Re: [QUAD-L] C5 Driving a van?

[Jkrocks]

Don't be too nervous about driving Mark because you will get extensive training on how to use the new controls.  I was never afraid to drive anything but when I entered the training van with all the electronic controls I do have to admit that I was intimidated at first.  But my instructor assured me that by the time we are done I will be able to handle just about any situation, and he was right.   When you start out driving the first thing they do besides setting up all the controls for you is to take you to a secluded area (I live in the country and drove up and down my road) and have you start and stop over and over and over again until you have that mastered.  Once we did that it was off to a parking lot, which I drove to, and did left and right turns, backing into parking spaces and backing around the parking lot.  We then proceeded to go around the block several times each direction and then we started to pick up speed.  At that time, 30 miles an hour felt like I was doing 100.  Once I felt comfortable enough, I wanted to go on some roads that were hilly and rough to see how I would handle all the dips and bumps.  Once I was comfortable enough we hit the freeway, which is very easy, and headed down the hill to Duluth to be in more traffic and two parallel park.  I did my parallel park the very first try and after I did my weight shift we came back home and he told me I did not need any more training.  He told me is that it takes approximately 30 hours of training to be able to drive and I was done within 15 hours.  If you have any chance at all to be able to drive go ahead and at least try.   Jim