Experienced motorists say that the driver should feel the dimensions of the car as if it were an extension of his body. Such a comparison is quite reasonable, since every car owner has to be in difficult situations that require an ideal sense of dimensions, for example, in a parking lot, at the entrance to a garage,. The question arises, how to learn to feel the dimensions of the car for a beginner, so as not to create emergency situations on the road? To do this, experts have developed several exercises that help to significantly improve driving skills.
A good sense of the dimensions of the car reduces the likelihood of an accident
Beacons
The easiest way to get acquainted with the dimensions of the car is to use beacons. They are safe items for the car that do not cause damage to the body kit upon contact. Beacons for training a sense of size can be:
- Orange restrictive cones;
- Plastic bottles with sand;
- Bags stuffed with soft packing material;
- Old wheels.
The principle of the exercise is quite simple - you need to touch the beacon with the central part and its sides, and then with the rear bumper. It is very important to touch the object of your choice, but not knock it down. Practice shows that 10-20 attempts are usually successful, since here the accuracy of the touch depends not only on the sense of dimensions, but also on the ability to control the engine thrust at low speed.
Restrictive cones are great as beacons.
When the exercise is performed by the driver without error, you need to move on to the next step. From the beacons, you should lay out the contours of two cars located at a distance of 8-10 meters. To improve the feeling of the dimensions of the car, you need to try to park between them. This exercise will also prepare you for parallel parking, which is considered the most difficult type of entry into a parking lot.
Subsequently, the beacons can be replaced with vertical posts made of large branches or plastic supports for plants. After sticking them into a bottle filled with sand, install two racks at a distance greater than the width of your car by 1 meter. After passing through such an impromptu gate, reduce the distance by 5-10 centimeters. Your goal is to achieve an easy and fast passage through an opening that is only 10 centimeters wider than the car. A variant of the exercise for professionals is to try to do the same with folded mirrors, setting the "gates" to the width of the front fenders.
Hitting
The exercise is also very simple, but it requires good practice to accurately repeat the results achieved. An empty plastic bottle is placed flat on the platform. Your task is to hit such an object alternately with the left and right front wheels. The exercise may seem incredibly simple, but the sense of size often fails novice drivers, causing them to overshoot.
When the exercise is performed flawlessly, it is worth complicating its conditions - to hit at a higher speed. To consolidate the result, select a deserted section of the road and make a collision on it at a speed of 60 km / h - this will require a very good sense of dimensions. However, it is not recommended to exceed the specified threshold - you can get into a dangerous one.
With due diligence, a beginner will quickly learn to feel the dimensions of the car
In order to ideally feel the dimensions of the car, you should proceed to the third stage - it is worth hitting the bottle while simultaneously making a turn. Even experienced drivers make mistakes in such an exercise - due to its complexity, it turns out to be the most effective. A plastic bottle can be replaced with another object, but it should be easily deformed, make a loud sound, but not fly out from under the wheel at high speed. A good substitute for such a beacon for training the sense of dimensions is a cardboard box folded several times.
Tags
To better feel the dimensions of the vehicle, it is worth making marks on the base of the windshield. Take a large straight ruler and attach it to the hood where the center of the front wheel is. Attach the other end. In the place that will be located on the axis specified by the wheel, put a mark inside - a dash with a marker or a small sticker. Do the same with the second front wheel of the car.
Tags help to better feel the dimensions of the car and choose the right direction of movement in any situation. Their application will allow you to get rid of the problems associated with travel in narrow places, such as arches, gates and other architectural forms. Also, the marks will help you feel the dimensions of the car and the width of its track when driving on a bad road.
Parts of the car body can also serve as a guideline, which will help a beginner feel the dimensions of the car. Many novice drivers install deflectors on the hood, popularly called "fly swatters" just to see the front edge of the car. Some cars are equipped with special bulges on the headlights, such as Nissan Micra, Ford Fiesta and others. They are designed specifically to improve the driver's sense of dimensions. Mirrors can serve as side marks, which will be very easy to navigate.
With the rear clearance, the situation is much more complicated - learning to feel it is very difficult. Hatchback drivers can take the rear wiper as a guide, but sedan owners will have a much worse time. The ideal option for getting a perfect sense of rear clearance is the above exercise with beacons - by regularly repeating it, you can achieve excellent maneuvering in any circumstances.
