Driving Lessons for Cate

Over the last year, my daughter finally wanted to get her license, hooray for a city kid finally wanting to take the step at 22.

I have to say, it’s nerve-wracking the first time to take a new driver on the freeway. She drove from San Francisco to Cupertino for some Bingsu all on city streets. (think El-Camino all the way). Then her first drive on the freeway is 280 from Cupertino to San Francisco. The merging to the freeway, and the lane switching drew out sweat and tingling feelings in my spine. She brought us home safely, but maybe with a few scary moments. Her next freeway driving was much better, with one possible scary moment when someone speed up really quickly on the right lane which she was about to switch into and she had to pull back.

After a few more freeway drives and one over the Bay Bridge, I feel a lot more confident about her ability to drive.

My two tips for her

  • Drive defensively, expect all other drivers to be poor drivers and they will do the unexpected.
  • Look ahead and not just look at what’s directly in front of you so that you can anticipate problems before they happen and steer clear of trouble.