this case (I might be wrong since I don't offer them), but if you are thinking of changing, don't be afraid to go back to manual if it doesn't make a difference to the real problem that you were having.

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