Fast learning
To develop a sense of the dimensions of the car, it is worth exercising at least 1-2 times a week during the first year of driving a car. Since the parameters of each vehicle are individual, after buying a new car, classes should be repeated. In addition, there is always the option of passing vocational training in a specialized driving school. By enrolling in extreme driving courses, you will learn to feel the dimensions of the car in any situation, as well as learn how to avoid the most dangerous situations on the road.
Download video and cut mp3 - we make it easy!
Our site is a great tool for entertainment and recreation! You can always view and download online videos, funny videos, hidden camera videos, feature films, documentaries, amateur and home videos, music videos, videos about football, sports, accidents and disasters, humor, music, cartoons, anime, series and many other videos completely free and without registration. Convert this video to mp3 and other formats: mp3, aac, m4a, ogg, wma, mp4, 3gp, avi, flv, mpg and wmv. Online Radio is radio stations to choose from by country, style and quality. Online Jokes are popular jokes to choose from by style. Cutting mp3 to ringtones online. Converter video to mp3 and other formats. Online TV - these are popular TV channels to choose from. Broadcasting of TV channels is absolutely free in real time - broadcast online.
Every novice driver is faced with the need to park. And to do this in a modern metropolis is not always easy. For example: You need to park in the city center, on one of the narrow streets "PARALLEL PARKING" when you are being followed by heavy traffic. Or you arrived at an office or shopping center equipped with underground parking, and as you know, in all underground parking lots the space is so limited that you have to drive a few centimeters from walls and corners, correctly calculating the trajectory of the turn going down or up the spiral ramp. Or do you park near the house in a way "ENTRY TO BOX" from a narrow courtyard area also crammed with cars. In all these situations, it is simply vital for you to learn how to park well, and in order to learn how to park well, you first need to fully understand and feel the dimensions of your car. This will help us: "DIMENSIONAL PREPARATION".
OVERALL PREPARATION - This is a special training that includes a series of exercises on the site, thanks to which
You will learn:
- feel the right and left side of the car,
- where ends the hood, left and right fender and front bumper,
- where is the center of the car and where the left and right wheels pass.
This will allow:
- more confidently scatter with oncoming cars in narrow places,
- keep close to the curb while parking along the roadway,
- go around, and if necessary, skip holes between the wheels,
- gently drive through speed bumps,
- confidently maneuver on narrow ramps of underground parking lots,
- if necessary, snuggle close to the payment windows or the payment terminal when entering a toll road or paid parking or in a car).
Now after passing TRAINING FOR OVERALL PREPARATION you can start PARKING TRAINING!
On PARKING TRAINING
You will learn:
- Park in reverse between cars (Check in the box),
- Parking in reverse between cars in a confined space,
- Maneuver in reverse, changing the trajectory of movement,
- Move and take turns in a narrow corridor,
- Park parallel along the curb
- Parking in reverse between cars parked along the curb (parallel parking),
- Parking in parallel in reverse in a limited space between cars (swapping method)
- Park in front at an angle of 45 * to the curb.
Instruction
Experienced drivers feel the dimensions of the car on an intuitive level. But if you recently got behind the wheel, then naturally you are just starting to adapt to both active traffic on the road and your car. It is quite difficult for a beginner to feel the dimensions of the car directly from the passenger compartment, and even without visible identification marks. Remember that in order to understand where any part of your car ends, you don’t have to reach out and look at it at all. The sense of size comes with experience. But there are recommendations that must be considered if you need to drive in a fairly narrow place or park in a limited space.
Most inexperienced drivers on the road can be distinguished by their desire to stretch their necks a lot. They tend to see even the asphalt in front of the car. They are confident that it will be much easier to control the distance to another vehicle. However, on the road you can not look under your wheels, look only at the future. At the same time, please note that there is a bumper that protrudes slightly forward. Observe the distance to the nearest obstacle taking into account the bumper. If you find it difficult to understand where it ends, then try to insert an antenna into its end.
When driving in reverse, the car feels even more difficult. On a hatchback, try to take the rear brush as a guide. On a sedan, it is better to embed the antenna into the rear bumper. And when parking, try to adjust the rear-view mirrors so that they reflect the wheels. This will make it easier to calculate the distance to the obstacle.
By the side rear-view mirrors, it is very easy to determine the side dimensions of the car body. To do this, simply focus on the most extreme part of the mirror.
