Automatic Driving Lessons in Raheny- Turning Right
We are back with our Learner Driver Classroom and in todays video we will be talking about turning right. Turning right can be more difficult than turning left because you will have more work to do. People generally pick up grade 2s in their test when turning right, usually for position and observation. You can be marked for position for a few different reasons.
- Not being able to hold the car in a straight line just left of centre line
- Steering too early and cutting the corner
- Steering too late and swannecking
- Steering from the left side of the road
People generally pick up a lot of grade 2s for observation too. This could be for a number of reasons but the most common one I see is when people steer to turn right, they continue to look ahead. The trick with observation is to look in the direction you are driving.
When turning right, we use MSPSL. If you seen my last blog you will remember that stands for mirror, signal, position, slow and look. For turning right we check our inside mirror first and then our right mirror. Then we signal to the right. Only after we signal, can we then position our car towards the centre line and very importantly, we drive straight up to the turn. Once we are in position, that’s when we slow with the brake first, only when we are driving slow enough, can we clutch in, into 2nd and slowly off the clutch and holding the car nice and straight, light pressure on the brake and L for look. The “Look” (observation) in this scenario is that we have to turn our head and look down to the right. I usually tell people to show the tester the back of your head. Once we have looked and we know it is safe to go can we steer. It is very important that we steer when the front of our car is in line with the centre line on the new road. If we steer too early, we “cut” the corner and too late we “swanneck” the turn.
If there is a car coming from ahead, it is really easy. We just do MSPSL on approach to the turn, look to the right and clutch in and stop when your car is in line with the centre line. While we are stopped in this position, all you have to do is keep your head moving. We look ahead and to the right. Try not to fix your eyes on the traffic coming from ahead, always keep the head moving. When we see the first safe gap, we make our turn.
It can be more tricky if there is no car coming because in this scenario, we don’t need to stop. The trick here is, as always, MSPSL on approach, hold it nice and straight up to the turn, into 2nd, off the clutch but still on the brake and when the road opens, look down to the right and steer when the front of your car is in line with the centre line on the road you will be turning down. Remember when you do this, keep looking where you are going. Resist the urge to look ahead when turning right.
Turning right can be tricky, so watch this a few times and also ask your sponsor to watch it too. At least they will have a good idea of what to look out for as you practice.
And remember, if you like the videos and you are learning from them, hit the like button and subscribe. There will more videos to follow every Tuesday and Thursday so don’t miss out. Best of luck to you all
