Driving Lessons - Left Give-ways

So you have completed your first left turns from major to minor roads. Next at some point you will reach the end of a road and will need to give-way to traffic.

When reaching a give-way line you must wait, until its safe to enter the new road. You dont have to stop completely, but you do need to slow down to a creep to be able to have a good look - at least twice in each direction - before deciding to proceed or stopping behind the lines. To start with in your lessons its likely you will be stopping at every give-way junction as otherwise theres just too much to concentrate on.

As you approach your instructor will give you a direction to turn left at the end of the road. Once again you need to go through our MSM procedure of Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre. So its rear view mirror first, then the left mirror, followed by a left indication. Then we are thinking about our positioning for the turn. As with all left turns we need to stay in our Normal Road Position. And if youre not already, a little breaking will be needed to prepare to stop.
Because we are coming to a stop at the end or at least almost stopping, we need to put our clutch down. We do this about 5-7 metres from the end of the road. Once done you may need to brake a little harder as there will now be no engine breaking so the car can easilly run away from you. Your turning point is then the same as the left turn from major to minor. As soon as the kerb starts to go around the corner, we follow it. However, this time we only follow as much as we can until we reach the give-way line where we need to break enough to bring the car to a stop.

Now, once stopped, we need to Prepare the car again to move off so we pull the handbrake up, come off the brake pedal, and keeping the clutch down we select 1st gear. Next its setting the gas and bringing the clutch to the biting point. Now we need to complete our Observations. Unlike when we are parked, we dont need to do a 6 point check here as we are already out in the road. We simply need to look left and right, and possibly straight ahead too if we are at a crossroads. Then when you are happy its clear, release the handbrake and gently move away. As we had already turned a little to the left by following the kerb, as soon as we move off we will be heading in the correct direction.

You will next progress to what I call Rolling Give-Ways. This is where you try to keep the car creeping whilst doing your observations, then if its clear you can move off whilst rolling. For this the above procedure is very similar. When you put the clutch down 5-7 metres from the end you need to put the gear stick into 1st straight away so you are now ready to go again. Bring the car to a near stop, have a good look, and if its clear you come off the brake completely whilst the car is still rolling slightly, gas, biting point, and off you go! This again takes practice but saves a lot of time once mastered.

Now you are ready for Right Turns

JV

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