Driving and manuverbility

Post Reply New Topic

Anyone who had to do maneuverability on their driving test, can you please explain it step by step? I've been asking several driving schools but all they do is tell me what maneuverability is and why it's important. Gee thanks for telling me what I already know. I had a driving instructor who explained it step by step and wrote it down step by step. So far, no one seems to understand what I am talking about. I lost her notes after I moved back in with my parents after my apartment complex got arsoned.

Every other driving teacher told me I was hopeless because I couldn't do maneuverability....No, THEY couldn't tell me what the hell they expected me to do except that one lady. But I think she's retired now. I was talking to a lady who was taking driving lessons and seemed pretty NT and she said she had the same problems with driving teachers and gave up and quit them.

The maneuverability test is driving around the cones, right? It might help if you can describe what is expected of you in the test. Are you driving along curves, or are you driving around cones set in a specific configuration? What do they ask you to do?

The trick is actually in knowing where the sides of your car are relative to where you are sitting in the car, and the path your car will take at any given speed and angle the steering wheel is held.

A few things that have been helpful for me.

1. When you sit in a car, you are not supposed to position your body such that you are sitting in the middle of the road/path you are driving on. Your body should be to the left of the center of the road/path (or to the right if you live in the UK or a place where the driver's side is on the right). You need to put the center of the car in the middle of the path you are driving. While you practice, you can try fixing a part of a pool noodle or something similar to the center of your front bumper so you can visually see exactly where the middle of the car is. You can do the same thing for the four corners of the car too.

2. When you are aiming where you drive, it helps me to aim at a place a little bit in front of the car. I sometimes imagine that a projection of the path of the car is being shot out of a projector on the front of the car, and try to steer the car based on where it is going to be a second in the future, as opposed to where it is right now.

3. Find a happy medium between turning the steering wheel too often, but not often enough. If a path you are driving along has a fixed curve, there is a certain speed and angle to hold the steering wheel that will allow you to match the curve of the path you are driving. Take your best guess at what that angle should be to begin with. If you notice that the left side of the path is getting closer and closer to the car, turn the wheel slowly to the right until you are able to drive along the curve without increasing or deceasing the distance between your car and either side of the road. Similarly, if you notice that the right side of the path is getting closer and closer to the car, turn the wheel slowly to the left until you are able to drive along the curve without increasing or deceasing the distance between your car and either side of the road.

4. There are a few stock steering wheel positions to practice. To start, if you turn the wheel all the way to the left right (meaning multiple revolutions in one of either directions), then turn the steering wheel back around one and a half times, the wheel should be dead straight. From a stopped position, try driving the car at the following positions to get an idea of how it will behave. 1. All the way to the left. 2. All the way to the right. 3. Half a full turn to the left. 4. Half a full turn to the right. 5. One full revolution to the left (the wheel will appear to be set straight because you have come full circle). 6. One full revolution to the left (the wheel will appear to be set straight because you have come full circle).

5. Don't forget to make FULL stops. Stop and let the car sit not moving at all for at least 2 seconds any time you need to stop.

Something that would be really helpful, would be to find an empty parking lot and practice. You can buy a couple of cones if you can. Here is a link for 36 f them for about $20 USD. You might want taller ones, but feel free to modify anything by sticking a small branch in the top if they are are to see. If that is cost prohibitive, you can use something that is not important and won't damage your car if you hit it, like small broken tree branches or something else. Set up a course for yourself and practice! If it helps, set the tires perfectly straight and mark the top most point on the steering wheel. You can then visually see how far you are turning the wheel to the left or right to make it work.

I would also recommend looking up some videos on you tube. Try searching for "<state you live in> maneuverability test"

Here are some good videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHs2no9bfoU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50cPp7-8JpU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odzu84kYZT4

I hope this helps!

I would equate the word maneuverability with the word turning. In general when you drive, you drive in a set lane. So if you change to another lane, that is maneuverability. So to be safe, you need to look into the lane that you are about to move into and make sure there are no other cars in that lane first. You also need to use your turn signals to make sure you are alerting other driver of your intention to change lanes.

When you turn onto another road, you must signal your intentions to turn. If you are at a four way stop, you must come to a full stop and wait your turn to change roads. You must use your turn signals. A stop light is similar, you must make sure you have the right of way before you make the turn.

