Second Lesson Down
Not nearly as easy as the first one, apparently I didn’t pay as much attention to this busier surface streets as I did when shotgunning on side streets.
Again I was thrown to it, this time without the delay of heading to a practice spot. We met at Grant High again, a different instructor this time. More assertive than the first one, she actually took hold of my hand to correct my grip on the shifter and I reminded her that I’m not 15. Looking back I’m a bit surprised that bothered me as much as it did. Anyhoo.
We drove up into the hilly neighborhood east of Grant. Narrow, uneven streets broken up by tree roots. Windy roads leading to uneven intersections. Then onto Broadway and Sandy. Even the Hell Intersection (OMFG!) but I lucked out and the light turned green almost immediately. Into more jacked up streets in SE, AND driving on Hawthorne. Then a spin up Rocky Butte, long spirals up then downhill and back to Grant via motherfucking Halsey through Hollywood.
Oh! And the big traffic circle on 39th & Glisan. I expected to get some multi-lane traffic but I didn’t expect some of the busier parts of Portland. But why the hell not? We also did angled parking and parking on up and down slopes. I’m betting lesson three is freeways and parallel parking.
This turned out to be pretty stressful. I noticed after a while my neck was stiff and my hands were getting white knuckled. At that point I’d been driving for an hour and a half or as she put it, “to the Dalles.”
She thought I was turning too fast and my lane changes were too abrupt. And I’m not yet in the habit of checking the rear view when braking, or of clearing my blind spot when I turn right (might be a fucking bike back there, oops). Those last two are just plain complacency. If I get rear ended or if a cycler doesn’t see my turn light, that’s not my fault. Although I’m not positive about turning into a cycler in my blind spot.
I found out one helpful bit, driving tests are scheduled every half hour. Which doesn’t seem sufficient, but I guess DMV only needs to make sure a prospective driver isn’t a total idiot. I wonder what the pass rate is. Hmm.
Anyway, more practice needed. Sandy, Powell, Broadway/Weidler. She specifically said I should practice turning from two way to one way streets and vice versa and Lloyd would be good for that.
Oh, it’s also illegal for a permit holder to drive downtown! Oops. Actually the “central business area”, which I guess I need to check out.