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How to determine the dimensions of the car while driving. Tips for beginners: how to learn to feel the size of the car

The overall dimensions or dimensions of a car are called its length, width, and height. Everyone has it vehicle they differ, specific numbers can be found in the car manual. Information on how to feel the dimensions of a car will be very useful for everyone, since this knowledge helps to park the car without any difficulties and move normally in city traffic.

Most likely, all drivers had to park their car in a parking lot, where there was very little space. In addition, a sense of the size of the car is very helpful when driving on back roads with various obstacles, for example, trees, etc. And in the case of buying a garage, you need to learn how to feel the dimensions of the car.

It is necessary to understand that this can be learned only after some time of regular car operation. With the help of our advice, you can quickly feel the dimensions of your car.

One of the main mistakes novice drivers make is that while driving, they constantly try to see everything that happens under the front bumper of their car. However, doing this while driving is highly undesirable. Your gaze should be directed only forward!

Rear parking is also often a major problem for newbies. In order to determine the distance as accurately as possible, it is necessary to adjust the external mirrors of the car so that you can see the wheels in them. rear axle... Exterior mirrors are used to feel side dimensions auto. Learn to look at the edge of the outside mirrors.

If you are driving on a suburban highway and you need to change lanes, do not forget to look in the appropriate side mirror. As a rule, drivers who do not yet know how to learn to feel the dimensions of the car cut off other road users. You can only rebuild after you see in the mirror the whole car that is driving behind you. In order to learn how to accurately determine dimensions cars in the dark, at first you can install LEDs on the bumpers, which will help you navigate well.

Exercises to learn to feel the size of the machine

  1. Skills need to be constantly improved. It is recommended to do this using a traditional exercise called "snake". To do this, you need to look for special traffic cones or "chips" between which you have to maneuver. Remember that the front wheels have a larger turning radius than the rear. During the first time, you need to move at the minimum speed. Then it is necessary to gradually increase the speed, while remembering to reduce the gaps between the cones.
  2. In addition, you can feel the dimensions of the car using the "figure eight" exercise. First, you need to work out the movement along the oval, and then go through the entire exercise. It is important to take into account the fact that when driving in reverse, the car has the best maneuverability. If too abrupt maneuvers are made, the trajectory will change. Then you need to stop the car, find the main landmarks in the salon rear-view mirror, and continue the exercise. Do not forget to learn to feel the approximate stopping distance of the car. To do this, you need to find a suitable flat section of the road and accelerate to the required speed, then sharply press the brake. This exercise should be done on road sections where there are no other vehicles or pedestrians.
  3. With the help of chalk, you need to draw a line on the road. You need to approach it at a minimum distance, but it is prohibited to enter the line. This is not easy to do, so you can use cardboard boxes or plastic bottles instead of a line.

In the end, I would like to say only that in order to feel the dimensions of the car, you just need to drive the car regularly, not forgetting to do the exercises we mentioned.

Learning to drive well isn't just about learning how to start a car and drive on busy roads. Every driver constantly has to perform such maneuvers as parking, making a U-turn on a narrow road, avoiding holes and other obstacles. A very good sense of size is required to accurately carry out all these actions. own car... With experience, this feeling comes naturally, but if you are a newbie car enthusiast, it might not hurt you to learn a bit of this skill. There are several exercises specifically for this that will help develop a sense of the size of the car.

1. Mistakes of novice drivers.

For the first time sitting behind the wheel of a car, many underestimate the importance of vehicle dimensions. We are talking about the length and width of its body, as well as the height of the suspension. Naturally, for each car model, these parameters may even be very different. At the same time, even knowing specific numbers does not always help to cope with parking. To do this, you still need to get along with the car and literally feel it.

Very often, novice drivers overestimate their strength and think that they can drive the car into the garage from the first time or successfully drive around a dangerous hole on the road. But in fact, not everything is so simple, and, sitting behind the wheel of a particular car, it is worthwhile to understand that driving skills and a sense of size will come only with time. You can learn this by performing certain exercises, which we will definitely familiarize you with. But before that, we want to acquaint you with some mistakes that inexperienced drivers often make:

1. While driving, the driver constantly tries to see what is happening directly under the front bumper of his car. However, if you look directly at the road in front of the car, you risk losing a straight line of movement and colliding with other cars. While driving, you only need to look in front of you.

