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My son started his weekend with me a night early this weekend, and his mother informed me that he needed to practice driving before his next driver's ed class. He'd driven once before, and his mother told me that he needed to practice 90-degree turns and backing up straight. She enjoined me not to yell at him. 'Piece o' cake,' I thought. So after dinner tonight we went out to the Northgate Mall parking lot, which has a few mostly empty corners.
He wasn't quite solid on the location of the pedals. The presence of both brake and parking brake at the floor of the driver's seat confused him. I told him to use his right foot for both the brake and the gas, so of course I saw him tangle his feet after he stepped on the parking brake with his right foot after I urgently informed him of the difference between the two brakes.
I may have raised my voice. I may have pounded his left thigh with my fist in an desperate attempt to convince him not to use it during ordinary driving.*
Eventually I calmed down, and he got the pedals straight. He made a few turns of between 70 and 110 degrees, and he did manage to back up straight once or twice. Favorite question: "Why do I have to look back if we have a backup camera?"
There was no property damage, (physical) injury, or death. He did say that my hysterical laughter on the back to my place freaked him out a little.
You won't be surprised to read that I have a glass of sake to the right of my laptop. You bet your butt I'm right-handed.
*This happened in my Sanctimobile, a Toyota Prius. The Prius is not available with a manual transmission. Today, that's OK with me.
He wasn't quite solid on the location of the pedals. The presence of both brake and parking brake at the floor of the driver's seat confused him. I told him to use his right foot for both the brake and the gas, so of course I saw him tangle his feet after he stepped on the parking brake with his right foot after I urgently informed him of the difference between the two brakes.
I may have raised my voice. I may have pounded his left thigh with my fist in an desperate attempt to convince him not to use it during ordinary driving.*
Eventually I calmed down, and he got the pedals straight. He made a few turns of between 70 and 110 degrees, and he did manage to back up straight once or twice. Favorite question: "Why do I have to look back if we have a backup camera?"
There was no property damage, (physical) injury, or death. He did say that my hysterical laughter on the back to my place freaked him out a little.
You won't be surprised to read that I have a glass of sake to the right of my laptop. You bet your butt I'm right-handed.
*This happened in my Sanctimobile, a Toyota Prius. The Prius is not available with a manual transmission. Today, that's OK with me.
