I'm after some advice - maybe someone has had a similiar experience in the past.
SWMBO has decided that after a 17 year gap in which she has never driven, it's a long story but needless to say it was my fault :). However, given our village location and me working away, she has decided that it's time she drove again.
My thinking was to get her enrolled at a local driving school again who perhaps specialise in this, I was thinking of doing this as an IOU Christmas present.
Anyone got any ideas on how to proceed or perhaps a different way of approaching this?
Thanks
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Had a similar job to do with the Tyrant Queen in the early 80s. She passed in the late 60s but didn't drive again, preferring to walk the kids to skool, etc.
When she decided, I bought a £50 Renault 6 from a local dealer trade in. There was a lot of demolition of the old Salford docks going on and we took the car, on the transporter, and did a lot of practice on the laid out, but disused, roads. This was on cobbles, with a dashboard gearchange ! When she showed she was capable, we made the car legal and unleashed her on the public.
A lot depends on temperament.......if she can take advice from you, it might be an idea to find a similar place, maybe an industrial estate on Sunday.
Like riding a bike, she may just drop back into it at once (Keep a wooden ruler handy to give her hands a slap when she cocks up and reward good efforts with a grape.) Don't show her that bit......for goodness sake !!
Good luck.
Ted
Edited by Webmaster on 19/12/2009 at 01:52
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Id do the same as you would do with anyone who hasnt driven in a while, or not at all. Lessons till they are competant. Im sure it will all come back, that is if it was ever there in the first place :-)
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I think that driving lessons would be the best way forward. A lot has changed in the way one drives and the way cars handle in the past few years and this would be best taught by an Instructor - and would take you out of the equation ;-)
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The longest break I had was four years although I had never taken a test or been at test standard by then.
I found controlling the car was like driving a bike but dealing with traffic it was like starting from scratch. I think the big thing with modern cars is they have much lighter controls and are easier to drive but they do have less feel than cars of 17 years ago.
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In one of my many previous lives, I used to be an offset litho printer.
If I was put in front of such a machine today I wouldn't have the foggiest idea and so would have to start from scratch ... I suggest SWMBO does the same @ a driving school.
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Great advice, combination of get some control practice in a wide open empty space & then some lessons.
Watch out Wiltshire.... !
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How about a "Pass+" course?
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You can only take pass plus within one year of passing. It is not designed for people like the OP's wife.
If I had to do some programming now I will really struggle, I still know all the theory and logic but I have forgotton all the syntax. I used to be able to do a lot of with PHP, certainly making a site like this I would have found really easy (in terms of database programming) but because I haven't had to to it for years I have completly forgoton!
However I reckon it would only take a day or so to get fully back into it. It is the same with driving I am sure the OP's wife will be clueless at first but quickly get into it, although things have changed a lot since then.
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You can only take pass plus within one year of passing.
You can get an instructor to teach it, but not take the test. Hence "a course".
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