2. When parking backwards, many beginners grossly underestimate the importance of rear-view mirrors and try to do this task literally at random. However, in order to park without damaging the car body, it is very important to adjust the outside mirrors so that you can see in them rear wheels auto. Thanks to this, it will be possible to accurately determine the distance to other objects.

3. Correctly adjusted side mirrors will also help you change from lane to lane without any problems. In no case should you take risks and literally cut other cars in an attempt to overtake them. It is possible to occupy the lane during overtaking only after you fully see the entire car that you are trying to overtake in the rear-view mirror.

Otherwise, the rules will help you. road traffic and, of course, increased driving practice. You can arrange it on any abandoned road or parking lot, where there are no other cars, and you will be able to dash off and train your sense of the dimensions of your car. To do this, we recommend performing the exercises described below.

2. Exercise "Beacons".

Preparing for this exercise is very simple. To do this, it is necessary to make the lighthouses themselves, for which we take an ordinary plastic bottle and pour sand into it so that it becomes stable and does not fall even from the wind. After that, we insert into the bottle a thin and maximally long pole, indicated on top by some bright flag or other markings. It is better to make several of these training devices.

We install beacons in front of our car and try to drive up to them so close as to lightly touch the flag with the bumper. In this case, the beacon must remain standing. If he falls, you can consider the exercise not completed.

But this lesson should not end, since it is still necessary to train a sense of the dimensions of the rear bumper. The same beacons will help you learn to drive as accurately as possible in narrow places. To do this, just try to drive between two beacons. At the same time, at the very beginning of the exercise, the beacons can be installed far enough from each other. When you begin to succeed in performing this exercise, you need to gradually complicate the task for yourself, moving the beacons closer and closer. The same beacons can be used for the figure eight and snake exercises. When driving, it is very important to try to drive as close as possible to the balls, while trying not to knock them down.

3. Exercise "Impact".

This exercise will help you develop a sense of the wheel lines. Again, you will need tools at hand as an inventory - an ordinary empty bottle or a small cardboard box. Lay out such beacons in front of the car and try to hit them as accurately as possible with either the right or the left wheel of the car. To complicate the task, you can put two beacons at a short distance from each other and try to drive first through one, and then through the other. Also, you can try to pass them between the wheels of the car.

The highest level of driving can be achieved by learning to do the same exercises while driving in reverse. Even if you start to succeed quickly, do not be lazy to consolidate your success in a few more days.

4. Exercise "Tags".

It is best to feel the dimensions of the car for novice drivers using the exercise "Tags". It consists in the fact that on the basis windshield special marks are applied to allow you to feel and understand the location of the front wheels. To apply these marks on glass, you must:

1. Take the longest ruler or just a straight rail.

2. Attach it to the hood so that it is directly centered front wheel car.

3. Bring the other end of the ruler to the windshield, thus marking the line of the middle of the front wheel and make a corresponding mark on the glass (it is better to apply it with insideso it doesn't wash off).

4. We carry out similar actions with the second front wheel of the car.

In the future, in non-standard situations, you will be able to focus specifically on these marks, which will help you understand exactly which line the front wheels of the car will pass while driving. These marks will be especially useful if you need to drive through a narrow arch, gate, or overcome a very narrow country road.

It should be noted that very often such marks, which improve and develop the driver's sense of the dimensions of the car, are set by the manufacturers themselves. We are talking about the hood deflectors, as well as special bulges in place of the front ones. Performing a decorative function, they simultaneously prompt the driver how best to drive over a particular area. As marks for developing a sense of the rear dimensions of the car, instructors recommend focusing on (if any) or simply using rear-view mirrors for this. Otherwise, only exercises with beacons will help.

5. Fast learning - can it be effective?

Exercises for feeling the size of the car can only be effective if done often and regularly. If you just received driver's license and you don't feel very confident on the road, you need to do such workouts 1-2 times a week. Moreover, this should be done for about 1 year for the acquired skills to become professional and performed automatically.

