Online driving tutorials
Online driving tutorial - Moving off and stopping
Automatic learners click here
There are two absolute key routines you need to learn here before going much further. POM and MSM. You need both of these for moving off and stopping.
Moving Off
The first thing you have to learn is how to P.O.M! Prepare, observe, manoeuvre. This is the routine you'll use every time your stationary.
To prepare the car you firstly press the clutch all the way down to the floor, keep your left foot still, then with your left hand put the car into first gear. You do this with an open palm, towards the left side of the car forward to the front left wheel.
You then need to 'set the gas'. This is done with your right foot. You need to squeeze the accelerator about the width of a pound coin, until you get a lively even hum from the engine. You can use the rev counter to help. Some where between 1.5 and 2 revs would be enough. Your right foot now stays still.
Slowly, a fraction at a time the left foot is going to come off the clutch until you feel a vibration change through the car. This is the biting point. It's when the engine starts to turn the wheels. A large biting point is when the bonnet feels like it's rising. If you feel this, dip it a little, you don't want too much. Once this happens, both feet stay still and your car is now prepared.
Next you need to observe. Firstly check your interior mirror, then right door mirror (looking for any other road user, remember not to make them slow down for you), then over your right shoulder into your blind spot.
If it's clear, your left hand releases the handbrake and the car will start to manoeuvre. Both hands should now be on the wheel and gently move yourself away from the kerb.
Whilst this is happening, your feet need to move like a little set of scales. Your left foot slowly releases the rest of the clutch. Perhaps over a distance of 2-3 car lengths (8-12 meters). Whilst your right foot applies more gas.
When you've steered from the pavement enough, about 1/2 meters, straighten up. Your left foot should be off the clutch by now and get into the habit of resting it on the floor, not on the clutch pedal.
Stopping
This is where we need to use the M-S-M routine. Mirrors, signal, manoeuvre. When we need to reduce our speed the first thing we do is check our interior mirror. This is to check the speed and position of the cars behind us. Then we check our left door mirror for cyclists.
We then signal to indicate to all road users what our intentions are.
The maneuvering section is broken down into three separate components. Positions, speed and look.
After checking the left hand side is clear, we change our position and steer towards the pavement. Gently.
Whenever we intend to stop and as soon as we feel we have the momentum to make it to our stopped position, we dip the clutch. We then apply the brake and control the speed. Make it progressive and smooth. Using the foot brake illuminates the rear brake lights, which is another form of signal in the M-S-M routine and can actually happen before the indicator later on when travelling at higher speeds.
Look for somewhere safe, legal and convenient to park up. Have a target in mind to practise what level of pressure to apply to the brake to achieve a certain result.
Once the car has stopped, keep the feet still! Fully apply the handbrake, put the car into neutral, cancel the signal and then relax your feet.
Now that you know about moving off and stopping, you should look to practise this is quiet areas to begin with with plenty of free pavement space. Once you're getting along with this, look to the next tutorial.
How close to the kerb am I?
A little reference point tip. Some struggle with estimating where the kerb is when parking. It's difficult to begin with. If you really need help, use a reference point on the wiper blade. In this photo, when the kerb stone is inline with the knobbly bit of the wiper blade, the car is about 10 cm from the pavement. All cars will have something you can use for this.
Be careful not to fixate on this. Use it for a little bit, then use your judgement.
