I can't see turns!!!

LuckyStar

Hi,
I was out driving last night, had the boyfriend in the passanger seat, he has been driving a year. He would be telling me to take the next left and unless there is a car coming out of that turn I find it very hard to see them! Same with some speed ramps, I can't see them! Now sometimes I can't take a turn anyway because the boyfriend doesn't tell me to take a turn until I'm about 6 feet away from it but even so, does anyone else find it hard to see turns? I wear my new glasses that are of the right prescription, its not that I can't see stuff because it's blurry, I just can't make things out.

The problem is worse at night time.

blackbox

Try raising the seat.

Seth Brundle

Go to an optician
If you can't see properly then reconsider the option of driving!

blackbox

blackbox wrote: »

Try raising the seat.

...and then the dashboard won't be blocking your view.


- this has to be a wind-up!

LuckyStar

No it's not a wind up, when i am driving at night I find it hard to see turns. Obviously big junctions etc are fine but sometimes on back roads it is difficult to see the turn in time.
It is not my eyesight, I was only eye tested a few weeks ago.

I will try and raise the seat as high up as I can, I have just got sat nav too so at least that should help.

prendy

then you shouldnt be behind the wheel.if you cant see a turn then you wont see a car coming out of that turn.

Wishbone Ash

LuckyStar wrote: »

had the boyfriend in the passanger seat, he has been driving a year

Was your boyfriend acting as an accompanied driver?

An accompanied driver is required to have a full licence in the relevant category and have held that licence for at least 2 years!

blackbox

prendy wrote: »

then you shouldnt be behind the wheel.if you cant see a turn then you wont see a car coming out of that turn.

...not to mention the pedestrian in traditional clothing (brown coat, black trousers, grey cap, no reflectors).

Azlan

I think the important point in your post is that you went out last night? When it's dark and you're just learning, it can be difficult to see turns on roads that aren't well lit - it gets easier with practice and as you need a little less concentration on the technical aspects of driving!! The sat nav will definitely help your confidence - and your boyfriend giving you a little more warning of turns coming up. :rolleyes:

prendy

sat nav will definitely help your confidence - and your boyfriend giving you a little more warning of turns coming up.

No offence but thats terrible advice...sat navs shouldnt be used to help u see a turn..simply as a directional tool.
this is especially true when learning IMO. OP go back to the doctor and get him to check your eyes again.
and in the meantime stop driving in the dark...learn during the day when theres less risk!

Azlan

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

An accompanied driver is required to have a full licence in the relevant category and have held that licence for at least 2 years!

It depends whether you have a learner permit or a provisional licence. If you have a provisional licence, there is no minimum time that they must hold the full licence (at least not til June!)

cantdecide

Don't try to look 'around' the corner. Look for the gap in the foot path, lok for a break in the road markings, look for road signsor traffic lights that are pointing up the road you are being told to go up.

Maybe you live in a built up area but I always tell people i know that are learning to find a scenic route home from work or wherever. You can become intimately familiar with it and learn all the right places for changing gears and all the bad bends where you must slow right down. It makes you assess road conditions more quickly without permanently encountering new conditions.

Keep tweaking that route when you have it memorised

My mum stuck to her one or two main road routes to the shops etc. after starting to drive over ten years ago and effectively, she never learned. I brought her out to local backroads before her most recent test. These roads were where she really learned to drive and she passed this time.

I also wear glasses and can tell you that if things are blurry, the prescription is wrong. Go back to the shop and tell them you want to be re-tested and when they put you in the 'better or worse' machine, make sure you take time to think about it each time and tell them you want the glasses for driving. Worst case scenarion is new lenses in your existing frames.

L1011

I hope this is just down to being effectively "concentration overload"-ed due to only being fairly new to driving - this can happen, you're effectively spending all your time looking at the road and the cars directly ahead.

If you can, go for some longer straight drives to get more used to what level of attention you need to pay to other things (which is still very high of course!) and it might help.

And don't get a sat nav. Preferably *ever*. They turn drivers in to robots, and not very good ones at that.

LuckyStar

cantdecide wrote: »

Don't try to look 'around' the corner. Look for the gap in the foot path, lok for a break in the road markings, look for road signsor traffic lights that are pointing up the road you are being told to go up.

That's it, it is the breaks in foot paths and sometimes road markings that I find hard to make out because they are at the same level as me. Like if I am going up or down a hill I can see everything fine. I would describe it as like reading a book- if the book was open and flat on a shelf at eye level I would have trouble seeing the words unless they were near me, but if the book was leaned at an angle I would be fine.

L1011

LuckyStar wrote: »

That's it, it is the breaks in foot paths and sometimes road markings that I find hard to make out because they are at the same level as me. Like if I am going up or down a hill I can see everything fine. I would describe it as like reading a book- if the book was open and flat on a shelf at eye level I would have trouble seeing the words unless they were near me, but if the book was leaned at an angle I would be fine.

You're definitely sitting too low, then.

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

An accompanied driver is required to have a full licence in the relevant category and have held that licence for at least 2 years!

Azlan wrote: »

It depends whether you have a learner permit or a provisional licence. If you have a provisional licence, there is no minimum time that they must hold the full licence (at least not til June!)

I stand corrected. It's possible that the OP may have a Provisional Licence and the accompanied driver would not be required to have had a Full Licence for 2 years.

Thanks for the 'heads up' Azlan.

LuckyStar

MYOB wrote: »

You're definitely sitting too low, then.

I will give the seat a good raise up when I get home and see if it helps. I hope so otherwise I'm screwed, I am quite tall so it has to be the seat!!!

Wishbone Ash

LuckyStar wrote: »

I am quite tall so it has to be the seat!!!

If you are tall then it can hardly be the seat height. From reading the previous posts, I got the impression that you were very short!

Noelie

Can you see over the Steering wheel and dash? when driving would you head be positioned higher than the steering wheel?

Sabre0001

prendy wrote: »

No offence but thats terrible advice...sat navs shouldnt be used to help u see a turn..simply as a directional tool.

Definately true - too many stories about Sat Navs taking people into dangerous territories...But on a more light hearted note - was in the car with my Dad in Texas looking for the turn, quite dark...Sat nav says "turn left now" so he did - ended up on a footpath (and not the one parallel to the road)

LuckyStar

I am 5'9", I can see over the steering wheel alright, if the seat doesn't go up any higher I'll just have to sit on a cushion!

I got the sat nav and used it on a route I know very well, to see how it works, I felt a lot more secure and was much better able to relax knowing that I had it there to refer to. I have no sense of direction at all.

wil

If you only have particular problems at night, perhaps you could have night blindness. You might be lacking in vitamins, wrong perscription or other. Speak to your optician.