Help Needed: Fear is Stopping Me From Driving My New Car


Thread Starter #1
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Hi,
It has been 6 months from my new car purchase. Still i am not driving due a minor accident happen while my second day of driving with my new car.

Six month before me and my family decided for a new car and after all research, decided to buy Grand i10. Almost decided and preparing the finance the Elite i20 released and that changed my mind and decide to buy it.

YES. i am one of the lucky customer who got the first batch of the Elite i20 within two week. Things are went well and delivered the car to home with help of Sales person as i was learning the driving.

After a week when i finished learning (Learned from a Santro and i have license which i got 3years ago with a maruthi 800 learning) decided to take the new car out. I took it in the early morning(6 to 7 am). Drove around 15 kms with 1st and 2nd gear. Safetly reached home and found two scratches. Felt very bad.

The next day again i took the car. Drove around 30kms and almost reached home. Near to my home there is a four road junction and my home is in little downside. So the road is little steep. In both corner of the steep road, people are illegally parked vehicles so the road become narrow and am little tensed. In the corner of steep road from my right side there is auto standing and in the left a grand i10 standing. Suddenly my car is started rolling fast towards the auto, i lost total control don't know what happen. My car hit the auto and pushed towards the Grand i10 and within seconds this all happened and somehow my car stopped. Unfortunately inside the auto the driver was there. He got very little scratches and started a drama.
I am total panic. After lot of conversation i have settled the auto guy(It is a big story which i want to forget) also there is damage for i10. I gave a big money for his repair as well. The mistakes is from all of three but the situation is against me and i lost a big money.

From that day, the fear is sitting on my head and i am not able to come out. I went to driving classes again with old i20 still the fear of crossing the accident spot is not going. I have to cross the accident spot to go out. So that is stopping me to take the car out.

Guys, Anybody having similar experiences. How your overcome this. Any Suggestion. Please help me.

NOTE: PLEASE DON'T ASK DETAILS OR DISCUSS MORE ON THE ACCIDENT AS I WANT TO FORGET IT.

Thanks,
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Sorry to hear about the accident.
Let me come straight to the point. It may sound a bit straight forward but hope you do not mind.

From you post i could understand that you are not a very confident driver. In the first day you took out your car and drove for 15kms in 1 st and 2 nd gear and at the end you found two scratches. On the second day you had the accident. Any accident is an unlucky incident and every one wants to forget it. But consider yourself to be lucky here. You couldn't make out how the car hit the auto and the i10 so fast! Your car went out of your control and hence the accident. I understand they were wrongly parked but you have hit two stationary objects. If you are not confident you could have stopped your vehicle earlier gauge the situation and then proceed! Just imagine if some one would have been killed in that accident by this time you would have been under legal harassment and that family would have suffered a big loss! Here the auto driver got injured in another case it can be fatal for you too!

My sole point is not to discourage you. No one should repeat the same mistake you did! If your are new to driving or you are not confident always take an experienced driver with you. He will guide you under tricky situations.
As it has already happened do not try to remember it. Just forget it and start driving. You have to over come the fear. Drive with experienced drivers, watch them how they drive, take tips from them. Do this for a month am sure you will regain your confidence and you can again drive alone. Again i will say if you are not confident do not take your car alone.

I may sound a bit rude in the above post but it was to help you. Am sorry if any of my words hurt you.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Totally agreeing with Mr Samba007
Arrange a driver who is cooperative enough to sit with you while you drive and he will prevent you from getting involved in mishap.
Let this go for 2 weeks or so,then i am sure that you will be damn confident to drive your new ride.

Remeber the saying, God gives every gift with some problems,all is well.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Sorry to hear about the accident. These things tend to happen when you start learning on a new car.
As suggested by samba07 you should drive only when an experienced driver accompanies you.
You can ask the person accompanying you to drive out of the accident spot and drive after crossing it.
You will gradually develop your confidence again and gain judgement of the car and get comfortable soon.
Don't worry carry on driving and be happy.
All the best to you.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Just forget that unfortunate incident and be glad that nothing severe has happened. So take it in a positive note. Now go to a driving school and tell them I already hold a driving license, I don't need your regular training but need some good driving practise. Take the car to hill areas, learn the clutch control, take to highways and get lane driving practice and learn to use all the 5/6 gears. Once you gain some confidence drive in B2B traffic. Now switch to your Ei20 with the trainer accompanying you, and have some practice in it too. What just happened to you is completely normal, that can happen to any newbie driver, so be confident. Don't hesitate to put on the emergency light and brake the vehicle if you feel like things are not under control and most importantly don't get panic in such situations. Put an 'L' board if needed, though technically you are not a learner, but other drivers will give you some consideration on road. If at all you want, you can ride in the passenger seat with an experienced driver on wheel and observe how he is reacting to various situations on road. Trust me these are just initial troubles and you are going to love the whole experince of driving much more very soon [cheers].
 