If in a dense stream of cars you need to change lanes, then in this situation it is very important not to catch the car following you. Look in the side mirror. If the car is completely visible in it, then you can not worry and start rebuilding. But if only part of the car is reflected in the mirror, then this means that it has already driven too close to you.
It is not easy for a novice driver on the road. And even if he has learned all the rules of the road by heart and knows the steering wheel and gearbox well, cases of road misunderstandings are not uncommon. Didn't fit into the parking lot, for example, or scratched the car while driving into the garage. You just need to learn to feel the dimensions of your car.
Instruction
Pay attention to how you feel in front. Beginners often get the impression that it ends with the driver's seat. However, you still have the nose of the car at least a meter long. It happens that a sloping nose, and its edge is not visible from the driver's seat. In this case, you need to fix in your head that there is still a nose of the car about a meter long ahead of you. For example, when driving in a traffic jam, keep a distance from the vehicle in front, taking into account this circumstance.
Now think about what you have on the left. In order not to drive into an adjacent lane, make sure that the broken or solid marking line separating the lanes runs along the lower left corner of your windshield. This means that you have about 70 centimeters to the edge of the strip.
If you feel the dimensions on the right, also be guided by the lower right corner of the windshield. There, when driving, a strip of curb stone should pass. This is especially important when parking, otherwise you run the risk of running into a curb or parking the car too far from the edge of the roadway.
The distance behind is best determined by the rear-view mirrors. In the left mirror you will see your entire car - from the driver's seat to the tail. Keep in mind that this distance is approximately three meters.
Related videos
It is impossible to safely drive and maneuver a car without knowledge and a sense of dimensions. In a dense stream, you need to be able to change lanes without hitting other cars, park in a parking lot without scratching the bumper. What tricks can you come up with to avoid these troubles.
Instruction
The sense of the dimensions of the car is intuitive. In order to know where the hood ends, you do not need to reach out and look at it. But the first months are a period of adaptation not only to the traffic situation, but also to the car. It is difficult for a beginner to feel the dimensions of the car without any identification marks visible from the passenger compartment. It comes with experience. But there are points to consider if you want to drive in a narrow place or park in.
All newcomers on the road are betrayed by their desire to stretch their neck so much to see the asphalt in front of the car. It seems to them that it is easier to control the distance in front of another car - to see your bumper. But no matter how paradoxical it may sound, on the road you do not need to look at the road directly in front of you, only at the prospect. And the front bumper, with all diligence, can not be seen. You need to understand that it is there, it bulges forward a little and therefore the distance in front of m or an obstacle is respected, taking into account the bumper. You can embed an antenna into the bumper, which will be clearly visible from the driver's seat and indicate where the bumper ends.
It is more difficult to feel the car when reversing. If the car is a hatchback, then you can focus on the rear brush. If the car, then you can also embed the antenna in so that it is visible from the driver's rear-view mirror. When parking, you can adjust the mirrors so that you can see the wheels. On the wheels it is easier to calculate and see the distance to the obstacle, especially if it is a curb.
The side dimensions of the car body can be determined by the side rear-view mirrors. The outermost part of the mirror housing is the width of the car. Therefore, when you need to drive through a narrow place or park a car in parallel, focus on the edge of the mirror. Estimate the distance between the object and the edge of the mirror. Even if you feel that you are passing very, very close, it's okay. There is still an allowable distance to the object.
When changing lanes in heavy traffic, it is important not to catch the car behind. And for this you need to estimate the distance to the car following you and take into account the length of your car. If you have a good view of the car behind you in the side mirror, then you can start rebuilding. If only part of the car is visible, then it is too close to you.
In order not just to drive a car from point A to point B, but to really get a real drive from driving a car, while minimizing all the dangers and risks on the roads, learn to feel your car. It means to feel it as a part of yourself. Understand him like a best friend, and love him like a woman. Then he will answer you the same: love, loyalty and understanding.
Instruction
What does "feeling the machine" consist of? Of the many components: visual perception, musculoskeletal, vestibular and auditory sensations, the speed of information processing by the driver's brain, muscle response, etc. But the most important thing is the intuitive, the so-called. "sixth" sense that comes with the experience of driving a car.
To learn how to feel, try using fairly simple exercises to develop some of the skills that are necessary to fully master the art of driving. Ideally, in addition to these exercises, you can also take practical ones from a professional driving instructor.