It is very important to understand that if you change the car, you will have to go through all the science again. Naturally, getting used to a new car will be much easier and faster, but you should not neglect the value of exercises for a sense of size.

But there is another quick learning option that will help you become a real Schumacher. Almost every driving school has special courses extreme driving, after passing which you will feel the body and dimensions of your car, as your own body. At the same time, the instructor accompanying you will tell you a lot useful informationhow to behave correctly in difficult situations on the road and avoid accidents.

By purchasing new car and having passed on the license, a happy newly-made motorist is ready from the first day to rush to master the science of driving and strives for a busy road. But the devil is in the details. It would seem that everything seems to be fine on the road, but problems begin in the supermarket parking lot. It is necessary to park the car so that it does not take three places at once, does not bother anyone to pass, and the motorist himself must leave the parking lot without problems. But it turns out that this is not so easy to do. And all because an inexperienced driver does not feel the dimensions of his own car and in order to cope with this problem, experts in the field of safe driving have developed a special system of exercises that help novice motorists understand and feel the dimensions of their vehicle.

You can learn in this useful and not difficult to implement way, both at special sites and in any other territory where you can safely carry out car maneuvers.

Hitting.

You can use an empty plastic bottle to practice this exercise. The driver needs to hit it alternately with one and the other wheel. At first glance, this is very easy, but in practice, not everyone succeeds the first time.

Beacon.

This is a standard exercise. This can be done using training cones, sandbags, old tires, or plastic water bottles. According to the terms of training, you just need to drive between them, trying not to hook.

Marks on the glass.

Sometimes novice motorists place certain marks on the windshield with which they determine the distance to the obstacle.

Why is it necessary to feel the dimensions of the car.

Naturally, the awareness of the size of the machine will certainly appear with experience. And this will greatly facilitate the life of a motorist. This skill is very important for several things.

  • When driving in a traffic jam or in heavy traffic. During such a movement, it is extremely important for the motorist to move correctly in the stream and at the same time maintain a very short distance.
  • Knowing the dimensions will help in rural areas where the roads are not always of high quality. The motorist sometimes has to seriously maneuver between many nearby obstacles.
  • Parking is very important in an urban environment. The life and work of a motorist depends on this. And given the density of transport, it is important to be able to park the car in a rather limited space.

What does not take away from the instructors at the driving school is that they all give the same advice. Only practice will allow you to master all the intricacies of safe driving. Of course, you should diligently study the courses, but even after they finish, you should not neglect the training. Do not be lazy, because only a few lessons on the site within an hour, the novice driver is already quite advanced in the sense of the dimensions of his car.

Sometimes a person changes the car for a more bulky one. And naturally, out of habit, he can get into trouble. To avoid this, even an experienced motorist should new car it does not hurt to stop by the training area several times and practice mastering the dimensions of the new car.

Typical beginner mistakes.

A novice motorist does not immediately begin to see the big picture on the road and this is the problem. Here are a few of the key mistakes beginners make.

  • The distance from the hood to another car is neglected or not always taken into account when driving in a traffic jam or heavy traffic.
  • When parking, only the side mirrors are used, and this does not give the overall picture behind the car. At the same time, only part of the car and not all obstacles can be seen in the side mirror.
  • While driving, it monitors only a small section of the road in front of the hood, while completely unaware of the entire surrounding road situation.

Naturally, it is very important that all car mirrors are correctly adjusted. But we must understand that these are only means to facilitate driving and they do not give a complete picture of what is happening.

The skill of feeling the size of your car is the key to safe and fast driving. When the situation on the road is critical, there is no time to think and count, you can only turn this situation in one direction. Sometimes on the road it is more useful to stay in the lane and slip into the gap between the cars, and sometimes you need to cuddle up to the bump stop on the highway and disperse with a stray “oncoming lane”, leaving the car intact.

