For those with “Push Start Engine” Button

[7milesout]

Mark - As you know, I have a couple cars. My garage is stuffed full. The area just outside of the garage doors is stuffed full. I have a 25 year old niece that is moving in. She parked down in the "lot" of cars when she showed up from Can's-Ass the other day. She moved her crap in, then left for south GA after Idalia blew through. Where the cars park outside the garage is flat and the driveway goes up a small grade. She has a Scion Xa, or whatever the Mirage-like Scion is. About the same size as the Mirage.

She went to leave the driveway the other day, my son had to move his car first. He said he was never so scared. He said he don't know how / why should couldn't do it. Her car is of course an automatic. And where she parked she was aimed STRAIGHT UP the driveway. All she had to do was let off the brake, maybe touch the throttle and she could have been blindfolded to get out. But she kept turning, SHARP. He said he thought she was going to hit cars on either side. It was as if she was trying to turn the car around and come out forward (which AIN'T happening, as there is no room). My son said he doesn't think she ever once looked in her mirror. And she's 25 years old. He got out of his car on the road and went down and backed her car out for her. More trouble brewing.

My sons are in now for Labor Day. She went to see her mom but will be back. It's obvious, I'm going to have to learn her to back up. I think I'll tape a piece of cardboard to her rear window to start with (to stop her from looking back). And then make her use the mirrors, over and over again, until she can back up the driveway. It's easy, ya just confirm there's nothing behind the car, at least in the path you intend to take, align the car body with the pavement edge, and watch that alignment as you start backing up. If you're good, keep going and check the other mirrors, and look around, but keep checking back on that original mirror and alignment. Use that same alignment view, and strategy to clear cars in your path. You look for a gap between the body, and the other car (or obstacle) steer to get a gap, let it roll, then check other mirrors and/or look around, checking that gap again as necessary. All this done slowly of course.

My driveway is ALWAYS an obstacle course. I trained my sons. And they each have 6 speed manual transmissions (2 G35's & 1 RX-8) and can back through tight spots with very little difficulty. I suspect she will be a greater challenge than they were (they were trained on an automagic Camry though). We're not posa park our Porsche/Infiniti/BMW/Audi/Volvo/Lamborghini SUVs on the streets in my uppity neighborhood. And mine is one of the lesser uppity neighborhoods in the area (thank God). But there are some mega-snooty women in the neighborhood trying to UP the snoot-level. What do you suppose they think about me, in my Mirage? I keep my Lexus hid in the garage. I drove the Lexus to work today to do emissions testing. I'll snap a photo of it whenst I leave.

I'm sort of a big fat redneck stuck in a bill-payer's body. Seems like there's a drunk character on the Simpson's (Barney maybe) that, if you cross that character with Shrek, subtract the booze, double the stank, that would be me. I don't have the snoot look or mentality that the women in these parts look for. If/when I get divorced, I'm going to have to shop in a Hazard County trailer park for my next X-wife...

[Mark]

Mark - As you know, I have a couple cars. My garage is stuffed full. The area just outside of the garage doors is stuffed full. I have a 25 year old niece that is moving in. She parked down in the "lot" of cars when she showed up from Can's-Ass the other day. She moved her crap in, then left for south GA after Idalia blew through. Where the cars park outside the garage is flat and the driveway goes up a small grade. She has a Scion Xa, or whatever the Mirage-like Scion is. About the same size as the Mirage.

She went to leave the driveway the other day, my son had to move his car first. He said he was never so scared. He said he don't know how / why should couldn't do it. Her car is of course an automatic. And where she parked she was aimed STRAIGHT UP the driveway. All she had to do was let off the brake, maybe touch the throttle and she could have been blindfolded to get out. But she kept turning, SHARP. He said he thought she was going to hit cars on either side. It was as if she was trying to turn the car around and come out forward (which AIN'T happening, as there is no room). My son said he doesn't think she ever once looked in her mirror. And she's 25 years old. He got out of his car on the road and went down and backed her car out for her. More trouble brewing.

My sons are in now for Labor Day. She went to see her mom but will be back. It's obvious, I'm going to have to learn her to back up. I think I'll tape a piece of cardboard to her rear window to start with (to stop her from looking back). And then make her use the mirrors, over and over again, until she can back up the driveway. It's easy, ya just confirm there's nothing behind the car, at least in the path you intend to take, align the car body with the pavement edge, and watch that alignment as you start backing up. If you're good, keep going and check the other mirrors, and look around, but keep checking back on that original mirror and alignment. Use that same alignment view, and strategy to clear cars in your path. You look for a gap between the body, and the other car (or obstacle) steer to get a gap, let it roll, then check other mirrors and/or look around, checking that gap again as necessary. All this done slowly of course.

