Practical lessons: Stage 2

Stage 2 is where we learn to adhere to traffic rules and regulations. During this stage I mostly drove on the road but usually the instructor would ask me to drive a few rounds in the circuit, after that then we go out of BBDC.

Day 7

Practiced driving on the roads, was reminded to slow down when approaching humps and stop a safe distance away from cars in front. We did left turns at the signalised junction (junction with traffic lights) and practiced turning left through slip road at junction. Was told to position car in centre of slip road and before the give way line first, then turn to check for approaching traffic because I tried to do the latter while moving into the slip road and ended up not being centre of the lane...But these kind of things, it will be more natural with practice!

Day 8

Got a friendly, female instructor today. Her hairstyle is quite similar to one of my friends 👀 I learnt how to position my car properly in a wide lane when turning, and she also briefly told me some of the things the tester would look out for during the TP test and how to avoid getting penalised unnecessarily. She remarked that the second hump is always higher than the first hump at school zones, so I could take note of that. We drove around today and I practiced stopping at the stop line at non-signalised junctions to do my safety checks before moving off. Everything went quite smoothly till I reached this particular traffic junction. I forgot the exact situation but I was very near the stop line (right on the arrow, maybe 1m from the stop line) and the lights were still green and I was about accelerate to move off (think at first in front there were cars in front so I waited for the cars to clear). Then at this exact moment the lights turned amber and I was accelerating and the instructor stepped on her brakes to stop the car. *Oh no* She told me that there was a red light camera at that junction and I risked getting 12 demerit points (if my car got captured by the camera). ...almost kena-ed beat red light during another lesson also but more on that later :<Was such a close shave tbh >.< but we continued our driving and headed back to BBDC.

At the end of the lesson, my instructor told me which TP test sessions to choose so that I wouldn't experience heavy traffic (she said to avoid the first two and last two sessions).

Day 9

Ok so sidetrack abit...all BBDC 3A learners would get a handbook online pdf version (upon registering for the course) where all the subjects are listed (I like to read it before lessons so I know what I'll be learning). After each lesson our progress is updated on the "Training and Test History" page so we can see which subjects we have completed (it's possible to not pass a subject first time especially those involving harder components like circuit courses, so far I haven't encountered this situation but it's definitely ok to fail and just try again next lesson to ensure we grasp the basics well).

Today's lesson was mostly about doing right turns at junctions. So my instructor told me ok we would be practicing right turns but before that he took out his tablet (all instructors have one where they can access the handbook and also keep track and update trainees' progress) and went through the content (there's picture illustrations). We headed to signalised junctions where he guided me to position my car correctly while waiting for pedestrians to cross before turning. He also reminded me to keep constant acceleration when turning and not slow down too much/unnecessarily. I received tips on how to do my safety checks more efficiently as well.

I asked about stopping at junctions when the light turned amber, he said if I could see the whole first arrow when amber then I should stop, if not just proceed on. Our conversation pivoted to the camera that the tester will install in the car before starting the test. I genuinely thought it was to see if the testee checked the mirrors, he laughed and said "no time for that lah". Likely I'm the first one who thought like this because he was so confused when I asked LOL...Turns out it's just there as evidence in case the testee disputes the results like "why penalise me, I never do this this this" which makes perfect sense HAHA silly me

I missed a turn back to BBDC so ended up the instructor asked me to do a u-turn in front. I was like ?? because that was only going to be taught next lesson but he said "its okay just try!" Good thing I read up on it before and he also guided me, so we did a u-turn back to the centre. Also we were driving rounds in the circuit when we saw live a testee get immediate failure for turning from the wrong lane (the instructor pointed it out to me)😱

Day 10

It is the day where I learn u-turns😁Also what a coincidence, i got the strict instructor today *oh nyooo* (I'm just abit scared to mess up when he's my instructor haha, when I make mistakes he sometimes nags a lot but I know its for my own good...) I recognised him by his voice and it was awkward at the start because I couldn't find the car so I asked other instructors and they were all pointing to his car and that's how I finally saw it. He went through the theory on how to do different types of u-turns and we headed out to the roads to practice. U-turns are learnt on the roads not in the circuit. He reminded me to signal immediately to move to the right lane once he gave the instruction for u-turn and then after that I can look for the u-turn sign. It was quite fun though my u-turn attempts were not that good (he made me practice many times, got me to u-turn back to the place to u-turn ok does this make sense so basically we drove like oval shape(?) LOL. After we returned to BBDC he took out his notebook (he always carries it around and draws on it to illustrate) and reiterated to me the proper method to u-turn.