If the road is not straight, you must maneuver through the turn and stay in your lane. This may require that you slow down.

If you are going backwards, such as when you parallel park, you need to turn your body around and look behind you while you back up. It is dangerous to back up just using your rear view mirror. There are too many hazards that you can miss just by looking at a mirror.

Maneuverability is also avoiding hitting object or hazards while you are making a turn. It requires the ability to know and feel the extremities of your automobile just like you feel the extremities of your body. It is similar to the sense called proprioception (the ability to sense and understand body movements and keep track of your body's position in space).

Where I live, the only maneuverabilty you have to for car driving license is car parking, if I remember correctly. However, for my motorcycle driving license I had to do maneuverablities around cones, break distance test, etc. as mentioned above.

If you drive around curves it is important to vary your speed so that you can see what is coming. If you just drive slow you will anger the people behind you. If you drive too fast you won't be able to see what is just around the corner.

This pertains to being able to guide the car accurately, and also understanding its proper path from the driver's seat. It may include parking. Please don't try to prepare for an exact test. You need to be able to handle any situation, or you risk others' lives.

BTW, when I first began driving, I judged if I would hit something by observing the lane markers against points on the bodywork. This became useless on curves. I was also too rigid in my thinking to have crossed a solid white line, even if that lane was open and the only way to avoid an accident. Now, I think of myself as being as big as the car, with eyes to one side, and just look for room for myself. I run over isolated stones from time to time to refine my perception of size.

Yes, when you get to advanced driving you will learn to observe the traffic ahead of you.

There is a freeway off ramp that I can watch for traffic if I look for it early enough. Then my view gets blocked for about 1/4 mile just before I make the merge. It is a lot easier the merge if I know what is coming

Maneuverability courses , the bane of my existence . I remember that while I was practicing with the instructor , in his compact vehicle , I did fine . But when I tried to do it in my parent's car , looking in my mirror , and upon seeing three cones turning the steering wheel a quarter of the way , if I recall correctly , I messed up considerably . So what I don't like is that the state has the same narrow course , no matter how large the vehicle is . Like , a minivan has to go through the same test run as a Volkswagen Beetle . So to this day , eventhough I am 36 yrs old , I have yet to get my driver's liscence . So I haven't been able to find a job yet either . I am planning to start up my own home based business , doing transcription , once my office is completed . For those who might be fortunate not to have to know what exactly I am referring to , here is a video tutorial .

When I took my motorcycle test, we had to weave through a row of cones, etc., but one test was to "accelerate as hard as possible, and then instantly switch to hard braking, ending with your front wheel near, but not over a line." I had a very small motor, so I didn't get up much speed, making the test easy to judge and pass. Another applicant was there to re-gain his license, on a very fast bike which looked awkward around the cones. He got going pretty fast, threw the bike into a sideways skid, and stopped with both tires on the line. The examiner just checked him off.

Learning to control a skid as an automatic reflex is important where you get ice, but it can save you an accident anywhere. Other places, such as LA, you have to have fast reflexes for the traffic speed and density. Here, I have to be vigilant for wildlife and giant machines on the road. There are always distracted, distraught, or drunk drivers to consider, too.

Advanced driving is more than car control and vigilance, though. One really aware driver in 20 can smooth the flow of traffic on a freeway for miles. If a busy on-ramp is ahead, take the passing lane if you can to make room. When you come to a bottleneck, don't "take your turn for a look" - ride that bumper ahead of you and clear the area ASAP.

Is this even required to get your license?

I never had to do this. All I had to do was take the written and then pass the driving and that was the instructor sitting in the passenger seat and they tell me where to go. It is basically just going around the block and they tell you when you make a left or a right and they may tell you to do parallel park. You lose points for every mistake you make. The trick would be is wait until there are hardly any people and traffic and wait for the weather to be good, and then do your test and you pass.


Maybe each state is different because when I lived in Montana, this was all you had to do and then I moved to Oregon and I only had to do the written and that was it. I already had a valid driver's license so I only needed to do the written. Some states require the written and the driving.

Driver training and licensing has become as big a business as it can be, but the maze of rules is not what it is really about. Luckily for many of our members, self-driving cars are on the way, and occasional Taxi use is already cheaper than owning a car. I hope that Uber, etc, will evolve into real ride-sharing, so you only have to pay gas since the driver is pretty much going there anyway, as long as you adjust your timing to their convenience.