I started driving pretty late in life. My excuse for this is because a mate was MEANT to do the L-test together with me when we turned 16. However, he then went and did it by himself because his birthday was a month before mine and he decided he didn’t want to wait. See, it’s not pathetic at all! I have an excuse!
At any rate it means I only started driving 2 years ago and have another year to go before I get my full license. It also means I’ve never really driven outside of local trips here and there. This was true right up until last week when my partner decided we absolutely needed more cherries in our lives and that the town of Young, celebrating their 75th Cherry Harvest Festival that week, was the place to get them.
It was time for me to step up and do my share of a 4 and a half hour drive. Here’s some of the things I learnt:
Plan Ahead
It should go without saying that if you’re going somewhere unfamiliar you need to know ahead of time how to get there! I left it to the night before (not recommended!) but even then I was able to quickly use Google Maps to study the route, to get to know which motorways I needed to get on and work out which towns would be good to stop off at on the way. For a 4.5 hour drive, I thought it was best to split the drive up into 3 parts with a stop off at Bowral and Yass.
Splitting the trip into these bite sized 2 hour chunks really took the pressure off and made the long drive more manageable! It also gave us a clear place to switch drivers, meaning that none of us were getting fatigued or losing focus from too much time behind the wheel. For us that meant my partner took the congested city driving (as the more experienced driver) and I took my fair share of the country driving. Country driving isn’t necessarily easier, it’s just different. This drive gave me the opportunity to practice different skills that I don’t usually get the chance to hone.
Cruise Control is a Huge Help
A big surprise for me was how much the cruise control helped with the drive in those longer stretches of the motorway. Switching on the cruise control meant that I could spend less time looking at the speedometer to make sure I wasn’t going too fast and be more focused on the road. If you’re doing a big trip and your car has a cruise control function I would recommend getting used to using it in a safe environment ahead of the trip.
Be Aware Of The P-Plate Laws
A major difference between myself and my partner was that as a P-plater I was not allowed to exceed 100km/h even on roads where the the speed limit went up to 110km/h. This was actually more of a relief than a hindrance because, in addition to being terrified going anything over 60km/h, it took a lot of the stress out of the drive. I could simply stay in the left-most lane most of the drive and rarely needed to worry about having to merge right to overtake slower drivers. This was a great way to get used to driving at higher speeds and I can honestly say that I feel a lot more confident going 100km/h having had this experience!
Another key difference is that I wasn’t allowed to use my phone for navigation. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a TomTom off my parents who bought it in a bygone era before phones even had maps on them (can even you believe it?). I’m pretty certain it’s us P-platers that are the only reason TomTom still exists in this world but I did find it very useful (my parents are never getting this thing back!).
A More Experienced Driver By Your Side Makes All the Difference
Out of everything the biggest help to me on my first big drive was having my partner (who has been driving for many years) next to me. Not only was she able to take over for the more difficult portions of the trip but even when I was driving there were moments where her help made a real difference.
At one point while driving through a town she told me to watch out as the car in front of us was going to stop suddenly, sure enough seconds later the car ahead stopped to drop someone off. We’re still not entirely sure how she did this, the car wasn’t indicating and I noticed nothing but something about the way it was moving set off my partners more experienced instincts and might have saved us from a possible crash.
Another incident, one that I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, came towards the end of the drive when we finally got off the motorway onto a smaller road. Realising that I need to make a right turn soon (and feeling confident after driving for so long on motorway roads with several lanes all going in the same direction) I merged into what I thought was the right hand lane. A sudden yell of “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING” reminded me that I was no longer on a dual carriageway but a two way road that I was now driving down the wrong side of.
The road was empty but it was still a shocking reminder that even at our most confident we need to remain focused because we can still make simple mistakes. It was good to have a more experience driver gently (or not so gently) reminding me of that fact!
The Cherry Festival ended up being well worth the drive there and back! With 7kgs of cherry we brought back for friends, family and ourselves (mainly ourselves) the only problem we have now is how to eat them all before they go bad!
For more driving tips and stories explore the ‘Drive Safe, Arrive Safe’ site here
