09 Mar 2008 03:49:55 | Sue and Chuck DeFiore
I grew up in the era of moms and dads teaching us to drive. Yes
we had Driver's Ed, however, Driver's Ed classes didn't start
until our senior year, by then most of us already knew how to
drive. After all, at 16 we all wanted the coveted "learners
permit!"
My father taught me to drive. First we went over the basics,
starting, stopping, the gauges, how the car worked, what to do
on wet, dry roads, turns, and anything else my father could
think of to have me prepared for any situation. Things you
weren't going to get from Drivers Ed. My dad shared his many
years of experience, and it made me a better driver than most of
my female and many of my male counterparts.
Then, he took me into mid-Manhattan and told me to drive. For
those of you who don't know about NY traffic or mid Manhattan,
it is absolute chaos. In amongst this chaos is the heralded NY
taxi driver. "Believe me", my father said, "if you can drive
with the taxis, you can drive anywhere and will be ready for
anything." And he was right. Plus, in New York you had better
know how to parallel park and to do it quickly, because if you
took too long someone else was in there. My father actually had
a stop watch and we practiced out on Long Island for several
weekends and then back to the city we went.
My father also insisted that I learn to drive and maneuver going
backwards. I didn't ask why, I just did it. We lived by a high
school and we went into the back parking lot and I have to drive
backwards around the lot more times than I want to even think
about. Believe me when I say I could drive backwards as well as
I did going forward.
We also practiced around the cones, moving in and out of them,
without knocking them over. If I knocked it over, I had to put
it back up and then do it again until I could do it without
knocking any over, going faster and faster each time. Very
helpful when I had to make quick maneuvers on the Long Island
Expressway. Also turned out to be very helpful in Funkanas and
other events entered during the years.
So, who taught you how to drive? Drop us a line and let us know.
DeFiore Enterprises, Copyright 2005
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