Riding along in my automobile

[inmyriadbits]

Yesterday, it occurred to me that being friends with people in New York means that I have no knowledge of what they're like as drivers, despite knowing some of them for two years. (It's like that episode of Sex & The City when they rent a car to go to a baby shower in the boonies, and there's a "Wait, can any of us even drive?" moment. I had no idea how spot-on that was.) The thought following this was that the same goes for my online friends.

And now I am curious. Tell me, flist, are you good drivers? What do you drive? Are you a speedster, a grandma, or middle-of-the-road? (um, no pun intended) Do you even have a driver's license? Do you hate parallel parking? Etc, etc.

Comments

[akite.livejournal.com]

You almost have to be a driver when you live in Houston. I consider myself to be a good driver. I've never been at fault in any of the accidents I've endured, and I've only had one ticket in almost 30 years of driving. It was for running a red light. /o\ So, yes, I'm a bit of a speedster. I absolutely hate parrell parking. I can do it, but only if there's lots of room. I drive a silver 2005 Kia Spectra sedan.

[slodwick.livejournal.com]

I'm a reasonably good driver, though I tend to have a bit of a lead-foot, so I use my cruise-control often. I don't like to drive, however, so if I can, I'll happily let someone do all the driving. I don't really know how to parallel park (shoddy instruction in high school, combined with the fact that I live in a suburban/rural area), and I know how to drive a manual transmission in theory, but in practice... it's pretty ugly.

I currently drive a Ford Focus named Sheeba, and I love her. She's zippy and silver, and has enough room for four people (five if they're small).

[soundslikej.livejournal.com]

I'm not a great driver, but I've never had an accident, and never gotten a ticket. (been pulled over a few times, but no tickets) I tend to be just as klutzy and absentminded behind the wheel as I am in all other aspects of my life, so I don't really like driving if I have people in the car. Alone, with my iPod? I could drive all day!

I drive a silver Malibu named Vincent, who is a little quirky, but generally well-behaved.

Despite living in the Boston area, I still have no idea how to parallel park.

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

I am a pretty good driver! Although I fail utterly at parallel parking, because you almost never have to do it in New Jersey and so I don't think I've actually done it since I took my driving test.

[floridapeaches.livejournal.com]

That's such a neat question! :)

I like to think I'm a good driver. I navigated Fort Worth (and 800 miles of highway in between home and there) without incident, and I haven't had a speeding ticket in almost three years (more impressive considering I've only been driving for 6 years, and had had one a year for the first three).

I drive a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, white, four door, with a V6 3.2 liter engine. She looks a lot like _this_, only white, and without the spoiler. Her name is Isabella, but I call her Izzy, and she is my baby.

I realized while I was in Fort Worth, where freaking EVERYONE drives the speed limit, that it's quite common around here to drive 5-10 MPH over the posted limit. It's not so much that I'm a speedster, as it is that traffic just flows fast here.

I'm pretty much ok with driving anywhere, and can handle parallel parking, and mot of the other things that generally drive people crazy. My pet peeve is people who don't use their blinkers. I kinda want to kill them all. Alternately, people who *do* use their blinkers, but then leave them on. >_

[floridapeaches.livejournal.com]

Also? I have gotten to the point that I can hardly stand to be a passenger, and if there is any option I will pick driving over riding any day.

And I learned to drive in a manual transmission car, so I can handle them just fine. I actually prefer manual, but don't tell Izzy. ;)

[jaydeyn-sitari.livejournal.com]

I drive all the time and love it. The commute to uni takes 35 minutes on a good day and not in peak hour, so I've had lots of practice. I'm a bit of a stickler for the road rules, which means I tend to, you know, go the speed limit in the 'fast lane' as opposed to 20k/hr over. I drive a silver Hyundai Elantra. Never really named it though...

I've done all of two reverse parallel parks since my test and did 'em both perfectly. Regular parking? I just have not figured out how to get the damn car dead centre and straight. Drives me barmy. It's an auto, but I can drive manual (helps if I have someone reminding me to change from 2nd to 3rd though).

:)
Jaydeyn

[celli]

I'm an okay driver. Better on highways and long distances, because that's what I grew up with. I get anxious on freeways. I transit it during the week, and only use the car to run errands for myself and my friends on weekends.

I have a 93 Saturn that just earned its fourth parking ticket it didn't deserve today (%^%&^$&^$&^$!!!!). It's just an in-between car, and I'm hoping to get a newer one later this year. We'll see.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hm! I love to drive, but I'm just sort of okay at it -- more lucky than skillful. People don't like to get driven by me, because I jounce them around corners, and if we get caught up in conversation I miss turnings and parking spaces. When I'm alone, I have a bad habit of driving one-handed b/c constantly changing the radio station. I can parallel park if there's plenty of room, but I'd rather not. I'm pretty law-abiding as far as speed goes (5 miles over, no more, rarely less), so I have to keep right most of the time, but I love being out on the highway and feeling so free and watching the road go on forever.

You?

[inmyriadbits.livejournal.com]

I love to drive, and I'm pretty confident that I'm a good driver. My dad was totally paranoid about letting me drive, and since he had control the car, I had to practice (after I got my learning permit, before I could get my license) for about a year before he let me drive on my own. I don't know if they do it differently elsewhere, but in Texas you can do a parent-taught course. Technically, they have to log a certain number of hours for you and teach various things, but my dad just made me practice until he felt safe letting me out on the road. He has very high standards, so that was good in retrospect. I can parallel park just fine. I go a bit faster than the speed limit a lot of the time, especially on the highway, but everyone does that here. If you go the limit in Texas, it takes forever to get places, because it's all spread out. I also like being on the highway, cruising along and playing good music. There's nothing quite like it.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I remember that about Texas! All those straightaways, and everybody blurring down them. Looked like fun.