Of all the senses that the driver uses when driving a car, vision plays a special role. Since with the help of vision, he perceives approximately 90% of all the necessary information.
When driving at high speed, an inexperienced driver looks at the brake lights of the car in front of him. A driver with rich "road" experience behaves quite differently. He seems to be "driving" in front of the car ahead and at the same time sees everything that is happening far ahead: for example, a traffic light that is preparing to switch the light; a pedestrian walking along the roadside and somehow strangely looking sideways at the road; a cat that was about to cross the roadway in front of a rushing car at a distance of 5-6 cars in front of the driver. Many of these risky and dangerous situations can be predicted instantly using peripheral vision. Although it does not allow you to clearly see an object that is away from the roadway, it allows you to see the silhouette, contour, and also instantly assess the direction and speed of its movement.
Exercise 1. When driving on a straight stretch of road at a safe speed, turn your head to the right and try to fix your eyes on some object or detail in the landscape - for example, on a building or a tree. As soon as you manage to clearly “grab” this object with your eyes, immediately turn your head to the left and in the same way fix your eyes on the object / detail of the landscape to the left of the roadway. Continue this exercise, turn your head to the right, then to the left, without stopping it in a straight position. Over time, you will be convinced of your ability to maintain control of the direction of movement under such conditions and surprise yourself. Once you get used to this feeling, you will feel much more confident.
Exercise 2. Make it a little more difficult. When moving again in a straight line at a safe speed, try to look at some object to your right without turning your head and trying not to squint your eyes. Of course, you will not see the object clearly. But still, try to determine from the seen silhouette or contour: what kind of object it is, its size, shape, distance to it. And then immediately turn your head towards this object, instantly assess whether you have correctly identified it with the help of lateral vision, and immediately turn your head straight.
In addition to vision, auditory perception is also important for the driver. By the sound of the engine or, for example, by the rustle of tires on the pavement, he can also judge how his car behaves. In addition, an experienced driver pays attention not only to the "voice" of the car, but also to the sounds of the road.
Exercise 3. While driving a car, listen to its sounds with your own and count their sources - radio, engine, hydraulic booster, suspension. Find more and more sound sources, get used to their tone.
Exercise 4. Again, complicate the task a little. As in the previous exercise, start counting the external sound sources. Separate the sounds you hear from each other, determine the source of each of them.
In addition, there are also other sensitivity channels that experienced drivers use. For example, the vestibular apparatus allows you to subtly respond to accelerations that occur. The driver also judges them by the degree of pressing the body to the seat. Therefore, it is important to train your vestibular apparatus, muscle sensations.
Exercise 5. Find the most comfortable position in the driver's seat. In this position, you will be able to feel your body parts (arms, neck, legs) without experiencing muscle tension or fatigue. It is difficult to give recommendations here, since everyone finds the position for driving and the position of the chair according to their feelings. Moving at low speed on a more or less free road, try to feel your every movement. Your task is to get used to feel, your body.
Muscle sensations that the driver experiences from the steering wheel of the car is a very useful channel of information for him. Signals from it pass to the central nervous system several times faster than through the visual or auditory canal. Therefore, drivers can be advised to pay more attention to the sensations that are perceived from the steering wheel. Thanks to this sensitivity channel, you will feel the car better.
In addition, the sense of smell also plays an important role. You have to sort out all the smells of your "iron friend" - gasoline, exhaust, burning clutch, overheated antifreeze, and hot brake pads. If there is a foreign suspicious smell in the car, you should consult with a specialist.
Train your senses, sense organs, and over time your car will become an open book for you. Then the ear will catch the rustle of tires, and not the squeal of brakes, no matter what road and how fast you are heading in a car. In addition, your car will become for you, as it were, an extension of the body. And when this happens, you will begin to really feel the car, you will kind of coexist with it. At the same time, it will quickly and easily respond to a variety of nuances of your movement. And then it will be possible to discern art and your "handwriting" as a driver.
Related videos
Sources:
- Driving school Expert Drive in 2019
A sense of the dimensions of the car is the first thing on which the correct and safe driving depends. Indeed, to perform any manner, you must know where the hood ends, the trunk, and whether you can squeeze jewelery between cars parked in the yard. What tricks can you resort to to better feel your car.