Craftsmanship and a sense of machine size

True masters of their craft can crawl into centimeter slots at high speeds, which amaze witnesses to the core. And how many epithets they hear about their skill! But behind all this emotional screen lies a deep understanding of how the car drives, and how it will drive in a few seconds. This skill looks like a miracle and many novice drivers often think that they are not up to it. The sense of the size of the car is just a skill and it, like any other skill, can and should be developed indefinitely.
Simple exercises will help with this, one or two is enough, but performed several times a week - this will be the key to success. But in addition to the technical development of the skill, it is necessary to perform exercises with a constant increase in speed. The fact is that no one always drives 30-40 km / h - modern cars have excellent dynamics.
And in the city, with a successful coincidence of circumstances, a rare driver will not want to grab "under a hundred", let alone cases of haste on business - this is where all the juices are squeezed out of the car and situations on the road.

Exercises for the development of side dimensions

Better to start with this simple exercise - to develop a sense of lateral dimension. Inexperienced driver either jumps too much to the side from a sudden situation, or too much lapping sideways, as a result "rips off the ears" of his car. Having learned to understand the size of his car, the driver may notice that it is not at all necessary to jump into the next lane.
To practice the skill, you need a spacious area, preferably asphalt. You will need two sticks or branches, 150-170 cm long, they will need to be wrapped with something bright. For example, sticky tape with white and red markings will come in handy. Step 2 cm from the edge of the mirror and put sticks on both sides of the car.
As a result, a kind of gate is obtained, into which it is necessary to squeeze. You need to start practicing the exercise at minimum speeds, literally 10-15 km / h. At this speed it is necessary to pass the “target”, then turn around and increase the speed a little. Gradually increasing the speed by 5-10 km / h, you need to reach the mark of 90-100 km / h - at this speed the field of view is narrowed almost as much as possible. Stronger only on Formula 1 cars. After successfully reaching the maximum, it is worth sometimes returning to this exercise in order to maintain the skill.

Exercises for the development of front and rear dimensions

Everything is much simpler here, the procedure is like in a driving school. The same two sticks with a bright designation will be used. All the driver has to do is place one stick at the front bumper and the other at the rear.
And, as in a driving school, drive up front and back to the landmarks in order to learn by trial and error to determine where the contact zone begins. It is recommended to do the same in the dark with the rear bumper - in low light, the picture in the mirror is distorted.
The exercise should be performed at the lowest speed - be careful not to spoil the paintwork.

Exercises to develop a sense of the edge of the car

The corner of the body often suffers from "striking" on walls, cars, fences and curbs.
There is nothing surprising in this - modern cars with sloping hoods and swollen bumpers. You can, of course, hang an oversized mustache on the motive of the KrAZ drivers or the hipster VAZ classics, but this option is not suitable for everyone. But everything can be compensated for by a sense of the trajectory along which the corner of the bumper moves.
The exercise is very simple. The task is to simulate a turn in a narrow block. To do this, one pole is installed in an arbitrary place - it will imitate the inner extreme point. It is worth starting with the imitation of the left turn, because in this case the right corner of the car is the farthest from the driver. Therefore, the first pole will simulate the inside corner of the fence when turning left, and the second pole will simulate the possible contact point of the bumper with a fence, curb or wall.
The driver drives up to the first pole and begins to make a left turn. After several “sighting” turns, the size of the corridor narrows and becomes similar to real conditions. The closer the second pole is to the bumper corner trajectory, the better. After all, the more difficult conditions the driver will set himself up - the faster and better he will learn to operate the car. All the most interesting and relevant you can find on our website

Those who have just recently received driver's licenseoften face many fears about the first independent road trip. The fear of making a wrong maneuver or colliding with another car is one of the most common. The overwhelming majority of fears have one common reason - the inability to correctly determine and feel the dimensions of the car.

Correct adjustment of the seat, mirrors and steering wheel

The first step a driver needs to take while driving is to adjust the seat, mirrors and steering wheel to fit. This not only makes the trip more comfortable, but also helps to avoid accidents on the road. The reflection in the mirror changes depending on the viewing angle. Therefore, it is imperative that the driver can assess the traffic situation without turning his head or looking up from the seat back.

If the driver's seat has a height adjustment function, it is best to set it as low as possible to better feel the car. You should not try to raise it higher in order to better see the road in front of the hood. You need to look ahead, assessing and controlling the situation on the road. Move the seat forward / backward so that your arms resting on the handlebars are slightly bent and relaxed, just like your feet on the pedals. Do not move the seat too far or close, as this will interfere with driving and reduce the speed of responding to an emergency.

