Right, Not Left
September 25, 2018 Uncategorized 3 comments houellette20
Learning how to drive was quite the experience, but this isn’t about me- it’s about another person that drove me back home. It was my first time driving and I was super nervous, as anyone would be. Finally, when my first two hours were up and I made it through my first driving lesson, I parked in the driveway of the next student driver, who would then bring me home and continue with their lesson afterwards. She hopped in the car excitedly, fixed her mirrors and seat, and drove off.
As we came upon one of the roads she was going to turn on to bring me home, the instructor told the girl to take a right turn onto that road. All was going good, she slowed down, put her right blinker on, and was all set up to turn right. She paused for a split second and instead of turning right, she went to turn left! Since her blinker was on to turn right, everybody in front of and behind her thought she was turning right, but somewhere there was confusion and maybe a split second thought of turning left. This girl was probably nervous learning to drive, and forgot she was supposed to take a right.
When the time came to turn right, a car was going to go around her on her left side to continue along the road, but when she went to turn left, we almost hit the car. It was a very close call, we nearly touched the car, and this car was going 45 mph, so it wouldn’t have been a good situation for any of us. I could tell all three of us panicked terribly for the 2 seconds the event took place, as well as many seconds after. The car passing us probably panicked as well, but continued on with their day, just like us.
Thankfully, the instructor quickly braked and moved the wheel around to turn right so we didn’t hit the car and was trying to talk this poor girl through what just happened. She apologized and felt bad for putting us in a dangerous situation and said she didn’t really know what she was thinking. This girl was extremely embarrassed, especially since it wasn’t even her first time driving. The instructor was a bit upset, but was trying to understand what happened. She might have been thinking about something else, not really paying attention to where she was going, so she didn’t realize she was turning left. I just remember sitting in the back of the car trying to calm down since we almost got hit. I’m just glad it wasn’t me that made that mistake because I know I would have been embarrassed.
Although mistakes aren’t fun, we can learn from them, which is what happened in this situation. This girl learned to listen and process details more carefully, especially when she’s just learning to do something. If she is unsure of where to turn, I’m sure the instructor would be more than happy to help her. She accepted that she made a mistake, and even though she told the instructor she wanted to go home, he wouldn’t let her and pushed her to keep driving, so she did. I don’t know where she is now, but I’m sure she has her license or at least her permit. She understood her mistake and realized what she needed to do to avoid it next time. She continued to practice driving even though she made a mistake, and that will help her in the long run.
This girl almost took a wrong turn that could have caused a terrible accident, but the instructor used his brake and helped the situation. This girl felt terribly bad, but learned a valuable lesson for the next time she drives. People make mistakes all the time, and the only way to not feel bad about them is accepting them and learning how to fix them.
Photo on Foter.com
3 Comments
Wow, this sounds like a scary situation to be in at the time. It is a good thing that the instructor was paying attention and that everyone was alright. This is a good story to share about mistakes and how to learn from them
Wow, that must have been a very stressful situation. Luckily no one was injured. This is also a learning moment for drivers to be aware on the road.
I can tell from when I need drivers ed I was so nervous especially when it came to myself and other students home or vise versa and it is nerve racking so it’s super easy to make a mistake. But I’m glad that you’re okay and that no one got hurt. Hopefully everyone in the car learned a lesson and maybe next time her nerves may be a little calmer than they were during this drive,