Instruction
The feeling of a car includes several factors: feel, speed, work. Without these basics, it is difficult to learn how to drive a car even on a deserted road. And it’s better to start “acquaintance” with your car with dimensions. When choosing, consider its size. It is better if it is a full or hatchback. But the small one, despite all its advantages, is not the best option. A huge SUV, in addition to its size, is also poorly controlled - such cars require special skill. Be sure to test drive the car before buying. You should pay attention to the visibility of the car, the mirrors, which should be large and transmit the image without distortion (deletions or approximations). The rear window should not be small, and the A-pillars should not interfere with the view when turning.
To quickly get used to the dimensions of the car, it is better to practice parking in a limited space more often. Such an exercise is designed to better feel where the car ends and how it behaves when maneuvering. To work out the elements of parking, it is better not to use the real traffic situation, but to set up plastic traffic cones and train the entrance between them.
If the driver's seat is adjusted to raise it higher, you will be more comfortable keeping track of the road. Don't look at the hood, look at the road and the car ahead. And to better understand where the hood ends, practice the “acceleration-braking” exercise, the essence of which is to stop strictly in front of the designated line.
Side dimensions can be determined by the mirrors of the car. The outer edge of the mirror is the side of the car. Therefore, when you need to drive in a limited space, first figure out if the mirrors pass.
First of all, check if the driver's seat is too low. If you raise it a little, the view will increase, and the feeling of the dimensions of the car will improve. Be sure to adjust your mirrors. For example, if you change from left to right hand drive, adjust your left side mirror as closely as possible to get a good view of the road markings to the left of the car. Attach LEDs to the side of the bumper: they will help you accurately determine the dimensions of the car in the dark.
Practice as often as possible, hone your driving skills. For example, you can build a kind of gate out of cardboard boxes and drive through them. Over time, the distance between the boxes is recommended to be reduced, and the speed to be increased. In the same way, you can learn to park.
Try this exercise: draw lines with chalk from the front wheels about seven meters forward. The lines must be strictly parallel to the axis of the car. Then get behind the wheel, select any stationary object in front of your eyes (for example, a ledge on the dashboard) and mentally connect it with the line drawn from the right wheel. Then visually mark the position of the left wheel in the same way. Thus, it will become much easier for you to feel the dimensions of the car. Practice: try to drive away from the drawn lines for a few meters, and then drive into the lines with wheels. The more you practice, the more accurately you will be able to determine the location of the wheels of your car.
Draw a line on the pavement and try to drive as close to it as possible without touching it with your wheels. If the exercise is too difficult, then boxes or bottles can be used as a stop line first. Practice until you can accurately determine the distance from the stop line to the car.
Where to begin?
First of all, you need to check how comfortable the driver's seat is. It should not be too low, just raise it a little to increase visibility and improve the feeling of the dimensions of the car. Carefully adjust your mirrors, especially if you have changed from a right-hand drive car to a left-hand drive car or vice versa. Adjust both side mirrors very precisely to see the road markings. Do not forget about the mirror in the cabin, adjust it to take into account changes in the height of the driver's seat. It makes sense to attach LEDs to the side parts of the bumper, they help to determine the dimensions of the car in the dark.
Practical exercises
Take the time to practice. Build something like a gate out of light boxes and try to drive through them. It is worth devoting a couple of hours to this activity. If you feel like you're doing the job with ease, reduce the distance between the boxes and increase your speed. Approximately according to the same principle, you can learn to park a new car - it is enough to mark the space into which you need to enter with boxes.
Try other exercises as well. Draw a line on the asphalt, and then try to drive close to it, but do not touch the wheels. If this exercise seems too difficult for you, again use boxes or plastic bottles. This exercise should be done until you can easily and quickly determine the distance between the wheels of the car and such a stop line. This exercise can and should be done not only for the front, but also for the rear wheels.
There are other effective exercises. Draw straight lines with chalk from the front wheels of the car about seven meters in front of them. The lines must be parallel. After that, sit behind the wheel, look for some fixed object that is constantly in front of your eyes (a ledge on the dashboard will do), connect this object with a line that is drawn from the right wheel, then mark the position of the left wheel in the same way. This exercise allows you to feel the dimensions of the car. Try backing away from the straight lines a bit and then wheeling into them again. Complicate the exercise, drive back with an offset to the side and return to the line again. Combining all these exercises allows you to quickly solve problems with getting used to the dimensions of the new car.