The rear-view mirror must be adjusted so that its center falls on the center of the rear window - so, without changing the position of the body, you can see everything in this mirror rear glass... The side mirrors should reflect the body of the vehicle tangentially, and the reflections should reflect the surroundings of the vehicle. When adjusting, you need to ensure that the horizon line is approximately in the middle of the mirror.

You can determine the correct position of the mirrors, guided by the following criteria: in the left mirror you need to see the rear left wing, in the right - the edge of the rear wing and the tailgate handle. The view of the surrounding area from both sides should be maximized.

Selection of standard landmarks

Newbies often forget that there is at least another meter of the car body in front of them. This must be remembered and constantly kept in mind in order to maintain the correct distance in traffic jams and during normal traffic. But what to do to feel the side dimensions of the car?

Pay attention to the left dividing line. While driving, it should seem to "go" to the lower left corner of the windshield. In fact, this means that a distance of about 70 cm remains between the car body and the dividing line. Similarly, you should orient yourself on the right side.

The dividing strip or curb on the right must also cross the lower right corner of the windshield. This will help with parallel parking on the right side of the road - if you follow this rule, you can be sure that the car will not hit the curb with the wheel and at the same time will not be parked too far from it.

To estimate the distance from the car to objects located behind, it is best to use the left side mirror - the entire body of the car should be visible in it, the length of which is usually about three meters.

Creating hints

Novice drivers will find it useful to use certain tips that will help them get used to the dimensions of the car. For those who leave their car in the garage every day, we recommend hanging a small ball or ball from the ceiling. It should touch the windshield at the moment when it is necessary to stop, leaving the optimal distance from the front bumper to the wall.

If there are problems with understanding the trajectory of movement and feeling the line of the wheels, then experienced drivers recommend the following exercise: you need to go to a large area, align the wheels of the car and draw six straight lines on the asphalt. Two of them should continue the lines of movement of the right and left wheels; two more - the lines of the front and rear bumpers; the remaining two are the axles of the front and rear wheels.

After that, you must make sure that the driver's seat is adjusted in accordance with all the requirements listed above, and take the driver's seat. Extend the drawn lines mentally to the intersection with the windshield and dashboard and mark the crossing points in any convenient way. Small pieces of scotch tape, colored stickers that do not interfere with the view will do. This will help you understand where the wheel line will pass while driving on the road. Over time, when the driver begins to determine the position of the wheels automatically, such marks can be removed.

Additional landmarks

Some drivers choose additional landmarks for themselves in order to better feel the dimensions of the car.

For example, to better understand where it ends front bumper, you can install a small beacon antenna on it, which will show the edge of the hood. Many drivers borrowed this idea from Japanese cars of the 90s. Popular among female drivers, "eyelashes" on the headlights are one of the varieties of such a landmark. To determine the front dimensions at night, you can install a small reflective element on the edge of such an antenna.

To determine the rear dimensions, you can also use similar antennas on the rear bumper or, if we are talking about a hatchback, take the attachment point as a reference point rear wiper... But it is worth remembering that the wiper is not yet the edge of the car, you need to leave about 20-30 cm more in reserve.

Getting used to the dimensions of other cars reflected in mirrors

Beginners are often faced with the fact that they cannot correctly determine the distance to the surrounding cars using their side mirrors. Hence - problems with rebuilding from one lane to another.

The first thing to remember is that cars in the mirrors appear smaller and more distant than they really are. IN modern cars there are often notifications about this directly on the mirror. There is a criterion that experienced drivers usually use - if the full reflection of the car is visible in the mirror, then you can rebuild.

If only part of the hull is visible, it means that the neighboring car is too close and you cannot rebuild. When following this rule, one should not forget that the side mirrors have so-called "blind spots", therefore, before making a maneuver, you must additionally make sure that there is no car in the next lane whose reflection is not visible in the side mirror.

It will be useful to go to the training area in two cars with more experienced driver... By installing cars at different distances from each other, you can determine for yourself what dimensions of the car in the reflection correspond to the real distance.

There are many ways to help yourself determine the size of your car, but keep in mind that the most important thing in driving is experience and practice. Over time, all such tricks will become unnecessary even when driving a different car model.

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