Day 11

Same instructor as yesterday :O This time I didn't have to meet him to know that its him, I saw the car number and instantly realised it HAHA. It was legit the exact same area and car number as the previous lesson. Today I learnt to drive on slopes! I thought we would be practicing on the steep slopes in the circuit but I was surprised when he told me to go out onto the roads. Later I heard from my friend that we would still be practicing driving on slopes during other lessons. The slopes that we drove on were all quite gentle (definitely more gentle than the BBDC ones), but he got me to practice applying my handbrakes and then moving off using the standard technique. It takes some time to get used to and there was once I felt bad for holding up traffic because we were on a slope, at the traffic light, and I delayed in moving off because the handbrake got stuck😭. He taught me an alternative method to move off and said to choose what suits me best. 

Was directed to stop at the side of the road once and we talked about road hazards and the need to keep a safe clearance from objects. Ok and also today I got "told off" for repeatedly forgetting to move back to the left lane after turning right, can tell he was getting tired of reminding me oops😅 Have to remember lane discipline!

Day 12

Another day, another experience on the roads. Drove out of BBDC and instructor directed me to make turns in which I had to change lanes to do so (today focused on lane change in fast and heavy traffic). There was once I was turning right on green and the instructor was telling me something but I couldn't really understand and I mistook him as asking me to stop....so I started to slow down and the lights turned amber then red alamak and I was confused + instinct at that moment was to stop so I did. I absolutely should have continued my turn because I was halfway in the pedestrian crossing in front of me. But too late....fortunately there weren't cars behind me so I could reverse back to clear the way for the pedestrians to cross.

Got told to relax LOL ok driving can be stressful but its important to keep your cool....Saw a car doing TP test on the road as well (hope he/she did well! gna be me in a few months....) Those who are learning driving will know the theoretical way to press the brakes is to use knee movement with heel off the ground, but I usually use ankle movement with heel on ground (which is how my dad, who drives, does it and because it feels like I have better control). The instructor tried to get me to use the theoretical method because stronger braking and he was saying "next time you go on expressway have to brake then how stop in time?" (if I did my way). Hmm

Ended the lesson with the instructor commenting that my turning needs more practice....think once I turned right into the second lane when I was supposed to always turn to the nearest lane which is the first lane (there were also other aspects of my driving that I knew needed improvement). 

**off topic** afterwards me and my friend SW went to eat teabreak at a cafe and watched some tiktok vids related to driving on my phone  (I didn't search for them I just saw them on my FYP then thought it was interesting and saved them!) LOL one vid was about this car meet event at a carpark where a group of traffic police (TP) officers on their bikes was observing the situation and someone reminded one of the drivers to check blindspot

Day 13

Booked another try-sell slot slot so instructor wasn't from my group. We were supposed to focus on overtaking and a review of previous subjects today so the instructor said we would go to the 70km/h roads and he would find a chance for me to overtake slower vehicles...Didn't manage to find one (idk maybe im too slow or as he remarked others like to drive fast) but we did some lane changing with him reiterating the technique to follow then getting me to practice while he provided comments on my execution. I thought he would be a stern instructor but turns out he's quite friendly and he was also very willing to provide feedback and encouragement. Near the end of the lesson he said "ask any questions you have, i'll answer them" so I remembered I had a list of questions on my phone (those are qns that came to my mind after lessons so I wrote it in my notes app and was looking for an opportunity to ask my instructors) and so it's great that I could get those doubts clarified today :) I don't think he'll read this but thank you sir for kindly offering to clarify all my doubts, it's great too how you went into such detail about what to look out for during lane changing, it got me thinking a lot about the safety involved and trained me to be more aware

After he parked the car back at BBDC he said I have room for improvement but generally my driving was fine so he would pass my stage 2. He remarked that stage 3 (driving in circuit) is more boring compared to driving on the road HAHA. Was told to be more careful when driving in circuit because the lanes are narrower, and the reason why we learn driving on roads before we start doing circuit driving is because the former requires us to have good judgement (which probably trains our spatial awareness and ability to navigate the narrower circuit roads?).