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Thread Starter #6
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Thanks Mr Samba007,
Sorry to say this... Yes. It is hurting and discouraging me. It has been six months i heard all this from various people. So i stopped telling to people.
Daily my mind doing all this analysis what went wrong. That's why i put a note to not to discuss whatever happened.
Thanks for suggesting to getting a driver. Totally agree on this i am already tried and still trying to get a trustful driver.[:)]

Thanks Vishnucarcrazy and Ravib for encouraging me.

Thanks Lameassonwheels that is really good suggestion and encouraging me a lot. [:)]
I already took twice the driving classes. Now i am confident in driving only fear to cross the accident spot.


Guys,
I am here to get help from you guys to over come the fear. if anybody having similar experiences and how they overcome from that. And your valuable suggestions as well.

NOTE: PLEASE NOT TO DISCUSS WHATEVER IS HAPPENED. I WENT THROUGH ALL THIS PAIN. DON'T WANT TO GET IN AGAIN

Thanks
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Firstly its you who has to get it out of your mindset about the accident and all that happened by.As others suggested, i would add try to get a friend or family member who knows driving along with you, even weekends if not on regular week days.
Go around the city, and in times you would start getting better with drivings.
Ask the training school to arrange the driving in your car rather then theirs as you have already had with their vehicle.This would boost your confidence.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

I feel like you are not confident on the car's dimensions. When my brother was learning to drive, I noticed that he didn't know when to stop the vehicle. I just stood in front of the car when he slowly kept driving toward me in 1st gear. after that he was able to judge the length of the car. May be this feels too basic, but it works. Human standing in front of you is very different from any object with which you learn from a driving school.

Also, please use handbrake when you are stationary on a slope. Apart from all these, Spend more time with your car. Instead of shying away, try to analyze what happened. Also try driving around with open windows (only in your neighborhood) so that you slowly get used to sudden sounds and light in nature when driving. This will help your mind to analyze different things while driving.

Meanwhile,

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” – William Shedd

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.” — Henry Ford
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

Hi robotsmani,

First of all welcome to the world of driving!!

Do take out your ride everyday and drive it for least 5 KMs on the road you know (near to your home). Initially take it out in early mornings or late nights and practice driving it at slow speed (max 25 KMpH) . Try stopping and starting it on various spots which will give you idea about your clutch bite and power.

Identify some object (like Tree or Building) and practice stopping by it. Once you stop, then do come out of your car and check where front bumper is positioned from object. I will suggest you to go on same stretch for at least 2-3 days, by doing this you will overcome the fear.

I am sure that the accident caused by you in the way it happened will never be repeated. Because human brains keeps the copy of situation and it directs body in the way by which such circumstances are avoided.

I will give you my example. As a newbie when i took my car first time out of my township there was no problem or fear but when i returned back i over steered near my township gate and somehow the car stopped at about few inches from railings. That incident taught my brain the judgement of steering and till date i never under steered or over steered, in fact i started enjoying the curves and turns.

Best of luck to you.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

The best possible way now is get a friend and ask him to drive the vehicle to an open ground with no one around.Then you drive around with shifting gears for some time.Repeat this for one week or on holidays.This will give you confidence.Take time out for this.Roads will come later.Get acquainted with your car. Do you ride bikes? If you do then there must not be much problem.
 
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Re: The Fear is stopping me to driving the new Elite i20

As you stay in Bangalore, hire a driver and ask him to give you company on Nice road or any empty stretch. Drive for around 100-150 km along with him. He will give you several exercise or instruction like change the gear, pullover etc. Do this and it will definitely work.

Please do not get panic and not co-relate with lack of confidence etc. It may happen to anyone, the best way to overcome of your fear and it will only happen when you drive more on free stretch. It will make you feel home when you are in your car. When you are in busy stretch, ask any one of your friend to be passenger seat to observe the left side of car. You will definitely over-come of your fear.

I had also taken lesson from Driving school but it was just good for getting driving licence. I used to struggle a lot but one day I hired a driver and he help to drive for 150 KM in a day and believe me it worked. And on next weekend, my wife was on passenger seat and she guided me to drive in inner lane of my area. And next day we were off to ShivaSamudram and next week to Pondycherry. Fear is not bad thing but it helps you to be cautious and it's upto you not to make yourself over-cautious.

Wish you all the best.
 
Thread Starter #12
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Re: Suggestions Needed : The Fear is stopping me to driving my new car

Hey....Thanks guys...
That's really a Excellent responses. I am feeling good after reading all this [:D]. I am going to try all.

Now, anybody knows a trusted driver source in Bangalore?
 

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