My driveway is ALWAYS an obstacle course. I trained my sons. And they each have 6 speed manual transmissions (2 G35's & 1 RX-8) and can back through tight spots with very little difficulty. I suspect she will be a greater challenge than they were (they were trained on an automagic Camry though). We're not posa park our Porsche/Infiniti/BMW/Audi/Volvo/Lamborghini SUVs on the streets in my uppity neighborhood. And mine is one of the lesser uppity neighborhoods in the area (thank God). But there are some mega-snooty women in the neighborhood trying to UP the snoot-level. What do you suppose they think about me, in my Mirage? I keep my Lexus hid in the garage. I drove the Lexus to work today to do emissions testing. I'll snap a photo of it whenst I leave.

I'm sort of a big fat redneck stuck in a bill-payer's body. Seems like there's a drunk character on the Simpson's (Barney maybe) that, if you cross that character with Shrek, subtract the booze, double the stank, that would be me. I don't have the snoot look or mentality that the women in these parts look for. If/when I get divorced, I'm going to have to shop in a Hazard County trailer park for my next X-wife...

Funny stuff & not so funny stuff in many ways.

I sort of see it all when I drive with kids. Most are pretty good, but it's not natural for some. I have a hard time even comprehending where their brain is sometimes. I just emailed a parent about a concern like that today.

It has nothing to do with how smart someone is either. Both of my daughters were co-valedictorians of their respective graduating high school classes. My younger daughter is a natural. When she was young, she could hop on an ATV & drive off. My oldest daughter almost drove the same ATV into the side of our house. She had to be told what the handle bars were for, & I am not making this up. She's super intelligent, but driving things is not natural for her. First time driving on snow covered roads alone she goes in the ditch, & we are not surprised. I wouldn't trade her for the world, but driving is not something that comes natural to her.

I have this happen all the time - I have students practice turning the car around by using a driveway. Sometimes I have them pull into a driveway on the other side of the road going in forward & back out. Sometimes, I have them drive past a driveway on our side of the road & back in. Some students will back into the driveway to do a turn around, and then they will ask which way should I go? If we went right, we wouldn't have turned around the car? I make them think, & they truly seem stumped. They're literally confused.

Pull up next to a car to parallel park behind it. There's a 50/50 chance some will turn the steering wheel the wrong way. I let them figure it out sometimes. I also let them hit the curb sometimes (not my car). We learn from our mistakes I say to them.

I had a girl make a left turn onto a street in town the other day. She was taking herself home, and it was her last lesson. She turns left onto the street and she starts driving down the left side of the road. In our 12 hours of being together in the car, I never taught her that. I let it be to see if she would correct herself, but I had to remind her we were not in the UK. This is the mom I just emailed. DMV wants students to complete 50 hours of adult supervised driving before getting their license. Parents are responsible for that! I seldom need to say much, but this case was different. Nice girl, but she can't focus on driving very well. A half hour earlier she would have taken out a large tree in the parking lot of our community center. I asked her to park under the shade of the tree to switch drivers. In her focus to park between the yellow lines, she hit the gas instead of the brake when needing to stop. My dual brake pedal on my side saved us & the car. Will she get better? Sure, but she needs those hours of supervision. I feel for the parents, because they don't have dual brake pedals like me!

[defensivetackle99]

I haven’t tried the Neutral approach yet but I do have to admit that the turn key ignition is nice to have as having the knobs for radio, AC and such. Guess manual operation on everything is better.

[Eggman]

I think I'll tape a piece of cardboard to her rear window to start with (to stop her from looking back). And then make her use the mirrors, over and over again, until she can back up the driveway.

This is interesting. I was taught to never trust your mirrors and always look where you are going. This was back when cars didn't block these lines of sight with high sheet metal and smaller windows. To this day I still turn around to look where I am backing up, but I can't see anything behind the car because cars are designed different. I have to rely on mirrors and stupid backup cameras.

[defensivetackle99]

There is a way and it's simple: Before you shut off the car, put your foot on the brake and put the transmission in Neutral. Push the button to shut off the car. The car will quit running but it will still be in accessory mode with your radio running. Then just put into Park without touching the button again. Then when you are ready to exit the vehicle, leave your foot off the brake and push the button again or if you want to restart it, put your foot on the brake first and push the button.

Tried it this am after filling up the tank and it works! Thank you so much!!

[7milesout]

I was taught to never trust your mirrors and always look where you are going.

I don't want her to use her mirrors exclusively. But right now, she cannot even fathom using her mirrors at all for backing. She just started driving over the last couple years. Her dad is/was not in the picture to teach her how to drive.

Me personally, mirrors don't lie, but they don't tell the whole story. They only show me what is inline with my vehicle when I'm backing. I'm scanning both mirrors, the rearview, and the backup camera view (if I have it). Before I even get in my vehicle, I'm looking at the field behind my vehicle, and planning what I'm going to do. The views afterward just confirm I'm not going to hit anything. I've got to get her to be able to use her mirrors. As for now, I've officially determined her a parking spot that minimizes damage to other vehicles. The mailbox remains in jeopardy...