If you have just passed your driving test you are hopefully a reasonably safe driver
- but there are lots more things that you can learn with experience. In this video we
have 10 tips to help you use your car, manoeuvre safely, and even how to listen for danger.
We hope you find our tips useful and also give you a head start gaining your own experience
on the road. Before we start, make sure you subscribe to our channel and click the bell
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Every car has a steering column lock, for added security - and this usually releases
automatically when we turn the ignition on. If you find that the key won’t turn, then
the steering lock is preventing you. All you need to do is turn the steering wheel left
or right at the same time as twisting the key and the steering lock will release and
allow you to start and drive the car as normal.
Did you know that there is a colour coding system for our dashboard icons? Almost all
of the icons follow the colours of a traffic light - red, amber and green. Any green icons
are fine to drive with - they indicate things that are OK, such as our indicators or dipped
headlamps are on. Amber icons are things that we can drive with, but we need to be aware
of - such as our rear fog lamp, or a minor engine problem. If we see any red icons then
we need to stop driving straight away. Red icons warn us of a serious problem with our
car, such as low engine oil pressure or a problem with our brakes. So even if we don’t
understand what an icon means on our dashboard, we can tell if it’s safe to keep driving
purely from its colour - the same as a traffic light. The only icon with a different colour
is for the main beam headlamps - which is blue.
If our view is restricted at a closed junction, opening a window and listening can be really
useful. We open the window on the side that has poor visibility, or both if needed and
pause a few seconds. If we hear the sound of approaching traffic we can wait until it
has passed before carefully moving our car forward to improve our view. We should never
completely rely on sounds when making decisions, but listening carefully can give us extra
warning of nearby hazards that are out of our view.
When you pull into a petrol station to get fuel do you know which side of the pump you
need to stop? Whilst it’s true that the pump hose is long enough to reach to either
side of the car, if possible it’s good to avoid draping a dirty hose across your paintwork.
So knowing which side our fuel filling flap is on is useful - and almost every car has
a handy symbol to tell you where it is. The picture of the fuel pump on the dashboard
usually has a tiny arrow - and this tells you which side your fuel door is on. Very
useful if you have just got a new car, of have to drive several different cars.
When you buy fuel for your car you have several choices - and if you get it wrong you can
wreck your cars engine. Thankfully the pumps are colour coded - green for petrol and black
for diesel. As long as you get this part right then you won’t do any damage to your car.
There is also the option of buying more expensive ‘high quality’ petrol or diesel, but unless
your car states that it needs it inside it’s filler flap then there is no need to pay extra.
If you do accidentally put petrol into a diesel car, or diesel into a petrol car - do not
start the engine! Go back into the petrol station and the attendant will call someone
to come and pump out your fuel tank, so that you can put the correct fuel in. If you do
try to drive your car, when the wrong fuel gets to your engine it will cause a lot more
damage.
Another good way to extend our view in a tight spot is to use reflections. If we need to
park opposite a shop, the windows can be used as a mirror to help us manoeuvre precisely.
If pulling out of a side street, reflections can help us to spot nearby pedestrians or
approaching traffic. At night the lights of oncoming cars can be spotted on the sides
of parked cars as we drive around a bend. Reflections can be useful in many other situations,
so we try to use them whenever possible.
Have you ever noticed a little lever underneath the centre mirror? This is useful when driving
at night if the car behind has really bright headlamps, as it allows us to dim the mirror
view. It is much easier to see the road ahead without the lights dazzling our eyes, and
then once the car has gone we can flick the lever to return to our normal mirror position.
If your car doesn’t have a lever, then it will have a light sensor instead that is linked
to an automatic dimming system.
It can sometimes be hard to tell which way our front wheels are pointing from inside
the car. We can of course look at the steering wheel, but on most cars it will look straight
in three positions - one full turn to the left, straight ahead, and one full turn to
the right. If you are in a tight spot and need to know which of these positions you
are in, just move the car a tiny bit. We will be able to feel whether it is straight or
not, and then correct it if needed. Taking the time to make sure our wheels are definitely
straight is far better than damaging our car.
If we need to reverse out of a parking bay and there is a car next to us, we must be
really careful not to start steering too early. If we do, we are very likely to scrape the
nose of our car down the side of the other car and cause thousands of pounds worth of
damage. All we need to remember is that we should reverse in a straight line until our
door mirrors have passed the other car. At this point we are safe to steer without the
danger of hitting the other car.
If you get confused with which way to steer the car when reversing, then remember that
we just need to steer where we want to go! When driving forwards, we steer left to go
left, and right to go right. Amazingly it’s the same when reversing! If we want the rear
of the car to go right - we steer to the right. And when we need to reverse to the left - steer
left. It might even be easier if we just think of steering ‘this way’ or ‘that way’,
rather than left or right. Just steer which ever way we need the rear of the car to go!
Why not practice in a quiet car park like this one? The actual amount of steering needed
will come with experience, but if we keep the car slow we will make it much easier for
ourselves.
We hope you find these tips useful as you gain your own experience on the road. Every
successful drive will help you to build confidence, and before long you might feel able to take
on more challenging drives. Good luck!
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